Tough dates await top teams in second week

HOUSTON, Texas -- There’s no sense in fooling with the BCSP Top Ten rankings this early in the season as the best black college teams, particularly those in the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS), are playing money games against mostly Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) teams. In translation, these are games that the HBCU programs are highly unlikely to win. But they are good measuring sticks as to gauge the talent and competitiveness of their teams. A highly competitive game means the HBCU program is among the better FCS teams. Blowouts mean they are unlikely to match up well with the top FCS teams.

But, at least the money is good! Take for example this week’s game between BCSP No. 1 North Carolina Central (0-1, 0-0), coming off a 49-6 thrashing at the hands of ACC-member Duke, travelling up to Kalamazoo, Michigan to take on Western Michigan in a 7 p.m. start. All Western Michigan did last week was upset Big Ten member Northwestern, 22-21. The Eagles can expect no break facing the Broncos.

Similar HBCU FCS vs. FBS foes Saturday include BCSP No. 2 Prairie View A&M (1-0, 1-0 SWAC), who squeaked out a 29-25 win over SWAC West Division rival Texas Southern Sunday, travelling to College Station, Texas for an 11 a.m. date with SEC power Texas A&M (1-0). Texas A&M knocked off Pac-12 member and 16th-ranked UCLA Saturday, 31-24. BCSP No. 3 Bethune-Cookman, No. 6 Grambling State and No. 7 South Carolina State also face formidable FBS opponents.



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Alcorn State may have found answer at running back

LORMAN, Mississippi  -- Alcorn State entered the season facing questions at running back when it lost All-SWAC second-teamer Darryan Ragsdale after he exhausted his eligibility last year.

But coach Fred McNair points to the returning running backs as enough to make up for someone who averaged 7.6 yards per carry and finished with eight rushing touchdowns.

“I think Marquis (Warford) has been doing a good job throughout the training camp and the spring getting ready to take over the role,” McNair said. “With De’Lance Turner and the young guys coming in and getting to play, we do have a little depth at the running back position. We’re going to continue to press the running game and do what we do best.

“Even when Ragsdale was here — he did a great job for us — we had guys coming in behind him doing a great job playing the role they played. It’s always next man up.”

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from THE EDITOR DWIGHT FLOYD -- GAME REPORT: FAMU/FSU Tournament Begins Tonight

DWIGHT FLOYD
GAME REPORT
2016 Schedule (printable)

TALLAHASSEE, Florida -- Tonight the young FAMU Volleyball Team will host the Trojans of Arkansas Little Rock in the first of three tough games over two days. Continuing the tournament FAMU will visit the FSU Seminoles at Tully Gym at 1:00 PM on Friday and return to the AL Lawson Center on Friday night to host the Baylor Bears.

An improved Rattler team will face tough competition. The Rattlers began the season losing three games in a row. Costly errors and the lack of experience for a team of mostly new players took a toll in those first few games. In the next three games the Rattlers went 2-1. The errors were vastly reduced and the players demonstrated a better feel for how to play with one another. Now 2-3, the Rattlers are skilled and athletic and show a lot of promise. Their keys to winning are to reduce the errors, play in system, and remain confident.

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Georgia State adds Savannah State to 2020 football schedule

ATLANTA, Georgia -- The Georgia State Panthers have added the Savannah State Tigers to their 2020 football schedule, GSU announced on Wednesday.

News of the matchup was first reported Wednesday morning by Doug Roberson of the AJC.

Georgia State will host Savannah State at their new stadium in Atlanta, formerly Turner Field, on Sept. 19, 2020. In their first and only meeting, Georgia State defeated Savannah State 55-21 at home in 2010.

Savannah State is a member of the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) in the Football Championship Subdivision. Since 2010, the Tigers haven’t won more than one game per season and are 5-62 overall.

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FAMU head coach Wood ready to move on after Miami loss

TALLAHASSEE, Florida -- Florida A&M head coach Alex Wood is confident things will get better for the Rattlers.

FAMU’s football season officially kicked off over the weekend – and the Rattlers were dropped 70-3 by the Miami Hurricanes.

