Classic days for first full weekend
LUT WILLIAMS
BCSP Editor
Ten games dubbed "Classics" were on the 30-game schedule for Saturday and another two on Sunday. However, Hurricane Francis has forced the movement of one and the cancellation of another. Despite the weather in Florida, there are a host of other intriguing matchups likely to draw as much or more attention.
In Grambling, La., the BCSP No. 1-ranked
Grambling State Tigers take on BCSP No. 6
Alcorn State in a key SWAC early season battle (6:30 p.m.). The game will match
the two best senior QBs in the SWAC and maybe in all
of black college football in GSU's Bruce Eugene
and Alcorn State's Donald Carrie and pits two teams
among the favorites to square off in the Dec. 11 SWAC
Championship Game.
Grambling leads the series 37-15 and has won the last six games between the two including last year's 40-28 decision.
Albany State (1-0, 1-0 SIAC), No. 6 in the BCSP ranking coming off a big win over SIAC contender Miles on Saturday, has a big date from a national perspective at home (7 p.m.) vs. powerhouse Valdosta State, ranked as high as third (Sports Network) in NCAA Div. II football. VSU has defeated the Golden Rams all nine times the two have met, seven times during the regular season and twice in the Div. II playoffs.
Defending SWAC and black college national champion, Southern, also gets to test its mettle early as the Jaguars host McNeese State (7 p.m.), ranked seventh in the ESPN/USA Today I-AA poll. This will be the first meeting on the gridiron between the two Louisiana schools.
Florida A&M kicks off its 'Murderer's Row" of a schedule Saturday at the University of Illinois (5 p.m.).
The weekend Classics include four Div. I-AA MEAC teams going up against their black college Div. II brethren.
Morgan State of the MEAC hosts CIAA member Bowie State Saturday (6 p.m.) in the 1st Parkway Classic. The two schools, separated by 20 miles, have not met on the gridiron since 1990. BSU leads the series 3-2-1.
MEAC-member South Carolina State travels to the University of South Carolina's Brice Stadium Saturday to face Benedict in the Palmetto Capital City Classic (6 p.m.). The series pitting the two largest HBCUs in the state of South Carolina is led by SCSU 25-8 with seven ties. The Bulldogs have won the last seven meetings, including the last three since Benedict re-instated its grid program in 1999.
The MEAC's Norfolk State hosts Virginia State of the CIAA Saturday at Norfolk's Dick Price Stadium (6 p.m.). Norfolk State has won four of the last five but dropped last year's 16-15 decision in NSU coach Willie Gillus's first season.
North Carolina A&T of the MEAC has dominated former CIAA rival North Carolina Central (1-0, 1-0 CIAA W) winning 14 of their last 15 meetings. They'll square off again Sunday at Raleigh's Carter-Finley Stadium (4 p.m.) in the 11th Aggie-Eagle Classic.
The largest crowd is expected to pack Detroit's New Ford Field for the second annual Ford Detroit Football Classic pitting Howard of the MEAC against Alabama State of the SWAC. The inaugural Classic a year ago drew in excess of 54,000 fans.
The backyard Labor Day rivalry of Texas Southern and Prairie View takes on another interesting twist this year.
The new coaches for both teams Henry Frazier of Prairie View and Steve Wilson of Texas Southern were both at Bowie State a year ago, Frazier as head coach and Wilson as defensive coordinator.
© 2004 Azeez Communications, Inc.