By SEAN KERNAN
KERNAN'S CORNER
Today marks the one-year anniversary of the starting date of Bethune-Cookman's slide to the bottom of the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference.
One year ago today, Morgan State handed the Wildcats a 28-14 loss. At the time, nobody could have imagined it was the start of something bad for the Wildcats.
But it's been worse than bad. It's been terrible.
The Bears affirmed last year's victory Saturday with not so much a win, but a thrashing of the Wildcats, beating them 33-9 in front of a homecoming crowd of 10,121 at Municipal Stadium. Rain kept some of the Wildcat faithful away, apparently, and for that they can be thankful.
The Bears scored 27 unanswered points on a day when the Wildcats' offense didn't score a touchdown on homecoming for the first time in 29 years. It marked the worst homecoming loss since a 27-0 shutout by South Carolina State in 1968.
Saturday's setback, as miserable as it may have been, should not have come as a surprise. It extended B-CU's Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference losing streak to six games -- three to start this season and three to finish 2006. The Wildcats have now lost eight of their last nine MEAC games.
WHAT'S WRONG?
Turnovers four interceptions and one fumble against Morgan State -- have been a recurring theme. The
Wyattbone offense has taken a leave of absence, or so it appears. The defense, while stiff at times, hasn't been able to handle the difficult situations it has been put in by the struggling offense, and in five of those conference defeats the opposition has scored more than 30 points.
B-CU is now 2-3 overall and 0-3 in the MEAC, a conference that now includes more teams with similar talent than a few years ago. The Wildcats -- an upper echelon team from 2000-2004 -- have slipped in the standings to fifth in '05, sixth in '06 and currently last in '07.
"Right now we're trying to find ourselves," head coach Alvin Wyatt said. "We're searching and we're going to keep grinding until we get it done."
NOT FAR AWAY
As bad as the results -- wins and losses -- have been, in recent weeks the Wildcats have been in position at halftime to win. They led Norfolk State 21-10 last week before falling 38-31, and on Saturday it was 9-9 at halftime before chalkboard adjustments by Morgan State paid dividends against a B-CU defense that finally broke down from overuse. The Bears had just 68 total yards offense in the first half, but added 181 yards, three touchdowns and a field goal in the second half.
The tough part is the Wildcats still have to play four MEAC opponents who beat them the last time they played. That gauntlet includes Thursday night's road opponent Delaware State, which defeated three-time defending conference champ Hampton 24-17 on Saturday.
So what do the Wildcats do now?
"We go back to practice and try to get it right because we're going against Delaware State, who is undefeated in the MEAC and who I think is the best team in our conference," Wyatt said.
As far as who's the worst, it's up to the Wildcats to prove it's not them.
KERNAN'S CORNER
Today marks the one-year anniversary of the starting date of Bethune-Cookman's slide to the bottom of the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference.
One year ago today, Morgan State handed the Wildcats a 28-14 loss. At the time, nobody could have imagined it was the start of something bad for the Wildcats.
But it's been worse than bad. It's been terrible.
The Bears affirmed last year's victory Saturday with not so much a win, but a thrashing of the Wildcats, beating them 33-9 in front of a homecoming crowd of 10,121 at Municipal Stadium. Rain kept some of the Wildcat faithful away, apparently, and for that they can be thankful.
The Bears scored 27 unanswered points on a day when the Wildcats' offense didn't score a touchdown on homecoming for the first time in 29 years. It marked the worst homecoming loss since a 27-0 shutout by South Carolina State in 1968.
Saturday's setback, as miserable as it may have been, should not have come as a surprise. It extended B-CU's Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference losing streak to six games -- three to start this season and three to finish 2006. The Wildcats have now lost eight of their last nine MEAC games.
WHAT'S WRONG?
Turnovers four interceptions and one fumble against Morgan State -- have been a recurring theme. The
Wyattbone offense has taken a leave of absence, or so it appears. The defense, while stiff at times, hasn't been able to handle the difficult situations it has been put in by the struggling offense, and in five of those conference defeats the opposition has scored more than 30 points.
B-CU is now 2-3 overall and 0-3 in the MEAC, a conference that now includes more teams with similar talent than a few years ago. The Wildcats -- an upper echelon team from 2000-2004 -- have slipped in the standings to fifth in '05, sixth in '06 and currently last in '07.
"Right now we're trying to find ourselves," head coach Alvin Wyatt said. "We're searching and we're going to keep grinding until we get it done."
NOT FAR AWAY
As bad as the results -- wins and losses -- have been, in recent weeks the Wildcats have been in position at halftime to win. They led Norfolk State 21-10 last week before falling 38-31, and on Saturday it was 9-9 at halftime before chalkboard adjustments by Morgan State paid dividends against a B-CU defense that finally broke down from overuse. The Bears had just 68 total yards offense in the first half, but added 181 yards, three touchdowns and a field goal in the second half.
The tough part is the Wildcats still have to play four MEAC opponents who beat them the last time they played. That gauntlet includes Thursday night's road opponent Delaware State, which defeated three-time defending conference champ Hampton 24-17 on Saturday.
So what do the Wildcats do now?
"We go back to practice and try to get it right because we're going against Delaware State, who is undefeated in the MEAC and who I think is the best team in our conference," Wyatt said.
As far as who's the worst, it's up to the Wildcats to prove it's not them.
