from THE EDITOR Dwight Floyd: MEAC-SWAC: There Is No Question

TALLAHASSEE, Florida -- After last week’s showing, it is clear that there are two dominant teams among the SWAC and MEAC, namely the Grambling State Tigers and the North Carolina State A&T Aggies. Hampton and Norfolk share the lead in the MEAC conference and will play each other on Saturday. It will have the feel of a bowl game or classic. Alabama State and Texas Southern may be the game of the weak as one of them will gain their first win of the season.

The South Carolina State at Bethune Cookman game will be most interesting as they both desperately seek a win. Jackson State, Alabama A&M, and Arkansas Pine Bluff will all be on the hot seat this Saturday should they lose to teams they should beat. The Prairie View at Alcorn game will set a marker for the next best team in the SWAC. Either Morgan State or Savannah State will show that they are better than their record indicates and Howard (over Delaware) and North Carolina A&T (over FAMU) will strive to not have a let down.

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WSSU hits the road to play St. Aug's

RALEIGH, North Carolina -- Winston-Salem State doesn’t really know what it will see on Saturday against unpredictable St. Augustine’s.

The Rams (4-2, 1-0 Southern Division) will take on the Falcons (2-4, 1-0) in Raleigh at 1 p.m.

The Falcons have looked good (an 81-9 win over Lincoln and bad, a 66-20 loss to Bowie State) this season. However, another positive step for the Falcons came last week in a 30-29 win over Livingstone when Sean Smith came on to make a 23-yard field goal with eight seconds left.

Linebacker Jayron Rankin of the Rams says they will be prepared for whatever Falcons team shows up – a team capable of putting up 81 points or allowing 66.

“I think it will be somewhere in between,” Rankin said. “We know they have some good receivers who are fast and they are big.”

The Rams, the six-time defending Southern Division champions, can take another step toward the division title with a victory. Since 2011 the Rams are 30-1 against Southern Division opponents.

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Ram Ramblings: Virginia State-Bowie State is game of the year in CIAA

WINSTON-SALEM, North Carolina -- There’s little doubt about the game of the week in the CIAA.

No. 14 Bowie State will travel to take on Virginia State in a battle of unbeatens. It’s a game that could likely decide the Northern Division champion even though there are four weeks left in the season.

One reason I’ve taken more of an interest in this game is because I’ve seen both of them play, and I’ve seen both of them beat Winston-Salem State.

The good thing for those who can’t make it to the game is it will be on Aspire TV, a channel that not a lot of cable companies carry. But at least it will be on TV somewhere.

The game is slated for Ettrick, Va. at 2 p.m. on Saturday. It’s Virginia State’s homecoming but with what’s at stake homecoming kind of takes a back seat to what will be happening on the field.

Coach Damon Wilson of the Bulldogs, who has seen plenty in his time in the CIAA, said it’s a big game and he knows it will be a close one.

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S.C. STATE FOOTBALL: B-CU vs. SCSU likely a 'slobberknocker'

DAYTONA BEACH, Florida — Bethune-Cookman head coach Terry Sims didn’t hesitate when asked about South Carolina State’s identity.

“Physical, they’re a very physical football team,” he said during a Wednesday press conference. “That’s been their identity the 10-12 years I’ve been in this league. They’re a physical football team, and on offense, defense and special teams, that’s what they hang their hat on.”

Perhaps this year more than ever, that unit has been particularly dominant for the Bulldogs.

South Carolina State is ranked first in the MEAC in total defense (257 yards per game), second in scoring defense (16.3 points per game), and third in interceptions with seven, including two returned for touchdowns. In their two wins, the Bulldog defense has allowed a total of just 14 points. That unit has allowed no more than 26 points in any of the three losses. With the 26 coming from defending conference champion North Carolina Central (4-1, 3-0).

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RB gives UAPB lift in defeat

PINE BLUFF, Arkansas -- A week after rushing for just 50 yards as a team in a 27-14 loss at Alabama A&M on Sept. 30, the University of Arkansas-Pine Bluff's ground game got a much-needed jolt on Saturday with the return of KeShawn Williams.

