Winston-Salem State releases 2005 football schedule

January 19, 2005

The Rams, coming off of a 2004 season in which they went 4-6 overall (4-2 CIAA) will open the 2005 campaign at home in Winston-Salem, NC in the friendly confines of Bowman-Gray Stadium as they play host to Division II powerhouse Catawba College. The Indians are coming off another stellar season in which they qualified for the NCAA Division II playoffs, losing to Arkansas Tech 24-20 to finish the season with a 7-4 record overall. The 2004 Indians were once again loaded with talent and placed 11 student-athletes on the All-South Atlantic Conference teams. The Rams and Indians have met only two times before, with Catawba winning both games, handing WSSU a 10-7 defeat in Salisbury, NC during the 1998 season and emerging victorious in Winston-Salem, NC in 1999 by the score of 17-14.

Week two will not get any easier for the Rams as they travel to Washington, DC to face the Bison of Howard University on September 3rd, 2005. The Bison, members of the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC), finished the season 6-5 overall, and narrowly missed finishing 8-3, losing a pair of games in overtime in 2004. The contest between the two teams will be the fourth meeting between the two historic football programs, and the first since the 1993 season. The Rams have an all-time record of 1-2 versus the Bison, earning their only win, a 12-7 decision, in 1985. WSSU’s two losses came in 1986 (36-7) and 1993 (31-10). The contest between the Rams and Bison will mark the first Division I team that the Rams have faced since the 2000 season, but will also be a homecoming of sorts for current WSSU head coach Kermit Blount. Blount is no stranger to the Bison football program as he was a member of the coaching staff, serving as Howard’s Offensive Coordinator from March of 1984 until the end of the 1989 season. Blount helped to lead the Bison to a MEAC Championship in 1987, leading the Bison offense to a 9-1 overall record. This will mark Blount’s second game versus Howard since taking over the reins as head coach at WSSU in 1993 as he looks to even his all-time mark as head coach versus the Bison to 1-1 overall.

The Rams’ final non-conference game will come in the season’s third week as WSSU will once again take to the road, and will once again face another MEAC program, as the Rams travel to Orangeburg, SC to square off against the Bulldogs of South Carolina State University on September 10th, 2005. The contest will be the third game of the season for the Rams but will be the second on the Kermit Blount “Nostalgia Tour” as he visits a former employer for the second straight week. Blount was a member of the Bulldogs’ football staff for four seasons prior to taking over as head coach at WSSU. He was SCSU’s Offensive Coordinator from April of 1989 until leaving the Bulldog staff in 1993 to assume his current position as head coach of the Rams. The Bulldogs posted an impressive 9-2 record in 2004 and will return a plethora of talent in 2005, a season in which they welcome the Rams to town for the first time since the 2000 season. The Rams have posted an all-time record of 1-2 versus the Bulldogs, with the last game (2000 season) going in favor of WSSU by the score of 39-28. The Rams dropped decisions to SCSU in 1977 (10-7 at a neutral site) and 1994 (48-27 at a neutral site). Current head coach Kermit Blount has faced the Bulldogs in a head coaching role twice, losing to SCSU in 1994 and winning in 2000 to post a 1-1 mark versus SCSU all-time.

Week four will mark the first conference game for the Rams, and although it will mark WSSU’s return to NCAA Division II play, it will definitely get no easier for WSSU as they will welcome to town an up-and-coming Elizabeth City State University football team. The Rams and Vikings will meet for the 50th time in 2005 as WSSU takes its overall mark versus ECSU of 34-14-1 and looks to avenge the loss to the Vikings that occurred in the two teams’ last meeting, a 15-14 defeat in Winston-Salem, NC (despite being designated as an ECSU home game) that came during the 2002 season.

Virginia Union will host WSSU in week five of the season as the Rams and Panthers will once again fasten their chin straps to face one another for the 39th time as WSSU looks to get closer to evening the all-time mark versus the Panthers. The 2005 season will have the Rams taking their all-time record of 17-20-1 into Richmond, VA to face off against a Panther team that will be looking to avenge 2004’s 20-13 loss at the hands of WSSU. Once again there will be more at stake than an important CIAA league game as WSSU head coach Kermit Blount returns to his hometown of Richmond, VA and will face off against one of his closest friends, VUU head coach Arrington Jones, III who served as WSSU’s Offensive Coordinator for three seasons (2001-03) before assuming control of the Panther football program following the 2003 season. The contest will mark the second CIAA league game for WSSU, and second intra-division matchup, but will no doubt be a contest that Ram fans everywhere will have circled on their calendars.

