MEAC Notebook: Special-teams scoring helps boost Hampton

■ Hampton opened its MEAC season by rallying for a 38-27 win over Howard last week. The Pirates scored all of their points in the second half, and Kevin Teel returned kickoffs 87 and 90 yards for touchdowns. "Special teams are a key part of a football game, and if you want to win, they have to perform well," Coach Jerry Holmes of Hampton said.

■ Winston-Salem State has struggled with its kicking game, but it isn't alone. Hampton, Norfolk State and Delaware State are the only MEAC teams that have kicked field goals this season. WSSU had a chance to tie Savannah State with 23 seconds left Saturday, but Adnan Kljajic missed a 27-yard attempt when it banged off the left upright. In two games, Kljajic is 0 for 3 on field-goal attempts and 1 for 2 on point-after attempts.

Hampton is 3 of 4 on field-goal attempts, Norfolk State is 4 of 7, and Delaware State is 1 of 5. Florida A&M and S.C. State have yet to attempt a field goal.

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SWAC suffers through dismal non-conference schedule

For the most part, nonconference warm-ups are done for the 10 teams in the Southwestern Athletic Conference. Now, thank goodness, they start playing teams they can beat. This has not been a good year for football in the SWAC. So far, the league is 4-17 in nonconference games and all four wins were against Division II or NAIA schools - thank you, Texas College.

Troy's 65-0 win over Alcorn State on Saturday was one of 12 games decided thus far by more than three touchdowns and five were losses by at least 30 points. Arkansas-Pine Bluff, just two years removed from the SWAC Championship Game, has fallen to two Gulf South Conference teams in Monte Coleman's first season as head coach. Four teams remain winless and five have won just one game.

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WSSU ousts football assistant Calcutta

Caldwell cites the need to avoid distractions

Nicholas "Nick" Calcutta, the offensive coordinator at Winston-Salem State, has been fired. Calcutta had been suspended last week by Chico Caldwell, the school's athletics director, for using a racial epithet in a team meeting, according to several sources. Caldwell and Coach Kermit Blount wound not reveal the reasons for Calcutta's dismissal. "In the best interest of the football program, the team, the athletics department and the university mutual separation was the right thing to do," Caldwell said in a statement.

When reached by telephone, Caldwell later said that Calcutta wasn't fired, only that "he was no longer the offensive coordinator." Calcutta, 50, has been an assistant coach at several schools for the last 18 years, with most of those stops being at historically black universities. Among the schools at which Calcutta spent time were Howard, S.C. State, Savannah State, Delaware State and Tennessee State. Calcutta was in his second year as offensive coordinator at WSSU.

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SCSU Pough doesn’t want momentum derailed by Clemson Tigers

Orangeburg, S.C. -- In hindsight, South Carolina State head football coach Oliver “Buddy” Pough probably would have scheduled a different opponent. With the Bulldogs showing progress in their two straight victories, the last thing Pough wants to see is his team demoralized by a Football Bowl Subdivision team. Such a possibility exists in Pough’s mind with a Clemson University team he sees as a talent “mismatch” for S.C. State.















South Carolina State University head football coach Oliver "Buddy" Pough is the MEAC favorite to win the '08 conference title and automatic FCS playoff berth.

“The problem is they are in a bad spot for us,” Pough said Monday. “We’re starting to really build some momentum and it’s kind of a downer deal with this issue. I really want to go out and beat the starch out of somebody this week to really kind of keep us going. The last thing I’m looking for is to go into a situation as a double-digit underdog and that’s what we’ll be. Not only does Pough see the game as a difficult match up from a personnel standpoint, but an emotional one.

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Adrian has NSU Spartans surging

Pete Adrian, Norfolk State University head football coach is leading the Spartans ("we just want to compete") towards MEAC supremacy and a FCS playoff berth.

Norfolk, VA -- Strangely enough, we might be 18 or 20 years into the Pete Adrian Era at Old Dominion, had the Monarchs pulled the trigger on football back in the late 1980s. Instead, he glances across town as ODU's start-up takes shape while he builds a championship contender at Norfolk State — all without a trace of employee's remorse. A coaching lifer, the 60-year-old Adrian needed less than four years to turn a program that had become almost a punchline into one that again matters to alumni and fans, if not the entire Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference.

