Non-conference games highlight schedule
LUT WILLIAMS
BCSP Editor
The next-to-the-last weekend of September is filled with out-of-conference games for HBCUs, four against tough Div. IA opponents on the road. The top inter-conference battle however is between the SWAC and CIAA in Baton Rouge, La. The CIAA also has three more games against its NCAA Div. II Southeast Region nemesis, the South Atlantic Conference.
Key conference games are also on tap in the MEAC, SIAC and SWAC.
This week's top inter-conference game is between teams ranked second and third in the latest BCSP Top Ten.
Southern (2-1, 1-1 SWAC W) ranked third, who suffered a a tough overtime upset loss to Prairie View last week, hosts CIAA defending champion, undefeated North Carolina Central. NCCU (3-0, 2-0 CIAA W), coming off a NCAA Div. II playoff appearance last year, is currently ranked second in the BCSP Top Ten behind top-ranked Hampton.
This will be a real test for Rod Broadway's talented NCCU squad against a quality I-AA opponent and perennial SWAC contender. This is the first meeting between the schools and NCCU has never defeated a SWAC opponent. NCCU is expected to move up to I-AA next year.
Southern continues to be plagued by an anemic running game which accounted for only 59 yards in 33 carries vs. Prairie View and averages just 39 yards per game. Southern QB J. C. Lewis however is the SWAC's most proficient and prodigious passer hitting on 60.8% of his passes (59 of 97) for 698 yards with eight TDs and only two interceptions.
NCCU QB Stadford Brown is also his conference's leading passer and has numbers similar to Lewis. Brown has completed 58.5% of his tosses (38 of 65) for 690 yards with six TDs and two interceptions.
The game is likely to come down to who takes better care of the ball and which defense does the best job.
As far as the IA foes are concerned, Tennessee State (2-1) is travelling crosstown in Nashville to face winless Vanderbilt (0-3), who has close losses to Michigan (27-7), Alabama (13-10) and Arkansas (21-19). This will be the first meeting between the schools on the gridiron. The schools are separated by about five miles. The TSU men have met Vanderbilt once in basketball.
Winless Howard (0-2) travels to Piscataway, N.J. to face unbeaten Rutgers (3-0) while Arkansas-Pine Bluff (1-2) gets a chance to host a IA program when it entertains unbeaten Southern Illinois (2-0).
Winless North Carolina A&T (0-2) travels to Louisiana to take on Louisiana-Lafayette (0-2), whose losses are to nationally-ranked LSU and Texas A&M.
The CIAA will try to improve on its 1-8 record vs. the SAC this season as it closes out this phase of the schedule with three more games. Unbeaten Newberry (3-0) hosts fellow unbeaten Elizabeth City State (3-0), Mars Hill (2-1) hosts St. Augustine's (1-2), who lost to SAC frontrunner Carson-Newman 24-14 last week, while Virginia State (0-3) entertains CNU in Petersburg.
In conference games, Virginia Union (2-1, 1-0 E) entertains Johnson C. Smith (2-1, 0-1 W), Fayetteville State (1-3, 0-1 W) is at home vs. St. Paul's (1-2, 0-0 E) and Livingstone (0-4, 0-1 W) takes on Bowie State (2-1, 0-0) at Memorial Stadium in Charlotte (N.C.) in a game billed as The Classic.
The wild, wild SWAC had three games Saturday that went down to the final seconds. Prairie View upset Southern in overtime, Mississippi Valley State got a last-second field goal to knock off Alabama A&M and Jackson State lost to Tennessee State on a two-point conversion in overtime.
In games this weekend, A&M (2-1, 1-1 W) has to regroup as it travels to Texas to face Texas Southern (2-1, 2-0 W). TSU's only win last year was an upset of A&M at the Bulldogs' homecoming.
MVSU (2-1, 2-1 E) is at Jackson State (1-1, 0-0 E) and Alcorn State (0-2, 0-1 E) hosts Alabama State (1-2, 1-1 E) in pivotal East Division battles. Prairie View (2-1) hosts Langston (1-1) in a non-conference tilt.
Bethune-Cookman (2-1, 1-0) hosts Norfolk State (2-0, 0-0) in the key MEAC match-up. B-CC and NSU played to a 63-61 four overtime decision last year in Norfolk. This game matches B-CC head coach Alvin Wyatt against his former defensive coordinator, second-year NSU head coach Pete Adrian.
Top-ranked Hampton (3-0, 2-0) meets Morgan State (1-2, 0-0) at the New York Urban League Classic at the New Jersey Meadowlands while South Carolina State (1-2, 0-1), reeling after a 45-21 loss to B-CC, is at Coastal Carolina (1-2).
In the SIAC games, Fort Valley State (2-1, 1-1) and Tuskegee (2-1, 2-1) meet in Macon, Ga. and Miles (2-1, 2-0) and Stillman tussle Sunday in Birmingham. Benedict hosts Lenoir-Rhyne, Morehouse hosts Concordia and Kentucky State plays Central State in Lexington, Ky., in out-of-conference games.
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