LUT WILLIAMS BCSP Editor
The 2024 black college football season heads into November this week with nothing yet decided in terms of league champions.
But with just two weeks left in the CIAA and SIAC regular season races, there are leaders in both conferences that appear poised to at least lock up the top spots.
CIAA
Undefeated Johnson C. Smith (8-0, 5-0 CIAA) sits atop the league race headed into Saturday’s home date against Fayetteville State (1 p.m., CIAA Sports Network). A JCSU win will clinch one of the two spots in the Nov. 16 CIAA Championship Game in Salem, Va. JCSU finishes next week on the road at Livingstone.
The second spot is still up for grabs with Virginia Union (6-2, 5-0) and Virginia State 5-3, 4-1) perched behind JCSU. VUU, in its 1 p.m. homecoming vs. Bluefield State (1-7, 0-5), and VSU, in its 1 p.m. contest at Lincoln (Pa.) (2-6, 2-3), are facing teams with a combined three wins between them.
The likely title-game opponent for JCSU will probably be decided when VUU and VSU close out the season facing each other next week (Nov. 9) at VSU.
SIAC
Miles (6-2), undefeated in league play at 6-0, is hosting hapless Morehouse (1-7, 1-5) Saturday (2 p.m.). A win by the Golden Bears will clinch one of the two spots in the Nov. 16 SIAC title game and make them the favorite to host the championship contest. The No. 1 seed at the end of the regular season is the title game host.
Fort Valley State, Albany State and Tuskegee are all at 5-3 overall and behind Miles in second place at 5-1 in the SIAC. This week, FVSU is hosting Benedict (1 p.m., TheGrio), Tuskegee plays at Clark Atlanta (5-2-1, 4-2) at 1 p.m. and Albany State is at Savannah State (4-4, 3-3) at 3 p.m.
The championship game opponents could be determined in closing week games on Nov. 9 when Sam Shade’s Miles troops play at Tuskegee
and Albany State closes with its annual traditional season-ending battle with FVSU at the Fountain City Classic in Columbus, GA.
MEAC
One of the top games to watch this week is in Orangeburg, S.C. Thursday (7 p.m., ESPN+) when MEAC leaders N. C. Central (6-2, 2-0 MEAC) and South Carolina State (5-2, 1-0) meet.
The game will match Trei Oliver’s NCCU Eagles, the 2022 MEAC champ and Celebration Bowl winner over Deion Sanders’ Jackson State squad and 2023 MEAC runners-up and FCS playoff participant, against the newly constructed team from S. C. State under first-year head coach Chennis Berry.
SCSU won the 2021 league championship under legendary former head coach Oliver “Buddy” Pough and also went on to defeat Sanders’ JSU squad in that season’s Celebration Bowl. Berry, after winning back-to-back undefeated SIAC titles at Benedict, took over this year in Orangeburg and added to the Bulldogs’ roster a slew of SIAC all- stars, on both sides of the ball, that paved the way for those back-to-back titles.
Quarterback Eric Phoenix, the MEAC’s passing leader, wide receiver Caden High, the league’s receptions leader, and running back Deondra Duehart, sixth in MEAC rushing stats, are all former Benedict players, as is MEAC sacks leader Jayden Broughton.
Containing this bunch will be quite a task for Oliver’s Eagles.
SWAC
TOP PERFORMANCES
SWAC East leader Jackson State (6-2, 4-0 E) is hosting Arkansas-Pine Bluff Saturday (2 p.m., ESPN+) while West leader Southern (4-4, 3-1 W) plays at Alabama A&M (3-4, 1-2 E) on HBCUGo at 2 p.m.
Alabama State (4-3, 3-1 E), behind JSU in the East, and Alcorn State (4-4, 3-1 W) chasing Southern in the West, meet in Mobile, Al. Saturday at 4 p.m. (ESPN+). Texas Southern (3-4, 2-2 W), third in the West, is at Florida A&M’s homecoming in Tallahassee (4 p.m., ESPN+). FAMU is 4-3 overall, and third in the East at 2-1.