The Spartans are 2-1 heading into Saturday's non-conference game at William and Mary, the first of a home-and-home arrangement with the Tribe, and Adrian is intrigued about what this meeting, and the coming years, could bring to the Spartans. It's why he wanted to come here when the job came open after the 2004 season. It's why he turned down Rhode Island, and overtures from others, last winter.

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Fourth-quarter letdown dooms Grambling at Northwestern State

GSU Coach Rod Broadway

NATCHITOCHES, LA — The final score will say that 12 points separated Grambling State and Northwestern State on Sunday. But all that really separated them was one yard. Trailing 17-13 early in the fourth quarter, the visiting Tigers faced third-and-goal from the NSU 1-yard line. After two questionable playcalls failed to put the ball in the end zone, Grambling was turned away without a score.

Grambling can forget the three touchdowns that followed — NSU took the ball and marched down the field on a game-clinching 99-yard touchdown drive, and the teams traded scores to make the final score 31-19. The game was decided at the goal line with 12:36 left on the clock. "That's pitiful," Broadway said. "That's bad football. ... When you get the ball to the 1-yard line and can't score you don't deserve to win. You don't deserve to win."

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Attendance: 8,752 (55%) at Turpin Stadium, Natchitoches, LA (Capacity: 15,971).

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SU hopes big win start of something special

Photo Gallery: Southern 49, MVSU 7

Running back Kendrick Smith scored his first career touchdown at Southern going backward. There are no style points for that — “My legs are the strongest thing on my body,” Smith said of getting turned around yet pushing defenders across the goal line — but they still put six points up on the scoreboard for that.

In this case, backward nevertheless means going forward. That 3-yard TD, like all of Southern’s 49-7 non-conference win over Mississippi Valley State on Saturday night in A.W. Mumford Stadium, is all about the breakthrough. Smith, a top-level recruit at Patterson High, had his first 100-yard game and his first touchdown since 2005, when he was at Coffeyville Community College. He sat out in 2006 and missed time with injuries as a reserve last season.

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(Clemson) Tigers welcome break in schedule (SCSU)

Another lower-division foe will give wounded Clemson a chance to work out more of its kinks

BULLDOGS AT TIGERS
WHO: S.C. State (2-1) at Clemson (2-1)
WHEN: 1 p.m. Saturday
WHERE: Memorial Stadium, Clemson
TV: None
RADIO: ESPN Radio 93.1 FM
LINE: None

CLEMSON, S.C. — The past two weeks, coach Tommy Bowden intended to take the ball if Clemson won the coin toss. Bowden traditionally has deferred, but with the new 40-second-clock rule, he figures the Tigers could gain an additional offensive series.
Clemson’s opponents have won the toss both times, however, so Bowden has yet to test his theory. However, he has a favorable schedule for another couple of weeks in which to squeeze in a few extra reps for his numerous newcomers.

“I’m glad we’ll have had three out-of-conference games before we’ll get into conference the rest of the way,” Bowden said. “It has really helped ... with the injuries we’ve had.” Clemson (2-1), which opened ACC play with a 28-9 win Saturday against N.C. State, faces a Football Championship Subdivision team for the second time with this week’s home game against South Carolina State. The Tigers thumped The Citadel 45-17 two weeks ago. This three-week stretch came at the perfect time.

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UConn Women's Volleyball Swings Back with 3-0 Win Over Florida A&M

FAMU Lady Rattler Jovana Blazeski.

Florida A&M vs Connecticut Box Stats (Sep 13, 2008)

EAST LANSING, Mich. - The University of Connecticut women's volleyball team defeated Florida A&M 3-0 (25-13, 25-14, 25-17) on Saturday morning at the MSU Showcase in East Lansing, Mich. With the win, the Huskies improve to 6-2 on the season as the Rattlers' drop to 2-6. Annie Luhrsen (Wheaton, Ill.) led the Huskies with 28 assists, five kills, seven digs and five block assists. Luhrsen added five service aces for a team-leading 24 on the year. Freshman Jordan Kirk (Plano, Texas) had 10 kills for UConn as she moves her season's mark to a team-high 81 kills.

