LUT WILLIAMS BCSP Editor
A slate of 34 games is on the menu for Week One, Labor Day Weekend, if the 28 games from last week can be thought of as Week Zero.
There was plenty of excitement, fantastic finishes and some surprising outcomes in Week Zero.
Particularly, Delaware State started off year two under head coach Desean Jackson with a down-to-the wire 41-34 win at homeover Stony Brook.
Howard scored with under two minutes left to pull out a 31-24 win over Alabama
A&M in the tight real Week Zero game at the SWAC/MEAC Challenge in Atlanta. It gave new Bison head coach and former quarterback Ted White a win in his debut.
Amongst the most shocking outcomes was a 45-3 beatdown administered to CIAA power Virginia Union by Lenoir-Rhyne.
Perhaps equally shocking was 2025 CIAA champion and BCSP preseason Div. II No. 1 Johnson C. Smith being taken down by 2025 SIAC runners-up Benedict, 32-10.
Texas Southern evened the score in SWAC vs. MEAC battles with a 32-20 home
win Saturday over North Carolina Central.
Week One Gems
Eight new coaches debuted last week, only three claimed victories (White, Quinn Gray at Florida A&M and Van Malone at Hampton).
The last of the nine newbies to debut will be new Bowie State head coach Dawson Odums who will take his Bulldogs to 1-0 Virginia State Saturday (1 p.m., CIAA Network). VSU behind QB Rahsaan Matthews Jr.’s 267 passing yards and two TDs defeated Barton 44-17.
Quinn Gray has the unenviable task of preparing his Rattlers to face defending two-time MEAC champion South Carolina State in Sunday’s Orange Blossom Classic in Miami Gardens, Florida (3 p.m., ESPN). While FAMU struggled past 2025
SIAC champion Albany State, 20-7 Saturday, Chennis Berry’s SC State troops were putting a record-setting 87-0 thrashing on SIAC member Savannah State and new head coach Thomas Howard.
SIAC favorite Edward Waters, coming off a 42-28 win on the road over NAIA
member Florida Memorial, heads to Jackson, Mississippi (6 p.m. HBCUgo.tv) to take on 1-0 Jackson State. JSU pulled out a late 26-24 win at Tennessee State Saturday in the John Merritt Classic. Coming off its big win in Atlanta, Howard is hosting Richmond Saturday (6 p.m., MEAC Network). Richmond beat Bucknell
Saturday, 35-14.
Labor Day weekend will bring together neighborhood rivals in the SIAC and SWAC.
After big losses last week, Morehouse and Clark Atlanta tangle at Morehouse Saturday (1 p.m., SIAC Network) each looking for its first win. SWAC rivals Prairie View A&M and Texas Southern match up Sunday (11 a.m., ESPN2) at Prairie View. The Panthers battled gamely with FCS No. 5 Tarleton State before falling on the road Saturday, 49-30.
2025 SIAC champion Albany State and 2025 CIAA champion J. C. Smith, both coming off losses, are in Canton, Ohio Sunday for the Black College Football Hall of Fame Classic (4 p.m. NFL Network).
North Carolina A&T, off a 17-7 home loss to Morgan State Saturday, travels to
Atlanta Friday (7 p.m., ESPN+) to take on FBS Sun Belt Conference member Georgia State in its opener. N. C. Central looks to lick its wounds as it hosts (6 p.m., MEAC Network) CIAA member Elizabeth City State coming off a lost at home to Fort Valley State.