#1 vs. #2 in Labor Day Special
Full 32-game slate highlighted by SWAC/MEAC Challenge in Birmingham on ESPN2
LUT WILLIAMS
BCSP Editor
Is there a better way to kick off a full slate of 32 black college football games over the extended Labor Day weekend than a match-up of the two teams at the top of every black college ranking?
Saturday morning (11 a.m. CST) in Birmingham, the BCSP No. 1 Pirates of Hampton face off against No. 2 Grambling State in as early a matchup of the top two teams as there has ever been. But there's so much more at stake.
It's the first national showcase for black college football as the game will be carried live on ESPN2. It's billed as the 2nd SWAC/MEAC Challenge and will be the first time champions of the two conferences have met in the game. So major conference bragging rights are on the line.
It pits the only black college teams ranked in the Sports Network NCAA Div. I-AA preseason Top 25 and the result could go a long way to determining their early season rankings. That has particular relevance for No. 13 Hampton who is expected to play all season for positioning in the I-AA playoffs.
Perhaps most importantly, it will be a gauge of the relative strength of programs that both finished 11-1 last season and on top of every black college end-of-season ranking. Grambling got the nod in the final BCSP ranking while the two shared the top spot in the Sheridan poll.
"This should be a real good barometer to show just where we are as a team," said Hampton head coach Joe Taylor Tuesday on the MEAC teleconference. His team is the two-time defending MEAC champion and has represented the conference the last two years in the I-AA playoffs. Both times the Pirates fell short. "If we do have some goals, we'll find out quick if they're realistic," said Taylor (See story below).
Grambling rode a record-breaking season by departed quarterback Bruce Eugene to the SWAC title and its top billing last year. Redshirt sophomore Brandon Landers, who takes over at QB after sitting out last year, was the SWAC freshman of the year in 2004 when Eugene was lost for the season with a knee injury.
Landers' 18-year old brother was killed in a shooting in Monroe, La., on Friday night but Spears said on Monday's SWAC teleconference that he expects Landers to start Saturday.
"Brandon went to the kids' house before this happened trying to end a quarrel that he had earlier with his brother," Spears explained. "We're just praying for all the young men involved and hope Brandon will be OK. If he can't go, we'll start (back-up) Larry Kerlegan." This week's schedule starts with three games on Thursday. Saturday's schedule features a SWAC Labor Day Classic in Chicago (Arkansas-Pine Bluff vs. Mississippi Valley State) a MEAC Classic battle in Detroit (Florida A&M vs. Delaware State) and inter-conference tussles in Jacksonville (Bethune-Cookman vs. Southern) and Norfolk (Norfolk State vs. Virginia State).
In other key match-ups Saturday, N.C. A&T hosts rival Winston-Salem State and Albany State plays at Valdosta State. The weekend culminates with a CIAA Labor Day Classic in Durham Sunday pitting North Carolina Central against Shaw.
© 2006 Azeez Communications, Inc.