UConn put up impressive hitting numbers against the Rattlers, as they hit over .300 percent in all three sets. Florida A&M finished the match with a -.035 hitting mark. Chauntay Mickens (Germantown, Md.) had a stellar outing for the Huskies with 13 kills in 24 attempts, a .500 hitting percentage. Teammate Lauren Lamberti (Cary, Ill.) contributed with four kills and four digs in the Huskies' win.

Florida A&M was led by Maria Gomez with eight kills and three digs while Jovana Blazeski had 10 digs and two solo blocks.

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A second-half barrage lifts Hampton

Hampton scores all 38 of its points in the final 22 minutes to turn back Howard.

HAMPTON, VA - Hampton's first points came with 6:17 left in the third quarter. That was just the beginning. Carlo Turavani's 19-yard field goal was the first of three Pirate scores in as many minutes as Hampton roared back from a scoreless first half to beat Howard 38-27 on Saturday. The victory was Hampton's 12th straight against the Bison and 12th straight in a Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference opener.

Pirates Kevin Teel is tackled by Bison Robert Barker.

Turavani's kick was the first play after a 50-minute delay when a blown fuse suddenly darkened a bank of lights at Armstrong Stadium. The stoppage seemed to spark a Pirates offense that managed just 157 yards in the first half as the Bison led 7-0 from the 5:32 mark of the first quarter. "It all started with Carlo," said sophomore quarterback Herb Bynes, who was 15-of-27 for 253 yards, two touchdowns and two interceptions. "He gave us that field goal when we were down."

PHOTO GALLERY: HAMPTON vs. HOWARD

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Attendance: 14,906 (88%) at Armstrong Stadium, Hampton, VA (Capacity: 17,000).

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S.C. State Bulldogs, Ford flex offensive muscle, pull away from Bethune-Cookman

View SCSU vs. BCU Photo Gallery

After thoroughly dominating the first half Saturday, South Carolina State went to the locker room at the half tied with Bethune-Cookman at 7-7, thanks to a 93-yard interception turn of a Malcolm Long pass. South Carolina State coach Buddy Pough was unfazed. "That could have turned the momentum around, but we just had to throw that play out and forget it," Pough said. Mission accomplished.

S.C. State took care of business in the second half and pulled away fthe Wildcats 28-19 before 12,495 fans at Johnson Hagood Stadium in the Lowcountry Classic III. Tailback William Ford rushed for 175 yards and two touchdowns, while Long recovered from his first-half interception and went on to complete 16 of 24 passes for 241 yards and a touchdown.

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Attendance: 12,495 ( 59.5%) at Johnson Hagood Stadium, Charleston, S.C. (Capacity: 21,000).

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Spartans hold on for 27-21 win in MEAC opener

NORFOLK,VA - Holding on to the ball was a problem for Norfolk State on Saturday at Price Stadium. Despite that, the Spartans were able to hold on 27-21 in their MEAC opener against North Carolina A&T. It was an evening when a surprise shower soaked the field to start the fourth quarter, a respite from the humidity of late afternoon, when many Spartans suffered cramps. That was just something else for NSU to overcome - along with four fumbles, a blocked punt and a momentum swing after the Aggies rang up 14 third-quarter points.

Close games, said NSU coach Pete Adrian, whose team won six games in 2007 decided by eight points or fewer, are "our trademark. You overcome all the things we did in this game (and) it makes us a better football team." NSU (2-1, 1-0) was better Saturday largely due to DeAngelo Branche. The sophomore had his best day in a Spartan uniform, breaking tackle after tackle thanks to his superior speed and shifty lateral movement.

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Attendance: 12,632 (42%) Dick Price Stadium, Norfolk, VA (Capacity: 30,000).

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DSU looking for upside in 24-3 loss to Kent State

KENT, Ohio -- Delaware State entertained thoughts of revenge Saturday in returning to the scene of its only regular-season loss of 2007. A second chance to play a Division I-A program like Kent State offered the Hornets another opportunity to test and improve themselves heading into conference play. Even after watching his team's sloppy 24-3 loss Saturday afternoon at Dix Stadium, Delaware State coach Al Lavan was convinced his players would benefit from another visit to Kent.