It was a tough start for the Rattlers, who are trying to improve after a 1-10 2015 season. Wood said after the first game, the team noticed areas that need to be improved before the Rattlers next stop on a three-game road trip to open the season.

“We learned some things about ourselves from that game, obviously,” he said Tuesday during his weekly new conference. “That is what we are focusing on as we go forward to Coastal Carolina.”

FAMU takes on Coastal Carolina Saturday in Conway, S.C. at 7 p.m. The Chanticleers defeated FAMU 48-3 in 2014 – and they did so on the Rattlers home turf.

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Rutgers home opener is big for Chris Ash, regardless of opponent -- Howard Bison

PISCATAWAY, New Jersey -- Rutgers (0-1) heads into this weekend looking forward to its home opener. The Scarlet Knights have a new head coach, Chris Ash, and they’re trying to bounce back from a tough 48-13 loss against a ranked Washington squad.

The fact that the home opener is against Howard, an 0-1 MEAC team, doesn’t seem to bother Ash at all.

“Excited to play our home opener. I’ve said this many times, as a visiting coach, the experience that I had here at High Point Solutions Stadium has been a great one,” Ash told the media on Monday. “It’s been a great environment, and I hope to see that environment firsthand as a Rutgers football coach here this Saturday. Looking forward to having the students show up and support our football team and experience gameday here with us.”

It’s a new era of Rutgers football, and though the team couldn’t come up with a big upset win in Week 1, Ash will certainly take any positive momentum he can get in Week 2. That’s not to discredit the Bison of Howard, but this is a game the Scarlet Knights should win.

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XU Athletics named NAIA COC 5-Star winner for 2015-16

NEW ORLEANS — Xavier University of Louisiana is one of the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics' Champions of Character Five-Star Award winners for 2015-16, the NAIA announced Wednesday.

XULA received a bronze rating. NAIA members receive points in character training, conduct in competition, academic focus, character recognition and character promotion. Points also are earned based on exceptional student-athlete grade-point averages throughout the course of the academic year.

"Xavier Athletics is pleased to be recognized again as an NAIA Champions of Character Five-Star Award winner," said XULA Director of Athletics and Recreation Jason Horn. "Our staff and student-athletes are committed to earning a gold rating when the next awards are announced a year from now."

Through the Champions of Character program, the NAIA seeks to create an environment in which every student-athlete, coach, official and spectator is committed to the true spirit of competition through five core values: integrity, respect, responsibility, sportsmanship and servant leadership.

XULA is one of five Gulf Coast Athletic Conference members to be receive the Five-Star Award for 2015-16.

Ed Cassiere, Sports Information Director
XULAgold.com
XAVIER UNIVERSITY OF LOUISIANA 
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Longtime Gold Rush coach Denny Alexander dies at 70

NEW ORLEANS — Eugene Dennis "Denny" Alexander, whose Xavier University of Louisiana men's basketball teams won more than 200 games and multiple Gulf Coast Athletic Conference championships, died Tuesday (Sept. 6, 2016) in Michigan. He was 70.

Alexander coached the Gold Rush from 1978-90 and set a school record for career victories with 212. That record has been broken twice since then. Alexander's teams won three GCAC regular-season championships, including the league's first two, and a pair of NAIA District 30/GCAC Tournament championships. They made two NAIA national tournament appearances and produced five 20-win seasons.

He was a three-time GCAC Coach of the Year.

The best season under Alexander was 1981-82, when the Gold Rush won 29 in a row after an opening loss, won conference and district regular-season and tournament titles and qualified for nationals. That team finished 29-2 after a first-round loss.

Alexander also served as Xavier's director of athletics, as chairman of the NAIA District 30 men's basketball committee and as a rater/voter on the NAIA national poll.

"I will always cherish the memories and times I spent with coach Alexander," said Kenny Loyd, who played for XULA from 1982-86. "Coach enforced the importance of education and graduation, and he kept track of his players after college and offered support and advice to help us financially, spiritually and socially.
I am so glad the bond that we had at Xavier continued after college. Coach was very important in helping me develop into the man and the father that I am today."

