William & Mary, Delaware State lock in first-ever home-and-home series

William & Mary will complete a first-time home-and-home with Delaware State in 2029, with the Tribe visiting Alumni Stadium in Dover on Sept. 15 after opening the series at Walter J. Zable Stadium at Cary Field in Williamsburg on Sept. 5, 2026. The matchup is already on both schools’ official 2026 schedules, and the Tribe’s home opener against the Hornets will also be the first meeting between the programs.

That first meeting carries extra weight because it links a Patriot League program and a MEAC program that had never shared the field before this arrangement. William & Mary’s opponent-history page now includes Delaware State but shows no prior games, underscoring how new the series is. The contract for the home-and-home was finalized July 15, 2024, a reminder of how far ahead FCS schools now have to plan to keep future slates full. William & Mary has already shown the same kind of long-range thinking elsewhere, adding Old Dominion to its 2029 schedule in February 2023.

The 2026 schedules give the series even more context. William & Mary said its 2026 campaign will be its inaugural season in the Patriot League, and the 12-game slate includes six home games. Delaware State’s 2026 schedule also runs 12 games and splits evenly, with six home dates and six road dates. For both programs, the Sept. 5 game lands early as a nonconference checkpoint before league play takes over.

Delaware State’s side of the series fits into a broader reset under DeSean Jackson, who was introduced as head coach in January 2025 after an 8-4 first season. The Hornets’ 2026 schedule release frames that year as Jackson’s second season, which gives the William & Mary trip another layer of visibility as he builds his program. For Delaware State, the 2029 home date against William & Mary offers a marquee spot on the schedule in Dover; for William & Mary, the road trip broadens the Tribe’s reach beyond the Patriot League and into a new recruiting and competitive lane.