There are no clear conference favorites and no clear BCSP No. 1 as the 2018 football season enters its final stretches.
For teams in the CIAA and SIAC, only three weeks of regular season play remain and the division races are far from decided.
In the MEAC and SWAC, there’s a month left on the regular season schedule but with big upsets and stunners occurring every week those races also have been thrown into uncertainty.
Trying to pick a No. 1 team in the BCSP Top Ten is equally daunting. North Carolina A&T, Alcorn State and Prairie View A&M have taken their turns at the top over the last three weeks and have promptly fallen.
Based on its current four-game win streak, Florida A&M ascends to the No. 1 this week, and fortunately for the Rattlers, this is their bye week!
Let’s take a look at how things are shaking out.
CIAA
A week after Chowan took down conference and division favorite Bowie State (42-23), Virginia Union took down Chowan 48-38 Saturday to place itself atop the North Division standings.
The Panthers (5-1, 4-0 CIAA, 2-0 N) are hosting Bowie State (5-2, 3-1, 1-1 N) this week in Richmond (1 p.m.) in the key game in the division. Virginia State (3-3, 3-1, 1-1 N), currently tied with Bowie State and Chowan behind VUU, has its homecoming Saturday (2 p.m.) vs. Lincoln. Chowan (1-4, 1-2, 1-1 N) plays (1:30 p.m.) at Elizabeth City State.
In the South Division, Winston-Salem State (3-3, 2-2, 2-0 S) is making its customary late-sea- son run at the division title and has Livingstone in for homecoming Saturday (1:30 p.m.). Fayetteville State (4-1, 3-0, 2-0 S), tied with WSSU atop the division and on a collision course with the Rams for the division title, is on the road at Saint Augustine’s homecoming in Raleigh, N.C. (1 p.m.).
FSU and WSSU meet on the last weekend of the regular season, Sat., Nov. 3, in Fayetteville.
SIAC
The hot and heavy race is in the SIAC East where Morehouse, Benedict and Albany State are jostling for the title.
Albany State (4-3, 4-1 SIAC, 1-0 E) knocked Morehouse (6-1, 5-1, 0-1) from the unbeaten ranks Sunday with a convincing 41-19 win over the Maroon Tigers on their home field in Atlanta. A day earlier at Panther Stadium across the street in Atlanta, Benedict survived a scare from Clark Atlanta in a 27-24 win. Benedict is 5-1 overall, 3-0 in the SIAC and 2-0 vs. East opponents.
In the East this week, the key match ups have Morehouse at Benedict’s homecoming (2 p.m.) while Clark Atlanta is at Albany State’s home- coming (2 p.m.).
Tuskegee is the clear favorite in the West though it has not wrapped things up yet. The Golden Tigers (4-3, 4-1, 1-0 W) have winless Kentucky State in for homecoming (1 p.m.) this week. Miles (2-5, 2-3, 2-0 W), who plays at Lane, and Central State (3-4, 2-3, 1-0 W), who plays out of conference at Robert Morris, are still in the West race.
SWAC
If anyone thought BCSP No. 1 Prairie View A&M was the clear cut favorite to take the SWAC West Division title that all changed Saturday as No. 9 Southern administered a 38-0 whipping on the Panthers.
When the dust settled Southern, Prairie View and Grambling State are all tied in the West with one loss in conference play.
Grambling (3-3, 2-1) has a tough task play- ing Saturday (2 p.m.) at East Division co-leader Alcorn State (5-2, 3-1) while Southern (3-3, 2-1) travels to the Cotton Bowl in Dallas (2 p.m.) to take on Texas Southern.
The East is just as close with Alcorn State, Jackson State and Alabama State having just one conference loss. Alabama A&M and Ala- bama State have bye weeks this week while Jackson State has an out-of-conference home game vs. North Alabama.
MEAC
BCSP No. 7 Florida A&M kicked a game- winning field goal with :04 seconds left to get a 22-21 road win over North Carolina A&T and take over sole possession of first place in the MEAC. FAMU (5-2, 4-0 MEAC) has a bye week and can watch this week as A&T (5-2, 2-1) battles one of five others with one conference loss, Bethune-Cookman (4-3, 2-1) in Daytona Beach,Fla. (4 p.m.).
In two other games involving teams with one loss in league play, Howard (2-3, 2-1) is at (7 p.m.) Morgan State (2-4, 1-1 but ineligible for conference title) and Norfolk State (3-2, 1-1) welcomes North Carolina Central (2-3, 1-1) in for homecoming (2 p.m.).