LUT WILLIAMSBCSP Editor
The 2026 black football season will have a Week Zero game played this weekend. It just 6p arrives a week later than usual and coincides 6pm with 27 other games.
The 2026 Week Zero game – usually Stream 6p staged a week before a full schedule of games Atlanta’s Center Parc Stadium at 7:30 p.m. on ABC. It pits the MEAC’s Howard Bison vs. the 12p1p SWAC’s Alabama A&M Bulldogs.
While that game has plenty of intrigue with second-year A&M head coach Sam Shade facing off against new Howard head coach and former quarterback Ted White, there’s plenty more on the menu.
There is another SWAC vs. MEAC game in Houston where North Carolina Central of the MEAC visits the SWAC’s Texas Southern. The game will be streamed on HBCUGo.tv at 6 p.m CST.
Nine other games are interconference battles between black conference teams – four SWAC vs. SIAC tussles, three with SIAC teams meeting CIAA foes, one CIAA vs. MEAC match-up and one matching SIAC and MEAC teams.
FOUR SWAC VS. SIAC GAMES
The Albany State vs. Florida A&M match in Tallahassee, Fla. (Sat., 7 p.m. on SWAC TV )pits two new coaches against each other. New Florida A&M head coach Quinn Gray has returned to his alma mater after guiding Albany State for three years including winning the SIAC title and two Div. II playoff games a year ago. The former record-setting FAMU QB was 24-11 at ASU including a 20-4 record in league play.
He faced his alma mater in Tallahassee a year ago and his ASU team threw a 33-25 scare into the Rattlers in a game many thought his Golden Rams should have won.
David Bowser has taken over from Gray at ASU and comes in with great credentials. Though he struggled to a 4-26 record in three seasons at declining Saint Augustine’s in his first head coaching stint, he had two decades as an assistant at Fayetteville State when the Broncos won three CIAA titles and was with Johnson C. Smith last season when the Golden Bulls took the CIAA crown.
Two other SWAC vs. SIAC battles at 6 p.m. Saturday (on SWAC TV) will also feature debuts for new coaches, both in the SIAC.
New head man Brad Sherrod at Morehouse will take his Maroon Tigers out to Little Rock, Arkansas to take on Arkansas-Pine Bluff while former Bethune-Cookman head coach Terry Sims, now at Clark Atlanta, will lead the Panthers on the road at Grambling State.
Miles is on the road at Alcorn State in another SIAC vs. SWAC 6 p.m. game on SWACTV.
THREE CIAA VS. SIAC GAMES
Two NCAA Div. 2 playoff teams matchup Saturday (5 p.m., SIAC Network) when 2025 CIAA champion J. C. Smith visits 2025 SIAC runners-up Benedict in Columbia, S.C. Fort Valley State of the SIAC plays at the CIAA’s Elizabeth City State in a 1 p.m. match up carried on the CIAA Network while Allen of the SIAC visits the CIAA’s Livingstone at 6 p.m.
Kentucky State at Central State is the lone SIAC game on the schedule (3 p.m.). SIAC preseason favorite Edward Waters is hosting Florida Memorial (6 p.m., SIAC Network).
MEAC INTERCONFERENCE GAMES
The lone CIAA vs. MEAC game has Winson-Salem State and former quarterback and new head coach Tory Woodbury debuting at Norfolk State in its second year under former NFL star QB Michael Vick (6 p.m., ESPN+). Woodbury was an assistant to Vick at NSU last season.
Another new coach – Thomas Howard –will be one the sidelines for Savannah State when the SIAC member opens at two-time defending MEAC champion South Carolina State (6 p.m.). Howard is a former defensive coordinator at SC State.
MEAC member Morgan State is at former conference member North Carolina A&T Saturday (6 p.m., FloCollege).
THE DEBUTS CONTINUE
The coaching debut that perhaps will be watched the most could be Pro Football Hall of Fame running back Marshall Faulk’s premiere Saturday as head coach at Southern. His Jaguars are taking on SWAC East Division favorite Alabama State at the first Birmingham Football Classic at historic Legion Field in Birmingham, Al. (2 p.m., ESPNU).
The early season SWAC match-up also marks the return to the field of ASU quarterback Andrew Body, last year’s conference offensive player of the year and the most talked-about player in 2026 black college football.
The 6-1, 205-pound Corpus Christi, Texas native led the SWAC in rushing (518 yards, 4 TDs) and passing (1,770 yards, 20 TDs, 1 int.) before he went out after eight games a year ago with a shoulder injury. His return is much anticipated.
One other debut has Hampton and new head coach Van Malone opening at home vs.Virginia-Lynchburg (6 p.m., FloCollege).
FAVORITES DEBUT
Defending SWAC West champion Prairie View A&M is picked to repeat in that division and has a tough opening date Saturday (8 p.m., ESPN2) in Stephenville, Texas at FCS preseason No. 5 Tarleton State. The game is for the Texas A&M University’s inaugural Chancellor’s Cup.
Virginia Union, picked by CIAA coaches as the favorite in that conference, opens Friday (6 p.m., FloCollege) on the road at Lenoir-Rhyne. The teams last met in the second round of the 2024 Div. II playoffs at L-R with VUU of the 2024 Div. II playoffs at L-R with VUU coming away with a dominant 44-12 victory.
Jackson State, the defending SWAC East division champ but second preseason pick in the East behind Alabama State, renews its rivalry after a three-year hiatus with Tennessee State Saturday (7:30 p.m., ESPN+) at the John Merritt Classic in Nashville, Tn. The teams met for 23 straight years from 1998 to 2022 at the Southern Heritage Classic at the Liberty Bowl in Memphis, Tn.
STARTS AND FINISH
Four 6 p.m. Thursday night games will kick off the season. Mississippi Valley State is on the road at Nichols (ESPN+), Delaware State hosts Stony Brook (MEAC Network), Virginia State hosts Barton (CIAA Network) and Bluefield State plays at Tusculum. The opening week wraps up Sunday (7 p.m., ESPN2) with Tuskegee hosting West Alabama in the 6th annual Red Tails Classic honoring the Tuskegee Airmen who fought in World War II.