The North Carolina Central University Eagles put themselves in a favorable position in the opening 30 minutes of their match-up this past Saturday with the Richmond Spiders at E. Claiborne Robins Stadium in Richmond, Virginia, to move onward to the second round of the NCAA Division I FCS playoffs.
An 18-yard touchdown run by quarterback Davius Richard at 6:47 of the second quarter put the Eagles ahead 20-7. It was the QB’s second rushing TD of the afternoon, following a one-yard plunge at 4:44 of the first quarter as NCCU tied Richmond at 7-7. In between his rushing scores, the 6-3 senior from Belle Glade, Florida, connected with wide receiver Devin Smith for a 91-yard touchdown and the Eagles held a 20-14 halftime lead.
However, NCCU produced only one more TD, on a two-yard run by Richard, with 9:54 remaining in the fourth quarter, and was outscored 35-7 in the second half to fall to Richmond 49-27. The Spiders now travel to the capital of New York state to play the No. 5 seed Albany Great Danes this Saturday at noon at Casey Stadium.
The Great Danes (9-3) and Spiders (9-3) finished in a three-way tie with Villanova at 7-1 in Colonial Athletic Association Conference games during the regular season, but did not meet head-to-head.
NCCU ended their 2023 campaign finishing 9-3 overall and 4-1 in Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) contests, but a 50-20 road loss to Howard University on November 11 gave Howard the tie-breaker because the Bison (6-5) were also 4-1. One year ago, NCCU concluded their season by winning the HBCU national championship with a thrilling 41-34 overtime victory over Jackson State in the Cricket Celebration Bowl in Atlanta.
This year, it is Howard that will represent the MEAC on December 16 in the Cricket Celebration Bowl (ABC, 12 p.m.), which pairs the MEAC champion with the Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) champion. The Florida A&M Rattlers (10-1, 8-0 in the SWAC) are the heavy home favorites to defeat the Prairie View A&M Panthers (7-4, 6-2) this Saturday at Bragg Memorial Stadium in Tallahassee, Florida (4 p.m.).
The Rattlers took down the Panthers at Bragg Memorial 45-7 on October 28 when they totaled 453 yards of offense and limited the Panthers to 220.
The Grambling State University Tigers have parted ways with their head coach, Hue Jackson, after two seasons. Jackson, a veteran NFL head coach who led the Oakland Raiders (2011) and Cleveland Browns (2016-2018), was 5-6 at Grambling this season (4-4 in the SWAC) and 8-14 in total, including a 27-22 nationally televised loss this past Saturday to Southern in the 50th annual Bayou Classic.