"They did last year," Lavan said. "What we have to take from coming in to play this level of football [against] this number of good players is this -- we have to be significantly better the next time we play. And I think we will be for having played this type of team and experiencing the adversity we experienced. Now, we have to overcome it and go play at a higher level."

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Attendance: 8,529 (28%) Dix Stadium, Kent, OH (Capacity: 30,520)

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Defense lifts Morgan to win in home opener

Still hurting from its season-opening loss at Towson, Morgan State yesterday found the ideal elixir. A good, old-fashioned beat-down. The Bears opened their home schedule at Hughes Stadium by dominating an undermanned and overmatched North Carolina Central team, scoring 35 points off seven turnovers - including three interceptions returned for touchdowns - and recording their most lopsided victory in 22 years in a 49-7 nonconference win.

"The guys put it together and showed up as a team," said Morgan coach Donald Hill-Eley, who looked to exploit the tendency of Eagles quarterback Stradford Brown to throw on the run. "We practiced the scramble drill all week - just staying with our guys rather then leaving their man. It paid off." The victory was the fourth straight in a home opener for Morgan (1-1), which scored its most points since putting up 55 against Savannah State in 2005 and broke a school record with six interceptions.

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Attendance: 5,632 (56%) at Hughes Stadium, Baltimore, MD (Capacity: 10,000).

TSU Heffner gets win, and girl in Southern Heritage Classic

Ex-Melrose QB scores twice, then proposes

Antonio Heffner made his final college appearance in his hometown a memorable one. Football had something to do with it. The former Melrose star ran for one touchdown and threw for another, and Tennessee State defenders returned two of three interceptions for touchdowns in a 41-18 rout of Jackson State in the 19th Southern Heritage Classic Saturday night before 50,794 at Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium.

TSU and JSU draws another large crowd (50,794) to the Southern Heritage Classic in Memphis, TN, Sept. 13, 2008 and a world-wide audience on the Armed Forces TV Network.

But moments after winning the game's Offensive MVP award for the third straight year, he dropped to one knee at midfield and proposed to longtime girlfriend Angel Parker, a nurse at Methodist University Hospital. The stats showed he was 11-of-16 for 137 yards in the passing department. Make that 12-of-17 -- Parker said yes. "I knew I was going to do this all week. Told my teammates I was going to," Heffner said. "When I got on the field I was focused on that. But when they took me out after the third quarter, that's when I started to think about it."

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Attendance: 50,794 (81.4%) at Liberty Bowl, Memphis, TN (Capacity: 62,380).

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Texas Southern tops Shaw at Capital City

Statistics

The Capital City Football Classic was billed as "more than a game," and for the Texas Southern University Tigers, it was a cleansing. The Tigers shook off a losing streak of 13 games with a stout mind-set and more determined defense and a 23-point third quarter on the way to a 40-29 victory over the Shaw University Bears at Hughes Stadium on Saturday evening.

TSU quarterback Bobby Reid adhered to the pleas of first-year coach Johnnie Cole and was an all-around force by running for two touchdowns and throwing for one. "We've been trying to tell Bobby that we wanted that from him," said Cole, who clutched the game ball as he spoke to reporters. "There would be times when he would have to put the team on his back. "He's a big-time player and makes plays in big games." This qualified as a big game coming off Arkansas State's 83-10 demolition of Texas Southern on Sept. 6.

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Attendance: 14,923 (65%) at Charles C. Hughes Stadium, Sacramento, CA (Capacity: 23,000).

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Southern throttles MVSU 49-7

This one didn’t count toward the Southwestern Athletic Conference standings. But the 49-7 victory over Mississippi Valley State sure counts plenty to the collective Southern consciousness looking for just such of a dominating win to kick start its season. Considered a contender for the SWAC’s Western Division title, SU struggled to an 0-2 start after getting blown out at Bowl Subdivision member Houston and losing by two points at Tennessee State a week earlier.

Saturday night at A.W. Mumford Stadium, though, SU came up with the kind of strong play in all three phases that the team is expected to display. “We stumbled in the first two games, but we also knew we had it in us,” strong safety and team captain Glenn Bell said. “We have too many seniors. We have too many talented athletes. We just had to put it together, and that’s what we just did.” Southern (1-2) now has a week off to prepare for SWAC play, which starts Sept. 27 at Alcorn State.

