1:12 p.m., Jan. 8, 2008--The University of Delaware football team, which capped an outstanding 2007 season by winning 11 games and advancing to the NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision national championship game for the second time in five seasons, has been awarded the Lambert Cup as the outstanding team in the region in its division.

Delaware, which finished the season with an 11-4 record and fell to three-time defending champion Appalachian State University 49-21 in the national title game, will receive the Lambert Cup Feb. 19 at the Eastern College Athletic Conference football awards banquet to be held at the Meadowlands Sports Complex in Piscataway, N.J.

The Hens, who last won the Lambert Cup in 2003, have now earned the award a division record 19 times. Established in 1936 and expanded to include non Division I-A teams in 1957, the Lambert Cup recognizes supremacy in Eastern college football. Delaware also won the Lambert Cup in 1959, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1969, 1970, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1974, 1976, 1979, 1982, 1991, 1995, 1997, 2000 and 2003. Only NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision member Penn State, with 26, has won more Lambert Cup trophies than Delaware.

Delaware earned 80 points in the poll to take the top spot and gain the Lambert Cup. Colonial Athletic Association co-champion and NCAA semifinalist Richmond was second with 71 points, followed by CAA co-champion Massachusetts (65), James Madison (51), Harvard (48), New Hampshire (33), Yale (32), Fordham (26), Villanova (16) and Hofstra (9).

West Virginia University was the top-ranked team in the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision with 80 points, edging runner-up Boston College, and was awarded the Lambert-Meadowlands Trophy. California University of Pennsylvania won the Lambert Cup in NCAA Division II and Wesley College in Dover, Del., won its first Lambert Cup in NCAA Division III. Voting is conducted by media members in the region.

For more information on UD athletics, see [www.udel.edu/sportsinfo].