NCCU/ECSU vie for CIAA title, playoff berth?
LUT WILLIAMS
BCSP Editor
There's more at stake in Saturday's CIAA Championship Game in Durham than the conference's top trophy.
Undefeated West Division champion North Carolina Central (10-0) and once-beaten East Division titlist Elizabeth City State (9-1) are also right in the thick of the NCAA Div. II playoff picture.
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Going into Saturday's contest, NCCU is third and ECSU is fourth in the Southeast Region of Div. II that also includes teams from the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic, Gulf South and South Atlantic conferences. Only six teams from the region will make the 24-team national tournament field that will compete for the Div. II championship. The playoff field will be announced on Sunday, Nov. 12 between 1-2 p.m. and will be unveiled on ESPNews.
Under a somewhat complicated system labelled "Earned Access" that determines who advances beyond conference play to the national championship tournament, a team can earn a playoff berth if any team from its conference finishes in the top ten of next week's final ranking. That scenario opens the door to 7-3 Albany State, who finished its regular season by clinching its fourth straight SIAC title last week and is currently ranked eighth in the region. A loss by either NCCU or ECSU could theoretically knock either out of the top six and end their playoff hopes.
Precedent, however, seems to go against that scenario. In 2004, Shaw won the CIAA championship game but was denied a playoff berth. NCAA officials explained that the CIAA title game, because it was a postseason game that did not count in the teams' regular season record, was not considered in the playoff evaluation process.
This should mean that NCCU and ECSU are in the playoff field regardless the outcome of what should be a very competitive game Saturday in Durham. Newberry (10-0), who has clinched the SAC championship, is the top-ranked team in the region and the only team to defeat Elizabeth City (49-33) this year. They are also the only SAC team in the top six in the region. North Alabama (9-0), the Gulf South champ, is second in the region. GSC members Delta State (8-2) and Valdosta State (7-2) are currently fifth and sixth in the region.
None of the post-game possibilities should detract from Saturday's game in Durham between easily the CIAA's most talented teams. Neither defending champion NCCU or ECSU were picked by conference coaches to reach the title game. NCCU was picked second in the West and ECSU fifth in the East. But each has ridden talented quarterbacks, NCCU freshman Stadford Brown and ECSU junior Curtis Rich, Jr., and strong defenses to the title game.
A couple of other black college titles could be decided Saturday.
With a win in Tallahassee, Fl. vs. Florida A&M (6-3, 4-2), Hampton (9-1, 6-1) secures its third straight MEAC title and third straight automatic bid to the NCAA Div. I-AA playoffs. The FAMU game is Hampton's last regular season contest. A Hampton loss would open the door for Delaware State (7-2, 5-1) who would have to win out Saturday at Norfolk State (3-6, 1-6) and Nov. 18 at Howard.
In the SWAC, Arkansas-Pine Bluff (6-3, 5-2), who has a two-game lead in the West Division, can clinch a division title and spot in the Dec. 16 SWAC Championship game with a win at Southern (4-4, 3-4). East leader Alabama A&M (7-2, 5-2) can come within one game of the same with a win at home vs. Alcorn State (4-4, 3-3). The Bulldogs would still have to defeat Prairie View on Nov. 18.
© 2006 Azeez Communications, Inc.