The 5-10, 192-pound junior, who missed the game against Alabama A&M because of a hip injury, carried 13 times for a season-high 147 yards and scored 2 touchdowns in the Golden Lions' 38-31 loss to Mississippi Valley State on Saturday. Williams also had two catches for 42 yards for a UAPB offense that generated a season-high 490 yards, including 290 yards on the ground. Still, it wasn't enough to get them past the Delta Devils, but for Coach Monte Coleman, having Williams back in the lineup was a welcomed sight.

"He's the workhorse at this point," he said. "If he gets tired, we've got good backups in Christian [Jordan] and Dante [McDonald] and the other backs that can come in and relieve him. But we definitely want to keep KeShawn in as much as possible because he has the ability to take it to the house."

Williams, who is third in the SWAC in rushing at 72 yards per game, said he didn't feel any lingering pain from the hip pointer that sidelined him two weeks ago. He did take several solid hits, but the Pine Bluff native admitted he was never in any danger of leaving the game other than a quick breather or the usual substitution.

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Bethune-Cookman University Marching Wildcats takes No. 1 spot in first ESPN/The Undefeated HBCU Band Rankings

We got the beat: HBCU Band Rankings, Undefeated style

• DAYTONA BEACH, Florida -- What truly makes your alma mater’s band the top HBCU band in the land? Have you thought about your band’s conducting? Its utilization of space? Its marching technique? Accuracy and definition … style … discipline? These are just a few of the criteria that will be considered as part of the inaugural ESPN/The Undefeated HBCU Band Rankings.

The first rankings in this season’s ESPN/The Undefeated HBCU Band Rankings will identify the top bands from the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) and Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC), the two Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) conferences.



The rankings, conducted by a nine-person panel of top band directors associated with historically black colleges and universities, will evaluate bands on musicality, drill and design, percussion, auxiliary corps, drum majors and other key factors. Each week, judges will review video content on a secure site to make recommendations for rankings.

The ESPN/The Undefeated HBCU Band Rankings will be posted at TheUndefeated.com four times this season — on Oct. 12, Oct. 24, Nov. 7 and Dec. 5 — and weekly during the 2018 season. This year, MEAC and SWAC bands will be ranked. In 2018, all HBCU bands will be included in the rankings.

The first rankings in this season’s ESPN/The Undefeated HBCU Band Rankings will identify the top bands from the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) and Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC), the two Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) conferences.

The rankings, conducted by a nine-person panel of top band directors associated with historically black colleges and universities, will evaluate bands on musicality, drill and design, percussion, auxiliary corps, drum majors and other key factors. Each week, judges will review video content on a secure site to make recommendations for rankings

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North Carolina a hotbed for top FCS football teams, with four in this week’s national rankings, including N.C. A&T and NCCU

GREENSBORO, North Carolina -- NC State is the only North Carolina team ranked among the nation’s top 25 in the Football Bowl Subdivision. The Wolfpack, however, isn’t the only state entry in the national college polls.

The Old North State has become a hotbed for top Championship Subdivision teams, with no fewer than four making the grade this week in the STATS FCS Top 25 rankings.

Undefeated NC A&T, at 6-0, leads the way at No. 15, followed by Elon at No. 16, Western Carolina at No. 21 and NC Central, which became the latest team to enter the poll at No. 25 following its 13-7 win at Howard last Saturday.

The Eagles have won four straight since a season-opening loss to Duke. This marks the second straight season they’ve been ranked, after topping out at No. 18 in 2016. Coach Jerry Mack’s team made its first appearance in the national poll as a Division I program last November 7.

“Anytime you get a chance to have some recognition,whether it’s in life or on the football field, I think everybody appreciates that,” Mack said earlier this week. “But with that comes and responsibility and we have to go out there this Saturday against Gardner-Webb and prove we are worthy of being a top 25 team.”

Central’s MEAC rival A&T has done just that by outscoring its first six opponents by a 250-61 margin during the first half of its regular season schedule.



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