Championship or Bust for Bowie State This Year

COURTESY: BOWIE STATE UNIVERSITY ATHLETICS

BOWIE, Maryland -- All that Bowie State has done over the last three years is win everything except a CIAA championship. The Bulldogs won the north division and played in consecutive title games in 2015 and 2016 but couldn’t get past Winston Salem State. They won nine games and hosted a national playoff game last season for the first time but didn’t play in the conference championship and will take the field this year with the reigning national HBCU Player of the Year. Yet this golden era of the Black and Gold remains incomplete minus finally winning the conference crown.

This is a championship or bust season for Bowie State and everyone knows it. The Bulldogs were selected by the CIAA coaches and sports information directors as the team to beat in the conference. However, this year will not be a cakewalk for them. Virginia State, the reigning CIAA champion, is in their division and they meet on homecoming at Bowie in the first televised nationally televised game on this year’s Aspire TV network schedule. That will be followed by a showdown at Virginia Union, which figures to be their toughest regular season matchups this year.

It is a program that is revered and respected and has gained more national attention since 2015 after being the butt of jokes for years. Over the past three seasons the Bulldogs are 25-9 and they have become the offensive standard bearer in the CIAA. They led the nation in total offense and obliterated the Division II statistics in 2018 despite not winning the CIAA North Division. Bowie State has become an attraction as their passing game has become as prolific – under multiple quarterbacks – in Black College Football history.

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