LUT WILLIAMS BCSP Editor
After ten week’s of regular season play in the SIAC and CIAA, it’s all come down to this!
First-place and defending champ Benedict takes on second-place Albany State in the SIAC Championship game at Lakewood Stadium in Atlanta, Saturday at 1 p.m. N. Div. champ Virginia Union meets S. Div. and defending conference champ Fayetteville State in the CIAA Football Championship game in Salem, Va. Saturday at 3 p.m.
Once again, the BCSP has broken down the championship game match ups by their 2023 schedules and history (above and below this story) and their team and individual statistics and rank in their conferences (see STAT CORNER).
What’s left now are the games to be played and the outcomes to be determined. Those outcomes will have some bearing on which teams will play on in the Div. II playoffs.
Entering Saturday’s championship games, undefeated Benedict (10-0) is ranked first in Super Region II of NCAA Div. II. Fayetteville State (8-2) is ranked sixth with Virginia Union (9-1) seventh. Of the championship game participants, only Albany State (6-4) is out of the region’s top ten.
Both the SIAC and CIAA teams are in Super Region II along with teams from the Gulf South Conference (GSC) and South Atlantic Conference (SAC).
Only the top seven teams from each of the nation’s four Super Regions will make the 28- team Div. II championship playoff field.
SIAC Championship Game
Benedict (10-0, 8-0 SIAC) has once again been the most dominant team in black college football. Chennis Berry’s troops have run thru the competition, winning games overall by a 40-8 margin and housing SIAC competition to the tune of 39-9.
The 8.3 points per game the Tigers give up is the best in black college football and all of NCAA Div. II football. Benedict has posted 37 sacks thru 10 games (3.7 per game), fourth best in Div. II. The squad is led by SIAC sacks leader, senior defensive end Loobert Denelus who has posted ten takedowns, tied for seventh in Div. II. Junior Jayden Broughton and freshman Joshua Barker check in with 8.5 and 6.5 sacks respectively.
The Tigers also sport the best offense in the SIAC that puts up 40.5 points per game. Despite losing last year’s signal caller Eric Phoenix to the transfer portal, the Tigers’ offense under grad senior quarterback Aeneas Dennis has not missed a beat.
First-year head coach Quinn Gray’s Golden Rams of Albany State (6-4, 6-2) rebounded from two late-season losses to Allen (39-27) and Edward Waters (31-27) to claim second-place in the league with a 13-7 win over Fort Valley State Saturday.
In that game, sophomore QB Jhaydon Sullivan came on in relief of starter Dionte Bonneau after he had thrown three interceptions and scored two rushing touchdowns in the fourth quarter to pull out the victory.
Sullivan started the season as the third- string signal caller behind Bonneau and back- up QB Isaiah Knowles, who was lost for the season on Oct. 7 vs. Central State. Sullivan had rushed for 4 yards and passed for 5 before Saturday’s game. It is likely to be a game- time decision Saturday of who starts between Bonneau and Sullivan.
The transition from former head coach Gabe Gardinia’s option attack to former prolific Florida A&M QB Gray’s more wide- open offense has taken some time. Bonneau threw for 262 yards and three scores and ran for another score in a 48-7 shellacking of Miles on Oct. 28, perhaps their best offensive output of the season.
CIAA Championship Game
This will be the sixth straight trip for Fayetteville State and seventh-year head coach Richard Hayes Jr. to the CIAA championship game. Hayes is looking for a repeat after last season’s buzzer-beating field goal earned him his first title in a 31-28 win over Chowan.
This season’s title-game match up with Virginia Union is a rematch from a game earlier this season in which the Broncos came away with a hard-fought 10-7 win. The win was indicative of the Broncos’ season. Of their eight wins in CIAA play this season, seven have been by single digits. The other win was a 10-point victory (28-18) over conference newcomer Bluefield State.
The once-anemic FSU offense, that averaged just 13.1 points thru its first eight games playing as many as four quarterbacks, has scored 21 and 40 points in its final two contests with 6-4 redshirt sophomore Joe Owens Jr. at the controls.
FSU will need to score points facing VUU’s offense, which leads the league averaging 39.1 points per game.
In that earlier contest vs. VUU, the Panthers were without prolific conference rushing leader Jada Byers (118.9 ypg.) though his back-up, Curtis Allen, ran for 155 yards on 30 carries. Byers, who missed two games this season, ran for 155 yards in VUU’s 30-20 division clinching win Saturday over Virginia State but left the game late favoring his left leg. His availability for Saturday’s title game is unknown.
Grad senior quarterback Christian Reid had perhaps his best game vs. VSU, passing for four touchdowns in the win. But he also threw two picks.
SWAC and MEAC
Florida A&M (6-0 E) has clinehed the East Division title and a berth in the Dec. 2 SWAC championship game.
Alcorn State’s 44-21 win Saturday over Southern has the Braves (5-1) atop the West as they travel to Texas Southern Saturday (2 p.m.) Prairie View (4-2), who has a head-to-head win over Alcorn, is still in contention as it plays at Southern, also 4-2, Saturday (2 p.m.).
Defending champion North Carolina Central leads the MEAC at 3-0 headed to a showdown in Washington, D. C. Saturday (3:30 p.m.) at Howard (2-1). A win by the Eagles clinches their second straight regular season title and Celebration Bowl berth. A win by Howard opens up several championship scenarios with one final week left in the regular season.
The Bison are 2-1 in league play along with Morgan State and SC State, who meet Saturday in Orangeburg, S. C. (1:30 p.m.).
