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Flag to start 2001 season officially drops
LUT WILLIAMS Ladies and gentlemen, fasten your seat
belts and start your engines, 'cause the 2001 black
college football season is on.
Twenty-eight (28) games, including 11 classics five of them with the Labor Day prefix three TV games and a Pioneer Bowl three-peat make for a full slate of black college football this weekend as the 2001 season revs into first gear. Winston-Salem State jump-started the season Saturday with a win over the number five team in the nation, Carson-Newman, a jolt that should have been heard around the NCAA Div. II playoff world. The message the CIAA is back and demanding some respect after being snubbed for eight years. Morehouse and Fort Valley State staged a double overtime thrill ride in Griffin, Ga., Saturday. The message there who said the SIAC was a one-car (Tuskegee) garage? The first full week of games has those two winners jumping right back into the fray with key match-ups against tough opponents. As well, BCSP preseason number one, defending SWAC champion Grambling, gets their first trip around the track at Alcorn State. Howard and Jackson State travel to Chicago to see which one of them can emerge from their 2000 season stall. MEAC favorite N. C. A&T takes their annual pit stop at N. C. Central (Aggie/Eagle Classic) while Norfolk State and Virginia State clash in Norfolk.
Winston-Salem State (1-0)
The two teams, both two-time defending champions in their respective conferences, have battled for black college Div. II supremacy the last two years in the season-ending Pioneer Bowl with each team getting a win. WSSU won the PB III battle in 1999, 23-7 over the Golden Tigers who came back to take last year's game, 12-9 to complete a perfect 12-0 season. That means the last loss for both teams was to the other. Tuskegee is ranked fourth in the Div. II South Region preseason poll and tenth nationally. Although the Golden Tigers are ineligible for the playoffs because their season-ending Thanksgiving Day (11/22) game with Alabama State comes after the Div. II playoffs start, their position in the polls is significant. Both teams are also on highs Tuskegee, following their first black college national title since 1930 and first undefeated season since 1967, and WSSU, unloved and unranked going into the season, on the heels of their breakthrough win over Carson-Newman. The first rankings regional rankings of the year won't come out until next week and wins over two ranked teams would certainly look good for WSSU. A loss to TU however, could throw the Rams' and the CIAA's playoff hopes back into a tizzy. Here's predicting it will be one of the best and most hard fought games of the year between two of the best and most competitive coaches around, Tuskegee's Rick Comegy and WSSU's Kermit Blount. PREDICTION: Tuskegee has more offense and defense than Carson-Newman which should make it hard for the Rams to pull off two upsets in a row especially on the road. The Rams will go down fighting, 31-17.
Fort Valley State (1-0)
They could take a big step in that direction with a win over Valdosta State, ranked fifth in preseason Div. II polls, who did nothing to hurt that ranking with a 41-6 rout of Albany State last week. Senior Matt Davis showed he's capable of leading the Wildcat offense, hitting on 16 of 21 passes for 229 yards and two TDs, in the Morehouse game. Running backs Orlando Wiley (30 cars., 142 yds., 2 TDs) and Duron Croson (8 cars., 58 yds., 1 TD) along with receivers Ken Schoolfield (6 recs., 48 yds.) and Anthony Snead (5 recs., 59 yds., 1 TD) showed that offense will not be their problem. The defense and special teams are another story. The defense gave up 366 yards to the Morehouse offense, 225 through the air, while placekicker Andrew Jacus missed an extra point and a 23-yard field goal in overtime. They will face a Valdosta State offense that led the nation in passing (377.9 ypg.) last year and features Harlon Hill candidate, QB Dusty Bonner, who did not have a particularly good game against Albany State. That means he's due. PREDICTION: Valdosta crushed Fort Valley a year ago, 46-0, after which the Wildcats won five straight games. The 'Cats look for revenge but don't get it, 45-28. © 2001 Azeez Communications, Inc.
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