Pitched battles in CIAA; MEAC gut-checks
LUT WILLIAMS
BCSP Editor
North Carolina Central (2-1, 1-0 CIAA W) will host Bowie State (2-1, 1-0 CIAA E) Saturday (4 pm) in what should be a good gauge of the 2004 CIAA football race.
After opening the season with a relatively easy win over Johnson C. Smith, NCCU has stood up to two black college I-AA/MEAC programs, losing 16-15 on a last second field goal to North Carolina A&T before knocking off Delaware State Saturday, 26-23.
Bowie State also showed it could play with
its I-AA black college brethren when they took Morgan State
of the MEAC to the wire before bowing 41-35 on Sept. 4. The Bulldogs
came back to score a big CIAA East Division win Saturday over
Virginia State (26-23).
Though the teams compete in opposite divisions of the CIAA, this week's game will count on the divisional/conference record for BSU but not for NCCU. Regardless of that, with the way both teams are playing this could be a preview of the Nov. 6 CIAA Championship Game in Durham.
All the CIAA games this week have an East/West flavor to them and the rest of these results will count on both teams' conference/divisional records.
Shaw (3-0, 1-0 CIAA E), who will certainly be a factor in the East Division race, does battle with cross-town rival St. Augustine's (1-2, 0-0 CIAA W) in Raleigh (1 p.m.). Winston-Salem State (0-3, 0-0 CIAA W) looks for its first win of the season as does Virginia Union (0-3, 0-1 CIAA E) when they hook up in Winston-Salem (1:30 p.m.). Two-time defending CIAA champion Fayetteville State travels to Petersburg, Va., to take on Virginia State (2-1, 0-1 CIAA E) in another key matchup (6:30 p.m.).
Early indications are that the SIAC race will come down to defending champion Albany State, Tuskegee and Fort Valley State, who are all undefeated through three weeks of the season and have key conference wins already under their belts.
Tuskegee (3-0, 1-0) hosts Benedict (1-2, 0-1) Saturday (1 p.m.), Albany State (3-0, 2-0) entertains Lane (2-1, 0-1) while Fort Valley State is idle.
MEAC teams have a series of out-of-conference gut-checks.
North Carolina A&T (1-1, 0-0 MEAC) plays a Div. I-A opponent for only the second time in their history whey they travel to Winston-Salem, N.C, to meet ACC-member, Wake Forest (2-1).
Morgan State (1-1) travels to San Jose, Ca., to participate in the Read-2-Lead Classic vs. Div. I-A San Jose State (0-1). Hampton (2-0, 1-0) hosts Western Illinois (1-1), ranked 16th in the latest Sports Network I-AA poll.
In the SWAC, surprisingly undefeated Prairie View (2-0, 1-0 SWAC W) and new coach Henry Frazier will likely get a reality check when they host (7 p.m., CST) defending champ, Southern (1-1, 1-0 SWAC W). Elsewhere, BCSP No. 1 Alabama State (2-0, 1-0 SWAC E) hosts Arkansas-Pine Bluff (1-1, 1-0 SWAC W).
© 2004 Azeez Communications, Inc.