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Taking their shots
LUT WILLIAMS North Carolina A&T makes a rare trip out to the Great Northwest to face tenth-ranked Portland State in the second annual Vanport Invitational Football Classic in Portland, Or., while Delaware State brings 14th-ranked Northwestern State of Louisiana to Dover.
They head out to Portland for a classic which honors the legacy of Vanport City, Or., and the early days of Vanport College, now known as Portland State University. Vanport City, located just north of Portland, was a planned community founded in 1942 as Oregon's second largest city and the largest federal housing project in the United States. It provided jobs to thousands of wartime laborers working in the local shipyards and offered many the opportunity to leave the poverty and inequities of the South to pursue a better life in the Northwest. More than 25,000 of the city's residents were African-Americans. Vanport College was founded in 1946 with the intent of serving many of Vanport's residents. On May 30, 1948, a wall of water ten feet high roared through Vanport City, knocking down buildings destroying lives, property and the dreams of its citizens. The Classic attempts to honor the history of the region and the school by inviting an HBCU to play in the game each year. Nike is the sponsor of the game. Grambling State defeated Portland State 30-29 in the first Classic last season on a touchdown on the last play of the game. The Classic drew the largest crowd of the season for Portland State. The game between PSU, a member of the Big Sky Conference, and NC A&T will be a first-ever meeting between the schools. Each school was picked in preseason polls to place second in their respective conferences. Head coach Bill Hayes has hired a new offensive coordinator (Linwood Ferguson) and is attempting to get the Aggies, traditionally a running team, into more of a wide-open attack. That transition is having mixed results as they have managed a total of only 457 offensive yards through two games. What has saved them is a defense that is a +9 in turnover margin. They got eight Saturday in the win over Jackson State. Sophomore running back Ryan Fuqua rushed for 142 yards and two scores and also had a touchdown reception in Portland State's 31-23 win over Stephen F. Austin to open the season. The Vikings were off last week. Fuqua extended his string of 100-yard games to five. He and senior quarterback Justin Wood, a first team All-Big Sky Conference pick, are the Vikings chief weapons. Wood is listed among a group of players to watch for this year's Walter Payton Award given to I-AA's best offensive performer. The game will be carried live on A&T's radio station, WNAA (90.1 FM) and is available on the internet at ncat.edu. PREDICTION: The travel and hype will bring out the best in the Aggies. But the porous pass defense that gave up 540 passing yards last week will likely be exploited. PSU 35, A&T 21.
Northwestern State (2-0)
NWSU turned two third quarter fumbles into touchdowns to pull away from a halftime deadlock and knock off Southern, 30-20. Blacknall, in his third season at DSU, has the Hornets off to a 2-0 start for the first time in his tenure with wins over Morris Brown and Savannah State. Quarterback Kitrell Barnes, who passed for 216 yards and a touchdown against Savannah State, leads the Hornet offense. But the defense has been stellar in the two wins. It has limited opponents to 1.2 yards per rush and 9.5 points per game, both tops in early season MEAC statistics. Saturday's game, however, will be their first real test. NWSU had six sacks and got 299 rushing yards against Southern, considered by some to have a strong defensive unit. Shelton Sampson rushed for 157 yards against the Jags defense on just eight carries, while Derrick Johnese had 72 and a pair of rushing touchdowns. PREDICTION: DelState will need its best effort to date to hold off NWSU. They'll hang with the Demons for a while. NWSU 33, DelState 21.
Jackson State (0-2, 0-0 SWAC) vs
This traditional battle between two high-powered offenses is usually a high-scoring affair and all signs point to the same this year. TSU bombed JSU 64-33 last year in a game made-up in late November after it was cancelled because of Sept. 11. Six-five JSU junior quarterback Robert Kent is coming off a 540-yard, five-TD passing performance against A&T but is once again on pace to have a bad TD-to-interception ratio. Last year Kent threw 21 picks to go along with his 31 TD passes. This year he has six interceptions through two games, including four last week against A&T. TSU QB Bryan Rosser didn't do much better in week one, throwing five interceptions in a loss to South Carolina State. He was benched in favor of Riley Walker (two TD passes) and Kenny Irby (one TD pass) in a win over Prairie View last week. PREDICTION: Kent, who has a Superman-like pose on the Jackson State media guide cover (get it, Clark Kent?), will need a Man of Steel effort to dent the TSU secondary, the strength of the Tiger's team. Avoiding the turnovers will be the key to JSU's victory. JSU 43, TSU 38.
Howard (1-0, 0-0 MEAC) vs
Hampton has split two non-conference games getting a good win over James Madison before falling closely (28-26) to Southwest Missouri last weekend. Howard and new head coach Ray Petty got a last-minute win over Texas Southern last week to open its season as QB Donald Clark threw five TD passes. PREDICTION: The high-risk Howard offense will have to avoid turnovers to beat Hampton at home. They won't. Hampton 29, Howard 23.
Winston-Salem St. (0-2, 0-0 CIAA)
PREDICTION: Playing at home against a depleted WSSU defense, BSU should put some points on the board. Bowie State 31, WSSU 20. © 2002 Azeez Communications, Inc.
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NC A&T (1-1,
0-0 MEAC)