The top five Gold Rush career scorers — Merlin Peters (1,960 points), Juan Mercier (1,735). Evan Robinson (1,662), Byron Williams (1,509) and Eugene Johnson (1,494) — played for Alexander. Mercier and Johnson played their entire XULA careers under Alexander.

Cause of death was not announced. Services will be next week in the Detroit suburb of Southfield, Mich., with the viewing of the body Sept. 15 and the funeral Sept. 16.

Ed Cassiere, Sports Information Director
XULAgold.com
XAVIER UNIVERSITY OF LOUISIANA 
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ASU Jenkins Meets with Local Media before Alcorn State

MONTGOMERY, Alabama – Alabama State University Head Football Coach Brian Jenkins held his weekly press conference Wednesday afternoon in the Media Room at ASU Stadium. He took some time to look back on last week's performance and talked about the upcoming opponent, Alcorn State.

"We gave a valiant effort last week, but it wasn't good enough," Jenkins said. "It was good to see the guys play hard and accept the challenge, but that's not what its' all about, it's about playing well enough to win and that is something we didn't do. We have a lot of learning experiences, coaching experience off that game and we have put that away and our focus is totally on our next opponent."

Jenkins took some time out to discuss a few things the team would be working on to prepare for the SWAC's two-time reigning champions.

"The main thing is to get better as a football team overall," Jenkins said. "We need to continue to improve on our fundamentals and our basics, become a more detailed football team in every phase of the game and those things we did not do in our first contest. Those are a must in this football game if we want to come through with a victory."

Alcorn State will enter this game without a record even though they played part of a game Sunday in the MEAC-SWAC Showdown. The game was called without a winner after an almost three hour weather delay. The Braves had opened up a 13-7 lead over Bethune-Cookman when the game was called midway through the second quarter.

The Braves have won the last two games in the series and five times over the past six seasons the winner of this game has either won the East Division outright or been tied for the lead in the division, so this game has turned out to be a very important game as far as the race for the SWAC Championship game is concerned.

"Every game is a big game and a lot of people are saying this is a huge game," Jenkins said. "Alcorn is the king of the conference right now and they rightfully deserve that crown they have earned it. But it is a big game as well as every other game is a big game because you have other teams in this conference that I think have the capability of being right there at the top."

"It's a big game for us because we get a chance to go against one of the top teams in Alcorn and we're really looking forward to it. I'm telling you we are excited about this game, can't wait till Saturday, but we know there is a phase of things you have to go through before you get to Saturday, but like I said we're excited about this game. It is a big game because you're going against the champs and hopefully you'll be the team that dethrones them, but it's all going to come down to between those lines with the Jimmies and Joes and exes and ohs and I wouldn't want it any other way."

Game time in Lorman is 6 p.m. and can be heard live over the Hornet Radio Network on 102.7 FM, 96.7 FM and HSRN Sirius Radio. The game can be watched live on ESPN3.

ALABAMA STATE UNIVERSITY ATHLETIC MEDIA RELATIONS

HU's schedule has been tough, but the Pirates can use it to improve

COURTESY HAMPTON UNIVERSITY ATHLETICS

HAMPTON, Virginia — Last week, Hampton University opened its season against Old Dominion, a Football Bowl Subdivision team, on the road. This week, the Pirates will go against William and Mary, which is ranked 13th in two FCS polls.

Sure, there are easier routes to take in the first two weeks of September. Although this one practically guarantees an 0-2 start, HU coach Connell Maynor, who inherited both games, sees some benefits.

"If you play two cupcakes, you get easy victories, (but) you don't learn a lot about yourself because you weren't tested," Maynor said. "We want to be tested. We want to see what we're good at, what we need to improve on, and go from there.

"If not, it's just like a regular scrimmage, ones against twos. You don't really get a lot from ones against twos. We like playing good competition, playoff teams, so we can see where we stack up."

