LUT WILLIAMS BCSP Editor
And then there were four.
Virginia Union’s name was removed from the unbeaten list Saturday after falling to defending CIAA champ Fayetteville State, 10-7.
That leaves Allen (3-0), Benedict (4-0), Tuskegee (4-0) and Virginia State (4-0) as the only unbeaten teams as play heads this week to the last Saturday in September.
Conference races are just getting started.
CIAA
Virginia State and Bowie State are off to 2-0 starts in the CIAA North. Johnson C. Smith, Fayetteville State and Winston-Salem State are 2-0 in the South.
South vs. North play continues this week as Bluefield State hosts FSU, Lincoln (Pa.) hosts WSSU, St. Aug’s hosts VUU and Shaw hosts VSU, all at 1 p.m. Livingstone entertains BSU at 4 p.m..
Elizabeth City State has JCSU in for a 1 p.m. homecoming date.
MEAC
The five-game schedule of in-conference MEAC games doesn’t begin until Thursday, Oct. 19. Meanwhile, conference teams will continue to sharpen their skills against out-of-conference foes.
This week, Howard is at Robert Morris (12 noon), Morgan State travels to Yale (12 noon), Delaware State hosts Virginia-Lynchburg (1 p.m.), Norfolk State entertains NC A&T (2 p.m.) and defending champion NC Central entertains Campbell (4 p.m.).
CAA
NC A&T (0-3, 0-1), now in the Coastal Athletics Association (CAA), will be trying to avoid its first 0-4 start since 2010.
Hampton (2-1), now also in the CAA, has its first conference match up of the season at (2-2, 1-0) Richmond at 2 p.m.
SIAC
This year the SIAC did away with its East and West Divisions for football. It’s 2023 championship game will match the teams with the best conference records. The league announced recently that the title game will be held on Nov. 11 at Lakewood Stadium in Atlanta.
At 3-0 in the SIAC, Tuskegee and Fort Valley State currently lead in the standings with Allen, Benedict, Miles and Albany State at 2-0.
Miles is at Central State Saturday (12 noon), Albany State is at Kentucky State’s homecoming (2 p.m. on HBCUGO), Tuskegee is at Alabama A&M’s homecoming (2 p.m. on HBCUGO), Allen hosts FVSU (6 p.m.) in a battle of unbeaten teams in conference play and Benedict hosts Morehouse (6 p.m.).
SWAC
At 2-0 in SWAC play, Florida A&M leads the East and Prairie View A&M leads the West. This Saturday, FAMU is at Miss. Valley State (6 p.m.) while Prairie View and Grambling State (2-2, 1-0 W) clash at the State Fair Classic
in Dallas at 6 p.m. on ESPN+.
Southern (1-2, 1-0 W) is at Arkansas-Pine
Bluff (4 p.m.), Alabama State hosts Alcorn State (5 p.m.) and winless Texas Southern has its homecoming (2 p.m.) vs. Lincoln (Ca.).
OVC / BIG SOUTH
After a week off, Tennessee State (2-1, 1-0) gets back into action in the joint Ohio Valley/Big South Conference with a 6 p.m. date at back-to- back OVC champion UT-Martin (3-1, 2-0).
Eddie George’s TSU squad fell to UT-
Martin 20-3 last season.
OTHERS
West Virginia State is 3-1 overall, 3-0 in the Mountain East Conference. The Yellow Jackets travel (12n) to winless W. Va. Wesleyan (0-3, 0-2) Saturday. Junior RB Joel Felder leads the conference with six rushing TDs and 137.0 rushing yards per game. Senior QB Donovan Riddick is completing 73% of his passes and has 8 TDs to 3 ints. He is averaging 249.5 passing yards per game. Langston (1-2, 1-1 SAC) is at SW Assemblies in a 4 p.m. start.