Leaders shake out in home stretch

LUT WILLIAMS
BCSP Editor

Some finality and a bit of clarity were the results of games played this past weekend in black college football.

CIAA

With its 39-9 win over St. Paul's Saturday, Elizabeth City State won the CIAA East Division title and secured its spot in the Nov. 8 CIAA title game in Durham, N.C.

The Vikings (6-3, 6-0), who close the regular season hosting Virginia Union Saturday (1 p.m.), will either play Shaw or Fayetteville State out of the West Division for the league crown.

Shaw (6-3, 5-1) , who defeated Fayetteville State 19-12 in their Oct. 12 head-to-head match-up, needs a win Saturday (1 p.m.) at Johnson C. Smith (3-6, 2-4) to win the division and face ECSU next Saturday in the championship game. FSU (7-2, 5-1) needs a win Saturday (1 p.m.) vs. Livingstone and JCSU to defeat Shaw in order to win the division.

What's still screwy about the CIAA situation is that despite being leaders in their respective divisions, neither Elizabeth City State or Shaw is currently ranked in the top eight places of the NCAA Div. II's new Super Regional One.

In case you're not up on the latest realignment in Div. II, the CIAA is no longer part of the Southeast Region along with the South Atlantic and Gulf South Conferences for football . The CIAA's affiliation has now been shifted north and the league is now part of what's called Super Regional One along with the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC), the West Virginia Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WVIAC) and the Northeast-10 Conference. The SIAC has now been joined with the SAC and GSC in Super Regional Two.

The new alignment has also brought with it a new formula for determining Div. II playoff eligibility. Now in order for a conference to 'earn access' to the playoffs, a conference team must finish in the top eight of the super regional rankings to make the 32-team playoff field.

In Regional Rankings released on Monday, Oct. 27, Fayetteville State is ranked eighth in Super Regional One while Shaw and Elizabeth City State are unranked.

In Super Regional Two, 5-3 Albany State is ranked eighth despite losses to three SIAC schools (Tuskegee, Benedict and Morehouse).

SIAC

The race is over in the SIAC.

A 52-34 win over Kentucky State and Clark Atlanta's 13-12 loss to Lane gave undefeated Tuskegee (8-0, 7-0) its third straight SIAC title in three years under head coach Willie Slater, the Golden Tigers' 27th SIAC title overall. TU travels to Clark Atlanta Saturday (2 p.m.).

The SIAC title will likely land Tuskegee in its fourth straight and ninth overall postseason Pioneer Bowl against a CIAA opponent (Sat., Dec. 6, Columbia, S.C.). The Golden Tigers are not eligible for the Div. II playoffs because of their traditional season-ending Thanksgiving Day match-up against in-state rival Alabama State.

Meanwhile, if Albany State is to retain its No. 8 ranking in the region, they'll need to finish with regular-season ending wins Saturday (2 p.m.) over Fort Valley State (5-4, 5-2) at the Fountain City Classic in Columbus, Ga. and next week at home vs. Miles.

SWAC

Prairie View A&M kept its hopes alive for a West Division title and berth in the SWAC Championship Game with a comeback 24-23 win Saturday over Southern. The win leaves the Panthers (7-1, 4-1) just a half-game behind West Division leader Grambling State (6-2, 4-0) headed into the final month of regular season games.

Seven games count on SWAC teams conference ledger ­four against division opponents and three pre-selected games against opposite division teams.

Prairie View is off this week but has two games left against East Division teams (Nov. 8 at Alabama A&M and Nov. 15 vs. Alcorn State), both that will count on its conference record.

Grambling has four games left, all that will count on the conference record, beginning with a date at Mississippi Valley State (2-5, 0-3) Saturday (1 p.m.). Southern (4-4, 3-1), with three games left, tries to keep pace hosting Arkansas-Pine Bluff (1-7, 0-3) Saturday in Baton Rouge.

In the East, Alabama A&M (4-5 overall) and Jackson State (4-4 overall) are tied with 3-1 conference records. Both are idle this week before finishing the season with three games including their Nov. 15 meeting in Jackson, Ms.

MEAC

South Carolina State broke from a 0-0 halftime tie to score five second-half rushing touchdowns en route to a 35-13 rout of Hampton Saturday that gave the Bulldogs (6-2, 4-0) control of the MEAC race. Travil Jamison rushed for 151 yards and four touchdowns while Will Ford rushed for 182 and another score as the 'Dawgs gashed the Pirates for 316 rushing yards.

Buddy Pough's troops must now travel to Dover, Delaware to take on (1 p.m.) defending MEAC champ Delaware State (3-4, 3-2), a team that has defeated the Bulldogs in each of the last two seasons. SCSU has four conference games left on its schedule as it looks for its first MEAC title since 1994. Three of those games are on the road.

Behind South Carolina State in the MEAC is a group of five teams with two or less losses in conference play waiting to see if the Bulldogs falter.

Morgan State (5-3, 3-1) defeated Delaware State Saturday, 20-3, to move into a tie with Hampton for second place in the conference. The Bears, whose only loss in league play was a close 31-27 decision to Bethune-Cookman, plays this week at Florida A&M's homecoming. The Rattlers (6-2, 2-2), with losses to DelState and SC State in conference play, are one of those still with a shot at the title.

Bethune-Cookman (5-2, 2-2) hosts North Carolina A&T this week (4 p.m.). The Aggies (3-6, 1-4) are fresh off a 21-20 win Saturday over Howard in the debut of interim coach George Ragsdale. Hampton (5-2, 4-1) has a non-conference date hosting Winston-Salem State (1-6) for homecoming (2 p.m.).

OTHERS

Tennessee State (6-2, 3-1 OVC) fell back into a three-way tie in the loss column with UT-Martin (5-1) and Eastern Kentucky (4-1) in the Ohio Valley Conference after an overtime loss to SE Missouri Saturday.

After playing in other teams' homecomings the past two weeks, the Blue Tigers stage their own homecoming this week (5 p.m.) in Nashville vs. Tennessee Tech (3-6, 1-4).

Langston (6-2) moved up three spots to #13 in the NAIA Top 25 Coaches Poll this week maintaining a slim one-game lead over Bacone College in the Central States Football League standings.

The Lions, sporting a three-game winning streak after a 13-2 loss to Grambling last month, host Southwestern Assemblies of God University this weekend as they shoot for a spot in the 16-team NAIA playoffs.

© 2008 Azeez Communications, Inc.

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