S.C. State faces surprise unbeaten Bethune-Cookman

COLUMBIA, S.C. -- South Carolina State on top of the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference is no surprise. But Saturday's opponent, Bethune-Cookman, wasn't expected to be anywhere near first place at this point in the season.

Picked to finish eighth in the MEAC, the Wildcats (5-0, 3-0) have won their first five games by an average of 34 points. Now they get a chance to knock off the big dogs in the league. The Bulldogs (4-1, 2-0) have won 21 games in a row in the conference.

"Any time you're playing a hot team, it's gonna be tough to get ready," Pough said. "They seem to be excited about what they're doing."



Top Video: Coach Mark Orlando brings the "Speedway O" to Bethune Cookman.

B-CU gets big chance to prove self vs. S.C. State

DAYTONA BEACH, FL -- Quarterback Matt Johnson was not exactly jumping for joy when Bethune-Cookman received a national football ranking Monday for the first time in his five years with the program. Neither were his teammates.

"No, there really wasn't a big reaction at all, because we're not happy at being (No.) 23," Johnson said. "There's nothing really to be happy about. I think everybody heard about it and went about their day." Rest assured, if the Wildcats win this week to stretch their record to 6-0...

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State Fair Classic is SWAC predictor

The official SWAC Championship is played in Birmingham in December. But the State Fair Classic at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas might be the conference's true championship game.

The winner of the annual matchup between Grambling State and Prairie View A&M has gone on to win the SWAC's Western Division — and eventually, the conference championship — in each of the past two seasons. The loser has had to play out the rest of its season, fruitlessly hoping the other team will slip up and provide a path to the championship game.

Do-or-die game faces Prairie View at Cotton Bowl‎

Prairie View A&M coach Henry Frazier III hardly knew what to say when addressing his team in a huddle after last weekend's 18-15 loss to Alabama State at Blackshear Stadium. The Panthers had just seen their nine-game home winning streak snapped. Their 15-game winning streak against Southwestern Athletic Conference opponents also went up in smoke. For Frazier, it was unfamiliar territory.

"It was hard to accept," Frazier said. "A part of me was like, 'Damn, we lost. What do I say?' I had to question myself (to see) if I was cut out to coach because I can't accept ...

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B-CU/Norfolk State rivalry fades with Wyatt gone

DAYTONA BEACH, FL -- When former Bethune-Cookman defensive coordinator Pete Adrian became head coach at Norfolk State in 2005, he took three other B-CU assistants with him and a rivalry was born.

Five years later, Brian Jenkins has replaced Alvin Wyatt as B-CU's coach and none of the Wildcats recruited by Adrian or his assistants are still with the team.

"The ties to them are gone," said B-CU quarterback Matt Johnson, a fifth-year senior. "The players who knew them are not here anymore, so it's just another game." As the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference opener for the Wildcats, against a team that manhandled them last year, Saturday's game against the Spartans at Municipal Stadium is not quite just another game.

Pete's Ploys 3.0‎

This week's motivational tactic was by far the most entertaining, but also the most far-fetched.

Norfolk State head coach Pete Adrian said he was listening to Bethune-Cookman head coach Brian Jenkins recently -- I'm not sure if it was a media conference call, radio show or television program since I didn't hear it -- and Adrian decided to have a little fun with one of Jenkins' comments.

All of Jenkins' comments from below are Adrian's accounts, and I can't speak to the veracity of them, but it's not hard to imagine something similar occurring. Bethune has pumelled two rather inferior opponents, Savannah State and Edward Waters College. Jenkins, whose Wildcats beat Savannah State 42-7, allegedly said ...

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