Ed Hardin: A Celebration awaits the A&T-Central winner

How to follow: ESPN3, WCOG-93.7.

DURHAM, North Carolina -- Saturday is the opposite of homecoming for N.C. A&T.

It's a beginning and an end, a football game that’s somehow more than just a football game.

Everything the Aggies have built in the past four years has led to this – another showdown with N.C. Central, another Aggie-Eagle Classic with nothing riding on it except everything.

The brawl for it all.

The coaches have cautioned all year about looking too far ahead. But the warnings have gone unheeded on both campuses.

A&T will play Central for the outright MEAC title and a berth in the Celebration Bowl on Dec. 17 in Atlanta.

This game has been a distraction for three years now. It’s as if all the other games played in all weeks leading up to this didn’t even happen. After the Aggies’ win last week over Delaware State, Coach Rod Broadway didn’t even seem to be aware of the score. He’d already turned his attention to Saturday.



CONTINUE READING