More than 300 students heading to Frisco

Early Wednesday morning, junior Timothy Kutchen will hop into a friend's Prius and make the 1,422-mile drive to Frisco, Texas to watch the Blue Hens play for a national championship.

The drive, which if done all at once will take just under 24 hours, is worth it for him and his four friends, he said.

"When they got in the playoffs, we said we'd go if they make it," said Kutchen, whose roommate is Hens' tight end Colin Naugle. "It'll be cool to go down there and support the guys."

Kutchen is one of more than 300 students making the trip for the Hens' game against Eastern Washington, which is set for 7 p.m. in Frisco, a city located just north of Dallas.

Including student tickets, the university sold approximately 2,500 of its 4,000 allotted tickets, and officials say other fans probably bought their tickets directly from Pizza Hut Park.

As of Monday morning, a total of 9,968 tickets had been sold for the game. The stadium seats 21,193.

Senior Chrissy Carney said she and her roommates are going to the game because they regret not going to Chattanooga, Tenn., for the national championship game in 2007, the last time the Hens made it that far.

"We all agreed that as freshmen, we should have gone down to Chattanooga, but we weren't as invested in Delaware football then," Carney said. "You only live once."

She hopes this year will make up for missing the game in 2007 and plans to fly to Texas Thursday morning and stay overnight so she can get to the stadium in time to tailgate before the game.

"We have to figure out the logistics," she said. "You can't really bring a grill on the plane, but we'll make it work."

Kutchen said though he is excited for his trip, he and his friends were surprised the university did not sponsor a bus trip to the game.

"We thought maybe they'd send out an email," he said. "We thought that would be sweet if UD did a bus."

Eventually, students organized bus trips to fill the void.

One of the buses, organized by junior Eric Oppenheimer, will transport 55 students, who Oppenheimer said he recruited using Facebook and by word of mouth. The trip costs $185 per person, not including a game ticket, he said.

Oppenheimer said organized the trip because he was frustrated the university was not offering a bus to help students get to the game.

"We see Harker at every game—we think they care," Oppenheimer said. "But they don't."

Several university officials contacted by The Review either did not return phone calls or said they did not know why the university did not sponsor a trip.

Still, other students said traveling on their own was cheaper or more convenient.

Senior Laura Blagys plans to fly to Texas with two of her roommates for the game.

"Once we figured out we were in the championship, we joked about going," Blagys said. "Then we started researching flights and found it was affordable."

She said she enjoys going to home games and hopes to experience the same excitement on Friday.

"What better way to celebrate senior year than to see UD hopefully win a championship?" Blagys said.

Senior Natalie Sabadish, who is flying down Wednesday with four friends, said she was glad that Delaware has a strong team again this year. After losing the national championship game in 2007, the Hens missed the playoffs in 2008 and 2009.

"I love football," Sabadish said. "It's great [for the Hens] to be good my senior year. It's my last opportunity."