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Attendance: 14,317 (50.4%) at A.W. Mumford Stadium, Baton Rouge, LA (Capacity: 28,400).

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University of Central Arkansas Claws UAPB 41-17

LITTLE ROCK, AR — The University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff had No. 19 University of Central Arkansas on its heels in the first half. But the Bears asserted themselves in the second half and downed the Golden Lions, 41-17, in the first Claw and Paw Classic at War Memorial Stadium.

UAPB (0-3) was stingy on defense limiting the Bears to 37 yards and sacking vaunted UCA quarterback Nathan Brown twice, but the Golden Lions couldn't muster anything until late in the first quarter when Martell Mallett got things going late in the quarter with a 66-yard run that set up a Carlos Reyes 34-yard field goal at the 12:55 mark in the second to put UAPB up 3-0. UCA (3-0) responded with a seven-play, 71-yard drive that Marquez Branson ended with a 12-yard touchdown reception from Nathan Brown.

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Attendance: 4,823 (9%) at War Memorial Stadium, Little Rock, AR (Capacity: 53,715).

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Junior running back Brent Grimes

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Alabama A&M falls to ULM 37-15

A&M falls to 0-3 but is proud of its showing at major-college La.-Monroe

MONROE, La. - Anthony Jones walked out of Malone Stadium Friday night with his head held high. So did his Alabama A&M football team. The Bulldogs gave Sun Belt Conference member Louisiana-Monroe all it could handle for almost three quarters before the Warhawks pulled away down the stretch. When it was over, ULM ran off to celebrate its 37-15 victory, but A&M walked away with a renewed sense of confidence.

"My team went through a lot to play this game," Jones said after his team fell to 0-3 for the first time since 1992. "We traveled through the night to get here and had to make an adjustment due to the weather. I'm exhausted and I can only imagine how my kids feel. "I am proud of the way my kids represented Alabama A&M University. They came and fought hard. At halftime, they (ULM) had reason to be concerned. To their credit, they came out in the second half and took advantage of some of the mistakes we made and put the game away."

PHOTO GALLERY: Alabama A&M v. ULM

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Attendance: 9,717 (32%) at Malone Stadium, Monroe, LA (Capacity: 30,427)

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Troy sets offensive records in 65-0 blowout of Alcorn Braves

TROY, AL -- Troy invited a previous national championship team back to campus Saturday and then went to work on the school's record book. The Trojans totaled a record 736 yards of total offense and tied quite a few others in Saturday's 65-0 win over Alcorn State.

The school's 1968 NAIA championship team saw its record for points in a half tied and two of its players watched a record they shared tied in Troy's home opener. "The No. 1 stat and No. 1 record is that one with three little prongs on it -- a W," Troy coach Larry Blakeney said. "All the others don't make much difference." Sherrod Martin tied a school record with three interceptions, tying the record first set by Tyrone Ferguson and first tied by Ronnie Shelley in 1968. All of Martin's were in the second quarter.

GAME PHOTO GALLERY: Troy beats Alcorn State
GAME SUMMARY

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Attendance: 22,105 (74%) at Movie Gallery Veterans Stadium, Troy, AL (Capacity: 30,000)

Savannah State Tigers nips WSSU

Savannah State University freshman QB Kurvin Curry and the Tigers embarrassed Winston Salem State with a rare road victory.

Blount says Rams not tough

Winston-Salem State dropped into an early-season hole last night after upstart Savannah State held on for a 16-13 victory at Bowman Gray Stadium. The Tigers (2-1) won their second straight game, a feat they hadn't accomplished since 2000, by beating the Rams (0-2) at their own game.

Quarterback Kurvin Curry and running back Justin Babb led a high-speed Spread offense that wore out the Rams' defense when it mattered most, in the second half. "They out-toughed us," Coach Kermit Blount of WSSU said. "We have to be tougher as a team. In football you are going to get those runs and those spurts, but we just have to buckle down and play better football.

"That's what it boils down to."