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FVSU Wildcats hope to learn from season opener

FORT VALLEY, Georgia -- Fort Valley State football head coach Kevin Porter said there was a clear difference in his team’s first half Sunday at Miles and what took place in the second half — experience.

The Wildcats jumped out to an 18-point lead at halftime before Miles showed its championship resolve in the second half to pull out a 34-21 win. Fort Valley State didn’t score in the second half after jumping on top of the defending SIAC champion Golden Bears in the first half, while Miles scored 31 second-half points.

“I think our kids, they came out and played at a high level in the first half and probably played at the same level in the second half,” Porter said of his first game as the Wildcats’ head coach. “But Miles is, obviously, the conference champ and has a championship pedigree. And it showed, and their experience showed in the second half of the ballgame.”

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BVI’s Thomas makes British baseball team for European Championships

TORTOLA, British Virgin Islands —While most of his colleagues have eyed an opportunity to play Major League Baseball, Natheson Thomas of the British Virgin Islands has taken a different route that has landed him a spot on the Great Britain team for the 2016 European Championships, which begin Friday in Hoofddorp in the Netherlands.

Thomas, known as “Shadow” — who got his start in the game under the tutelage of former St. John resident Terry Chinnery and played for Altus Junior College in Western Oklahoma from 2007-2009 and Bluefield State College in Bluefield West Va., in 2011 — is the first BVI player to land a spot on a Great Britain baseball roster for any competition.

Thomas, who began training camp on Monday, has been playing with the Hamburg Hornets in Germany, a team that has languished at the bottom of the pile with a 3-29 and 2-30 record the last two seasons.

While playing last year, Carl Wordell of the Tuberlin Hawks approached Thomas after hearing he was British.

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Livingstone football looks to bounce back this week

SALISBURY, North Carolina -- To a man, players and coaches, no one expected to come out of the season opener last Saturday with a loss.

But that’s what happened to Livingstone in Columbia, S.C., when the Blue Bears fell to Benedict, 5-3, in the Palmetto Capital City Classic.

Last season, Livingstone pounded Benedict, 49-6, in the opener, kick-starting its first winning season in 17 years.

“It’s such a different feeling in the office because we’re used to winning our first three or four games,” Livingstone head coach Daryl Williams said on Tuesday. “We didn’t win our first game and it was a culture shock … it has a way of grounding you. I have to keep reminding myself that we have young football team, but that’s still not an excuse for us making the mistakes we made last Saturday.”

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WSSU turns attention toward Catawba

SALISBURY, North Carolina -- It’s a usual occurrence that college football teams see the most improvement heading into their second game.

Coach Kienus Boulware of Winston-Salem State hopes that’s true. The Rams suffered a 20-17 loss on Saturday in their opener to UNC Pembroke and are trying to shake off that loss to focus on Catawba this weekend.

“There’s no time to ever push the panic button because that will trickle down to the players,” Boulware said. “We’ve got a lot of good that happened to us this past weekend, so we’ll try to add to that as we head down to play Catawba.”

While there was some good for the Rams, like jumping out to a 17-0 lead, there was plenty that went wrong in the second half as UNC Pembroke mounted its charge.

Despite losing their fourth straight regular-season nonconference game going back to last season, defensive end Kyrell Williamson said that the Rams are determined to redeem themselves. They will take on the Indians, which opened their season with a 23-3 loss on the road to West Georgia.



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UNC Pembroke has dominated Fayetteville State in Two Rivers Classic

PEMBROKE, North Carolina -- In some of his first meetings with Fayetteville State alumni after being introduced as the Broncos head football coach, Richard Hayes kept hearing the same message.

Please, beat UNC Pembroke.
412
"Everybody wants this one," Hayes said.



When UNCP started its football program nearly a decade ago, it made sense to start a series with the region's other Division II program. So in 2009, UNCP and Fayetteville State met for the first Two Rivers Classic.

Since then, the game has been positioned as a rivalry. But the results haven't quite lived up to it.

