Challenge moving to MEAC site

By JOSEPH SCHIEFELBEIN, Advocate sportswriter

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — Saturday’s MEAC/SWAC Challenge was the last of three straight at Legion Field, with the event moving to Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference territory next season.

Though Birmingham will be considered again for future challenges, a year and a rotation basis is not established. The next site will not necessarily host the Challenge for a three-year run like Birmingham did.

“The original idea was to rotate each year,” said ESPN spokesperson Tilea Coleman, who said with Birmingham being such a strong host that the city would certainly be considered again in the future.

Neither Coleman nor SWAC Interim Commissioner Duer Sharp could say what cities are being considered next season.

The Southwestern Athletic Conference’s offices are located in Birmingham; SWAC members Alabama A&M (in Huntsville) and Alabama State (in Montgomery) meet here in the Magic City Classic; and the SWAC Championship Game is played here as well.

Heritage Bowl return?
Meanwhile, the two conferences might renew their postseason meeting, the Heritage Bowl, a 1990s phenomenon, with Sharp confirming there were “preliminary talks.”

“We would love to do it. I think it would be great,” Sharp said.

“The talk is of trying to restart the Heritage Bowl,” SU Athletic Director Greg LaFleur said. “If we can get the MEAC to send its best, ESPN is considering Orlando (Fla.).”

Previously, the games were in Atlanta. One big holdup is the MEAC champion has an automatic bid to the football championship subdivision playoffs. The last time the game was played, in Dec. 1999, the third-place MEAC team, Hampton, played SWAC champion Southern, fresh off its win in the first SWAC Championship Game.

“It will only work if it’s a one versus a one,” Sharp said. “To be a true Heritage Bowl, it has to be a one versus a one.”

Sharp said the SWAC could do away with its championship game in order to make a Heritage Bowl work.

Game ball
To Southern. A team with depth concerns going in got stronger as the game progressed, scoring an impressive season-opening 33-27 win over Florida A&M in the process.

Play of the game
With the Jaguars holding a 26-20 lead and FAMU facing a fourth-and-1 at the Southern 25-yard line, SU end Vince Lands shot through to snare FAMU runner Phillip Sylvester from behind, with tackle Dwayne Charles riding the surge to force Sylvester to a 1-yard loss with 5:06 left in the third quarter. The SU offense then drove 74 yards in 14 plays to take a 13-point lead.

Crunching the numbers
Last year, SU had 1 rushing yard (on 20 attempts) in a 30-29 win over Bethune-Cookman. This time, SU broke a 90-yard TD run by Darren Coates on its first play and finished with 238 total. That bettered last season’s best of 236 in a win over Texas Southern.

Did you notice?
Southern wore all-white uniforms, with gold piping on the pants, for the first time since the 2005 Bayou Classic in Houston, a 50-35 loss to Grambling. “I decided to do something a little different,” said SU equipment manager Derek Price, who said the Jaguars may wear the getup at least one more time this season — as long as there’s an artificial surface. Carl “Doc” Williams, Southern’s longtime director of sports medicine, worked the sideline for the first time since the Bayou Classic 2002. SU junior Frank Harry, who had been training as an offensive guard lately, played exclusively as a tackle on defense.