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Attendance:5,112 (28%) at Bowman Gray Stadium, Winston Salem, N.C. (Capacity: 18,000)

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MSU Spartans top FAMU 3-0

Rattlers Coach Tony Trifonov talks with Maria Gomez during break in action.













Next Up: Connecticut vs. Florida A&M (MSU Showcase) - Saturday, 11 a.m.

Box Score
Detailed Box

EAST LANSING, Mich. - The 2008 Michigan State volleyball team earned a chance to play for the MSU Showcase title tomorrow night as it topped Florida A&M, 3-0 (25-14, 25-20, 25-19) Friday night at Jenison Field House. With the win, the Spartans move to 5-3 on the season. Both Jenilee Rathje (Mount Pleasant, Mich.) and Vineece Verdun (Bloomfield Hills, Mich.) paced the Spartans with seven kills apiece.

After topping Wisconsin-Milwaukee in their first match of the day, the Spartans looked to pick up where they left off. Jumping out to a 14-5 lead, they did just that, against the Rattlers. Taking advantage of their size and athleticism at middle blocker, both Vanessa King (Spring Lake, Mich.) and Verdun both got off to hot starts with two kills apiece. The Spartans would extend their lead behind the play of Rathje. Tallying four kills and two digs while hitting .429 in the first set, Rathje helped the green and white to a 25-14 win in the first set.

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HU would pass on record to get win

The Pirates look for a balance vs. Howard after Herb Bynes threw for a school-record 403 yards in a loss at Southern Illinois.

Letters mean more than numbers to Hampton coach Jerry Holmes. One letter in particular, anyway. All Holmes wants from today's home opener against Howard is a W, regardless of what that win looks like on the stat sheet. Last week at Southern Illinois, sophomore quarterback Herb Bynes threw for a school-record 403 yards as part of Hampton's 450 yards of offense. But the Pirates lost, 37-31, to fall to 1-1.

Hampton University DB Sam Pope.

"That's great, 400 yards," Holmes said. "We lost the game." That happened because of five turnovers, including three Bynes interceptions, 88 yards in penalties to the Salukis' 25 and a paltry rushing attack that managed just 47 yards. Down 27-10 at halftime, the Pirates were forced to abandon a chunk of their playbook against The Sports Network's then-No. 12 team in the nation.

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NSU faces an Aggies team off to its best start since '03

North Carolina A&T and Norfolk State, 4 p.m., Price Stadium.

NORFOLK, VA -- North Carolina A&T isn't just the conference opener for Norfolk State; the Aggies are a measuring stick. Although the Spartans (1-1) are three weeks into the season, it's hard to figure where they'll rank in this fall's MEAC race. And if they beat A&T for the third straight time, the answer still won't be all that clear. But a loss - even to an improved North Carolina A&T team - would be a troubling barometer.


















Aggies Michael Ferguson, the MEAC's best back, is ready to runover the Norfolk State Spartans at 4 pm on Saturday.

"If we do what we're capable of doing, we should win the game," summed up NSU coach Pete Adrian of today's 4 p.m. Fish Bowl Classic at Price Stadium. North Carolina A&T comes in riding high after a 2-0 start, the best since 2003. The Aggies had not won a game since Oct. 15, 2005, a span of 27 contests.Third-year coach Lee Fobbs didn't know what a victory felt like at North Carolina A&T until this year's opener. The Aggies defeated Division II Johnson C. Smith in that one and followed that with a victory over Winston-Salem State.

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BCU Sumlar runs like a SCSU Ford

#5 Brian Sumlar and #81 Joe Singleton, BCU vs. Alabama State Hornets.

B-CU running back off to stellar start

DAYTONA BEACH, FL -- Bethune-Cookman coach Alvin Wyatt was surprised to hear that South Carolina State's Will Ford is not a senior. Thinking the running back is a senior is an understandable mistake. Ford, who is only a junior, has already rushed for 2,315 yards in his career and coming into this season was voted the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference Preseason Offensive Player of the Year.

Although the Wildcats have managed to keep him in check in their first two meetings, Wyatt was a bit dispirited to learn this week that Saturday's game at Charleston, S.C., won't be the last time B-CU will have to face Ford. "I think he's a great running back," Wyatt said. "He has vision, power, good hands as well as speed. He has all the tools of being a great one."

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