LUT WILLIAMS BCSP Editor
The October homecoming vibe continues this week with 13 of the classic football match ups on the menu.
Several of those games have the added intrigue of being key to how the conference races
will play out.
No conference has more of these doubly consequential games than the three contests Saturday that officially kick off the six-team Mid Eastern Athletic Conference race.
After only one conference game was contested in the first seven weeks of the season, all games from now thru the Nov. 23 end of the regular season will be between league foes.
This Saturday, 2023 champion Howard (3- 4) is at homecoming (2 p.m., ESPN+) at Norfolk State (2-6, 0-1 MEAC). Conference favorite North Carolina Central (5-2, 1-0), the only team with a conference win, has Morgan State (3-4) in for homecoming (3 p.m., ESPN+) and Delaware State (1-6) is at homecoming (3:30 p.m., ESPN+) at South Carolina State (4-2).
With the seeming competitive balance in the league, the MEAC race will likely go down to the final week of the regular season. As it stands now, NC Central’s 37-10 win over Norfolk State on Sept. 28 in Indianapolis’s Circle City Classic is the only salvo registered so far.
Let the games begin!
CIAA
Though undefeated Johnson C. Smith (7- 0, 4-0 CIAA) is setting the pace in the CIAA, the race is far from over. After this week, there will be just two more games to determine the top two teams that will face off in the Nov. 16 Championship Game in Salem, Va.,
The top match up in the CIAA is in Winston- Salem, N.C. where the resurgent Winston-Salem State Rams under head coach Robert Massey, at 6-2 overall and 4-1 in league play, take on surprising head coach Maurice Flowers and the JCSU Golden Bulls. The 1 p.m. game will be carried live on TheGrio.
WSSU has dominated games vs. JCSU recently, winning 13 of the last 14 contests. The lone win for JCSU came last season in a 35-31 home win in Charlotte, N. C. The last time the Golden Bulls beat the Rams in Winston-Salem was in 1976. This should be a good one!
Virginia Union lost to J. C. Smith back on Sept. 21, 21-16, but the loss did not count on the Panthers’ conference ledger. That leaves VUU (5-2) with an unblemished 4-0 mark in league play, right in step with JCSU. The Panthers are (1 p.m. BSU Stream) at Bowie State (2-4, 1-2).
Virginia State (4-3), still in contention at 3-1 in CIAA play, is at Bluefield State (1-6, 0-4) at 6p.m.
SWAC
Jackson State knocked off Florida A&M (35-21) last week to take the SWAC East lead and Southern downed Alcorn State (24-14) to grab first place in the West.
JSU (5-2, 3-0 E) is at homecoming (3 p.m., HBCUGo) at Bethune-Cookman (1-6, 1-2 E) while Southern (4-3, 3-0 W) travels to Tallahassee, Fl., (7 p.m., ESPN+) to face FAMU (3-3, 1-1 E). Alcorn State (4-4, 3-1 W) has a bye week.
Alabama A&M (3-3, 1-1 E) and Alabama State (3-3, 2-1 E), both with one conference loss, tangle in Birmingham’s Magic City Classic (2:30 p.m., ESPNU). Grambling State (4-3, 1-2 W) and Texas Southern (2-4, 1-2 W) have basically a West Division elimination game in Houston (2 p.m.).
SIAC
Miles made another strong case for SIAC supremacy with a 49-28 win at Clark Atlanta’s homecoming Saturday. The Golden Bears (5-2
5-0 SIAC) begin their three-week march to end the season at two-time defending league champion Benedict (3-4, 3-2) and their new head coach Ron Dickerson Jr. at the Tigers’ homecoming (2 p.m.).
Albany State, Fort Valley State and Tuskegee are all 4-3 overall, 4-1 in the SIAC behind Miles heading into the week.
Albany State is hosting (2 p.m.) Edward Waters (1-6, 1-4), Fort Valley State is at homecoming (2 p.m., ESPN+) at Morehouse (1-6, 1-4) and Tuskegee is at Central State (1-4, 1-3).