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We are finally here! This weekend we will see the spring season of SWAC football come to an end as the SWAC East champions Alabama A&M Bulldogs will take on the somewhat surprising SWAC West champion Arkansas Pine Bluff Golden Lions.
Two games involving MEAC and SWAC teams remain on the schedule for this week.
With the MEAC cancelling their season late, the winner of the SWAC would seem to be the de facto spring FCS HBCU Champions in the spring, especially considering how loaded and talented it is.
How do we organize these programs in a way that is enticing for them, without breaking the proverbial bank while also creating a potentially better G5 product overall as well?
On Wednesday, August 5th 2020, we were finally given the answer we have all been waiting for from the NCAA with regards to the continuation of the 2020 fall sports season.
It seems like nationally, college football people really don’t seem to have any idea about the talent, passion, and tradition that goes on at FCS schools, or what makes them the ideal out-of-conference opponents.
On July 21st, 2020, when David Pollack went on air to suggest that FCS football should permanently become spring football, I cringed.
How do teams outside the FCS “Big Three” conferences take that final step to become national championship contenders, and how do these conferences gain national respect?
FCS First Round Playoff Matchup: Kennesaw State (Big South) at Wofford (Southern) Where: Gibbs Stadium, Spartanburg, South Carolina Saturday, November 30th, 4:00 PM TV/Streaming: ESPN3 (subscription req’d) Kennesaw State Owls (10-2), Head Coach: Brian Bohannon Big South Conference Kennesaw, Georgia The 2019 season for the Owls hasn’t really been that far off their more recent.
This week, the super spoiler FAMU has an bye week, and the conference has a lot of match ups that on paper should be easy wins for the top three teams in the title race. We do have an interesting batch up for a couple of teams looking to possibly go .500 on the season and as for the other lop sided games, and if we have learned anything from other conferences this year, it’s no to take any game for granted.
The SWAC is still battling it out to see who can challenge the teams atop the East and West divisions. While it might look like Southern and Alcorn State have all but wrapped it up according to the eye test, there are still a couple of teams that could play spoiler so long as they keep winning and have games against the top teams later in the season.
The SWAC is getting back into full swing this week and we have two massive games to look forward to. On the one hand we have the Magic City Classic, one of, if not the best attended FCS game in the country, and we have Southern visiting Alcorn State, who will be retiring Steve McNair’s number this weekend, along with being a possible preview of the SWAC Championship later this year.
With a lot of teams on a bye this week, the SWAC has an uncharacteristically thin slate for week 8. That being said, the top team in the SWAC West is still in action and will need to hold serve to hold off surprising Arkansas-Pine Bluff ,who has a bye.
As of Week 8, the top four teams in the MEAC have gone 17-5, with four losses to FBS teams. The only loss to FCS competition is when two of those teams played each other last week, when South Carolina State fell to FAMU 42-38. This week, the MEAC has a another match up that is garnering national attention, and for good reason.
With many people thinking that Alcorn State will run away with the SWAC this year, it’ll be interesting to see how other teams perform out of the gate. From interesting OOC match ups with other FCS schools to potential FBS upsets, the SWAC will have plenty of chances to make their case for being a much better conference top to bottom than most people perceive it to be.
We are going to learn about plenty of MEAC teams after this opening weekend, especially when it
comes to North Carolina A&T going up against a power CAA foe in Elon, and a MEAC/SWAC clash
between Jackson State and Bethune-Cookman. A few FBS match ups have the potential for upsets, and we even have an in state rivalry.
MEAC Predicted Order of Finish Last season, North Carolina A&T were the Celebration bowl champions. This season, who is likely to be competing for a Celebration Bowl bid, and who’s likely to be sitting at home? Can the Aggies repeat, or will there be a new team headed to Atlanta this year? Would-Be Celebration Bowl.
The Aggies had impressive wins against Jacksonville State and FBS foe East Carolina, along with a couple of head scratching losses to Morgan State and Florida A&M. They won the Celebration Bowl, but I feel like most fans feel like they could have gone undefeated.
Last season, Alcorn State was oh-so-close to knocking off North Carolina A&T in the Celebration bowl. This season, who is likely to be competing for a Celebration Bowl bid, and who’s likely to be sitting at home?
Bethune Cookman ended the season on a strong note, wrapping up their season at 8-4. Winning almost all the games they were supposed to, they’ll look back at an early season loss to Howard at home and wonder what might have been.
The Pirates played as an independent last year and after starting off the season at 1-3, finished it off with a 6 game winning streak.
Alabama A&M, while posting a winning record, showed sparks of brilliance on the field, playing very good teams close but inevitably not making that next jump to the top of the SWAC.