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Small college notebook: VUU's Johnson, VSU's Frazier, Barlow honored by CIAA

CHARLOTTE, North Carolina -- Eddie Johnson, a Virginia Union redshirt junior linebacker, was named the CIAA linebacker of the week for making 16 tackles, three tackles for losses and forcing and recovering a fumble in the Panthers’ season-opening loss to LIU Post. The 16 tackles are the sixth most in a single game in Union football history.

Bryant Frazier (Meadowbrook), a Virginia State senior defensive lineman, was named the CIAA’s defensive lineman of the week after the Trojans’ season-opening win at Lenior-Rhyne. Frazier finished the win with seven tackles, 2½ sacks and three tackles for losses.

Virginia State coach Reggie Barlow was named coach of the week after winning his debut as the Trojans’ head coach.

R-MC’s Frederick named ODAC offensive player of the week

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Pough sees SCSU as work in progress early in season

ORANGEBURG, South Carolina -- South Carolina State head football coach Buddy Pough knew the early going this season would be tough and it would only get tougher.

But at his weekly press conference on Tuesday, Pough talked about the significant challenges of moving forward after a season-opening 38-0 loss at Central Florida on Saturday.



The Bulldogs will travel this Saturday to play at 7 p.m. against another FBS team in Louisiana Tech, a group of Bulldogs who nearly beat Arkansas in a 21-20 game this past Saturday.

Pough and first-year offensive coordinator Nygel Pearson are working with the rest of the offensive staff to establish an identity when S.C. State has the ball.

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Latrell Scott returning to Richmond as Norfolk State football coach

RICHMOND, Virginia -- Norfolk State’s Saturday date at the University of Richmond was arranged, in part, by a former Spiders coach who is now the Spartans coach.

Latrell Scott, a Richmond native and Lee-Davis High graduate, leads NSU (1-0) at UR (1-0), where he was an assistant during 2005-07 and the head coach for the 2010 season. Scott and David Walsh, Richmond’s deputy athletics director, scheduled this Norfolk State visit while Scott was the Spiders’ coach.

The way things developed, it’s homecoming for Scott.

“I’m excited about it. I get the opportunity to see my family, see a bunch of my friends,” said Scott, 41. “The University of Richmond is a special place for me. I spent a lot of years there. But more important than me returning to Richmond is getting the opportunity to compete against one of the best (FCS) teams in the country.”

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Southern Football: Practice heats up for Tulane with home football opener looming

NEW ORLEANS -- Preparation for the 2016 home opener heated up, literally, as the Tulane football team practiced for just over two hours at Yulman Stadium on Tuesday morning.

The Green Wave (0-1, 0-0 American West) braved the hot Louisiana sun with a morning workout in light pads and shorts. First-year head coach Willie Fritz’ squad got down to business with the team’s home opener against Southern (0-1, 0-0 SWAC West) just four days away. Kickoff for Saturday’s matchup is set for 7 p.m. on ESPN3.

“It was a little warm out there today,” said Fritz. “We just have to fight through it. It’s just the way of the world. There’s nothing we can do about. We just have to go out there and practice. Some of the guys had a great practice and some had a little difficult practice.”

Fritz and the rest of the coaching staff hopes practice makes perfect as the Olive and Blue are working hard to notch that first win of the season in front of what is projected to be a capacity crowd under the lights at Yulman on Saturday night.

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Jenkins: Young-Battle ‘decent’ in first ASU start

MONTGOMERY, Alabama -- It’s time to hit the reset button for the Alabama State quarterback rotation.

Both junior college transfer JuJuan Young-Battle and senior Quinterris Toppings both saw action for the Hornets during Saturday’s 26-13 loss at UTSA.

Overall, the Alabama State offense was stymied after the first quarter against UTSA. As a team, the Hornets gained just 289 total yards and went 2-for 14 on third downs in the game.

Young-Battle earned the start, played three quarters and completed 11 of 18 passes for 102 yards while being sacked six times. Toppings led a fourth-quarter scoring drive.

“(Young-Battle)’s the guy we went with on Saturday, and he did a very decent job,” ASU head coach Brian Jenkins said. “We didn’t play well enough to win, but we showed a lot of promising things. We’ll evaluate both guys throughout this week.”

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