LUT WILLIAMS BCSP Editor
Just three weeks into the 2024 football season and there are only two undefeated black college teams – 3-0 Johnson C. Smith and 2-0 Texas College.
Well, at least JCSU and TC are the only undefeated and untied teams after 2-0-1 Clark Atlanta had its game Saturday vs. Florida Memorial halted at halftime because of inclement weather with the teams tied at 28.
Headed into Week Four this week, the top match up has Maurice Flowers’ undefeated JCSU Golden Bulls hosting defending CIAA champion Dr. Alvin Parker’s Virginia Union Panthers (2-1) at 6 p.m. in Charlotte.
When Flowers took over at J. C. Smith, his alma mater, in 2022, he vowed to make the Golden Bulls relevant again. He hoped to rekindle the winning ways of legendary JCSU head coach Eddie McGirt who produced 16 winning seasons and led the Golden Bulls to a 118-73 record during a 20-year stint from 1958- 1977. JCSU has had only seven winning seasons since and none since 2012.
After finishing 2-7 in his first season, Flowers led the squad to a 7-4 mark last season including a trip to a postseason bowl game.
He enters Saturday’s game with the CIAA’s passing leader, junior QB Darius Ocean (67 of 106, 982 yds., 7 TDs, 0 ints.), the league’s top receiver, junior wideout Brevin Caldwell (38 receptions, 584 yds.) who has caught all seven of Ocean’s TD tosses and team rushing leader junior RB Quavaris Crouch (38 carries, 274 yds., 7 TDs), all 6-2, 225 pounds of him.
JCSU (40.5 ppg.), with wins over Tuskegee (21-13), Morehouse (37-13) and Lincoln (Pa.) (52-6), is behind only VUU (45.3 ppg.) in CIAA scoring offense and trails only Elizabeth City State (8.0 ppg. to 9.5 ppg.) in scoring defense.
Crouch is a story within himself. He was one of North Carolina’s and the nation’s most sought-after players as a powerful LB/RB who signed with Tennessee out of high school in
Charlotte. He also played at Michigan State. But in 2022 and 2023, Crouch was no where to be found and battled several personal challenges before landing back home at JCSU.
Saturday, he’ll be matched up against the league’s top rusher and two-time offensive player of the year, 5-7, 185-pound VUU senior dynamo Jada Byers (35 carries, 315 yds., 9.0 yards per carry, 5 TDs). Other key 1 p.m. CIAA matches have Virginia State (1-1) hosting (2- 1) Winston-Salem State (TheGrio) and Shaw (2-1) hosting (0-2) Lincoln in Durham, NC (CIAAN).
In two important SWAC games Saturday, two 1-2 teams meet as Southern is at Prairie View A&M (6 p.m.) and two 2-1 teams meet as Jackson State is at Grambling State (6 p.m. on ESPN+).
A couple of intense non-conference rivalry games are also on tap Saturday.
North Carolina A&T (1-2) and North Carolina Central (1-2) renew their back-and- forth Aggie-Eagle Classic rivalry in Durham, NC at 7 p.m. This will be the 96th meeting between the schools separated by a mere 45 miles.
All time, A&T leads the series 54-36 with five ties. Since 1998, A&T has won 14 of 24 meetings. NCCU has won the last two with the Aggies winning four straight before that.
Hampton (2-1) is at Washington’s Audi Field (3:30 p.m.) to meet Howard (2-1) in a game dubbed the Truth & Service Classic bureflects the rivalry in it’s other name – Battle of the Real HU. Hampton has won eight of the last 14 meetings between the two including the last seven. The last two wins for the Pirates have been narrow 35-34 (2022) and 31-28 (2023) comeback victories over the Bison.
