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SC State, Prairie View tie for top spot
Lut Williams
BCSP Editor
Mid Eastern Athletic Conference champion South Carolina State and Southwestern Athletic Conference champ Prairie View A&M are so close they can't be separated in the final 2009 Black College Sports Page Football Top Ten.
Both teams went undefeated in conference play with SCSU posting eight straight wins against MEAC competition and PVA&M producing nine versus fellow SWAC opponents. Neither team lost to a black college opponent.
In their only game against a common opponent 2008 SWAC champion Grambling State both SCSU (34-31) and PV A&M (35-32) got three-point victories.
So just as a year ago, when South Carolina State (MEAC) and Grambling State (SWAC) tied for the top spot in the final BCSP Top Ten after outstanding runs to their respective titles, the same holds this year for the Bulldogs (10-2) and the Panthers (9-1).
Though Prairie View's rise under sixth-year head coach Henry Frazier III from the dust bin of college programs to the top of the SWAC gridiron food chain is the stuff of legend, Buddy Pough's 19-game MEAC win streak and back-to-back titles is no less compelling. They share our top spot in the final ranking.
Florida A&M (8-3) in the MEAC and Grambling State (7-4) in the SWAC battled the respective conference champions but came up a little short. FAMU also dropped a late-season decision to Hampton while GSU stubbed its toe late against Arkansas-Pine Bluff.
Alabama A&M survived a tough race to claim the SWAC East Division title and got a second shot at Prairie View in the SWAC Championship game (see story above). It lost to PV both times by six points.
Tuskegee (10-2), who made it four Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference titles in a row under head coach Willie Slater, leads the second half of our ranking. In addition to an opening-game upset to Miles, the Golden Tigers lost 35-15 to Alabama A&M at the Circle City Classic.
Pete Adrian's Spartans of Norfolk State (7-4) were clipped early by North Carolina A&T but rebounded for a strong third-place MEAC finish.
In head coach Johnny Cole's second season, Texas Southern (6-5) made the biggest leap, with wins over Southern and Arkansas-Pine Bluff into a tie with Grambling for second place in the SWAC West. SIAC runner-up Albany State (8-3) made its fifth straight NCAA Div. II playoff appearance under James "Mike" White and holds down the ninth spot while CIAA champ and fellow D2 playoff participant Fayetteville State (8-4), under Kenny Phillips is tenth.
© 2009 Azeez Communications, Inc.