NCCU, Hampton tie for top spot
LUT WILLIAMS
BCSP Editor
As is often the case, determining the No.1 black college football team in the final BCSP Top Ten came down to a couple of choices.
CIAA champion North Carolina Central
and MEAC champion Hampton were the
obvious picks as their seasons ranked head-and-shoulders above everyone
else. They are the only two teams to occupy the top spot in 2006.
Hampton, led by veteran coach Joe Taylor, was the preseason No. 1 and held that position as it went undefeated thru seven weeks of the regular season until its 13-6 loss at South Carolina State on October 21, its only blemish during a 10-1 campaign.
NCCU, under fourth-year head coach Rod Broadway, began the season ranked fifth behind Hampton, Grambling State, South Carolina State and Alabama A&M. The Eagles however kept their record clean as the others faltered and moved into the top spot after Hampton's loss. The Eagles stayed there for the rest of the year as they completed a perfect 11-0 regular season.
After winning their respective conference championships _ Hampton's third straight MEAC crown and NCCU's second straight CIAA title _ both veteran teams would enter the postseason with confidence and lofty ambitions of a deep run in the playoffs.
Neither would see those ambitions realized however, with each losing its first game in the playoffs at home in the round of 16. Hampton dropped a 41-38 heart-breaker to New Hampshire while NCCU was thwarted by Delta State, 24-17.
Any difference between the two is slight that's why we're ranking both NC Central and Hampton at the top of the 2006 final BCSP Top Ten.
It's NCCU and Broadway's first No. 1 final ranking and only their second time in the Top Ten. The Eagles finished fourth last season.
This is Hampton's second time finishing on top of the BCSP Top Ten. The Pirates finished alone on top in 1997. Hampton was second in 1994, 2003 and 2004.
Behind the Eagles and Pirates are two SWAC teams that emerged from a crowded field to compete for that conference's championship.
Alabama A&M (9-3) takes third by virtue of the Bulldogs first conference championship since joining the SWAC in 1996. And it took them four tries to do it.
Finally this year, with Grambling, the team that beat them in three other SWAC Championship games out of the way, the Anthony Jones' Bulldogs prevailed knocking off Arkansas-Pine Bluff 22-13 in the title game.
The UAPB Golden Lions (9-4) were perhaps the Cinderella story of 2006. Head coach Mo Forte's troops were picked to finish fourth in the West Division by league coaches but ran past perennial division kingpins Southern and Grambling in the midst of a seven-game winning streak that garnered them the division title. Handicapped in the SWAC championship game, they bowed to A&M, 22-13. The Golden Lions occupy the fourth spot.
If the glass slipper didn't fit UAPB then it certainly wore well for 9-3 Elizabeth City State under head coach Waverly Tiller. The Vikings, picked fifth in the division in preseason voting by CIAA coaches, rolled undefeated to the conference's East Division title, battled NC Central on near even terms in the league's title game and then battled gamely in the Div. II playoffs. The Vikings earned their fifth place standing in the final ranking.
Albany State (7-4), which won its fourth straight SIAC crown under James "Mike" White and made a third straight trip to the D2 playoffs, holds down number six. Delaware State, who cemented its place behind Hampton in the MEAC with its second straight second-place finish, is seventh.
South Carolina State (7-4), rebounded from a shaky start to tie DelState for second in the MEAC. The Bulldogs, under Buddy Pough, are eighth.
Tuskegee (9-3), in new coach Willie Slater's first season, was the only SIAC team to knock off Albany State but faltered against lesser SIAC opponents to finish behind the Golden Rams. They hold down the ninth spot. Johnson C. Smith (CIAA) and Florida A&M (MEAC), both finished 7-4 and made huge strides towards respectability in their respective conferences. They together round out our final Top Ten.
© 2006 Azeez Communications, Inc.