There will be no rest for the Rams as the first game of the second-half of the schedule will see the Rams travel to Fayetteville, NC to once again stoke the coals of what has developed into a raging inferno of a heated rivalry. The Rams and Broncos will undoubtedly be playing in front of a capacity crowd at the newly renovated Nick “Luther” Jeralds Stadium as WSSU looks to snap a three-game losing skid to Fayetteville State, one that dates back to the 2002 season and a quadruple-overtime heartbreaker (30-26). The Broncos, who were CIAA Champions in 2002 and 2003, and runners-up in 2004, will attempt to earn their 13th win versus the Rams all-time as WSSU holds the series edge 42-12-3.

October 8th, 2005 will see the Rams return to the road for their fourth road contest of the year as they travel the short distance down Highway 52 to Salisbury, NC to face the Blue Bears of Livingstone College. WSSU will look to earn their sixth straight win versus Livingstone in 2005 as the Rams have not tasted a loss at the hands of the Blue Bears since a 38-33 loss in Bowman-Gray Stadium that came during the 1998 season. WSSU will put their 31-11-1 all-time mark versus Livingstone on the line as they enter Alumni Memorial Stadium looking for their third straight road win over the Blue Bears.

Week eight will be witness to yet another rivalry game as the Rams will play host to the Eagles of North Carolina Central as WSSU looks to avenge 2004’s last-second loss to NCCU. This contest will be one that the Rams need no additional motivation for as the Rams look for revenge versus an Eagle team that scored a game-winning touchdown on an extra-play with no time on the clock to pull out a 35-33 victory over WSSU in Durham, NC last season, effectively ending the Rams’ bid for their 9th CIAA football crown. The Rams and Eagles have a storied football rivalry and have an unmentioned respect for one another as the two teams are amongst the winningest historically black universities in NCAA Division II football. The Rams look to start a new win streak versus the Eagles in 2005 as last season’s heartbreaking loss snapped a six-game WSSU win streak over NCCU that dated back to the 1998 season. The Rams hold the narrow 20-18 lead in the all-time series between the two teams that began in 1946.

Next up for the Rams will be the Golden Bulls of Johnson C. Smith University. The Rams will play the Golden Bulls in what will mark the second consecutive, and second of three straight home games during the 2005 season. The Rams look to improve upon to their all-time mark versus JCSU that currently sees the Rams holding a 36-20-3 edge in the series. WSSU defeated the Golden Bulls in Charlotte, NC during the 2004 season by the score of 31-20 in a contest that snapped a three-season JCSU scoring drought versus the Rams. WSSU will look to try to create a new scoreless streak as they try to shutout the Golden Bulls for the seventh time since the series between the two teams began in 1946.

The final game of the season will see the Rams host the Falcons of Saint Augustine’s College on Homecoming Weekend. WSSU’s final game will be a big one as the Rams not only wrap up conference play, but close out the regular season in front of a sellout crowd at Bowman-Gray Stadium while celebrating Homecoming 2005. The Rams will not have an easy time however, as the Falcons are one of the CIAA’s hottest rising programs and possess one of the highest scoring offenses in the conference. The Falcons will have added motivation versus the Rams as they will be trying to not only spoil WSSU’s Homecoming Weekend, but will be looking to avenge a 31-13 drubbing that the Rams handed them during the 2004 season as well as looking forward to possibly ending a two-game losing streak at the hands of WSSU. The game will hold special significance for the Rams as well, as WSSU looks to not only close the regular season with a win on Homecoming, but will look to even the all-time series between the two teams as WSSU currently trails the Falcons all-time 9-10-1.

Ram fans will have no time to rest as the very next weekend will mark the CIAA Championship. Should the Rams emerge victorious and sit atop of the CIAA’s very difficult Western Division, they will travel to Durham, NC to take part in the 2005 CIAA Football Championship as they look to win their ninth CIAA football title and first since the 2000 season.

Commenting on the 2005 schedule, WSSU head football coach Kermit Blount, and Director of Athletics, Dr. Chico Caldwell had nearly the same comment:

Director of Athletics, Dr. Chico Caldwell: “We are very happy to complete the 2005 schedule as our fans, alumni, and supporters have been anxious in finding out who we are competing against. We are also happy that once again, we have another strong non-conference schedule that we at WSSU feel is a direct indication of the direction in which we are heading at WSSU as not only an athletic department, but as a university.”

Head Football Coach Kermit Blount: “Again we have another tough schedule with no off-week as we face some very stiff competition in 2005. However, this is no surprise to anyone as we have been playing schedule’s of this strength for quite some time now as we have been trying to prepare ourselves for the next level of play (NCAA Division I). This schedule just shows the direction in which we are headed as a program and as an athletic department. We could schedule Sidewalk Tech University, but we have never done that at WSSU, as we firmly believe that to be the best, we must play the best, and I feel that this upcoming schedule is the beginning of our journey to greater things for this University.”

WINSTON-SALEM STATE UNIVERITY 2005 RAM FOOTBALL SCHEDULE

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