As we approach the waning weeks of the 2009 college football season, the recent Football Championship Sub-division (FCS) Poll feature’s three HBCU teams ranked in the Nations Top-25.
In week ten (10), as we head into the stretch in games that have play-off and championship implications, the South Carolina State Bulldogs of the Mid- Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) have surfaced as the top football team among HBCU’s.
The 8-1 Bulldogs are ranked number nine (9) this week in the FCS poll that rates teams that formerly were in the NCAA Division I-AA.
The 6-1 Prairie View Panthers of the Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) are rated #19 in the recent FCS Poll, while The Florida A&M Rattlers at 7-2, are ranked at the #21 position.
Prairie View, which leads the SWAC East and appears to be heading to the Championship Game in Birmingham, has never been ranked in the Top-20 of the poll, but did break in the poll ranked # 24 in 2008.
The 8-1 Southern Illinois Salukis of the Missouri Valley Conference is the top ranked team in the FCS, followed by the 9-0 Montana Grizzlies of the Big Sky Conference. The number four team in the FCS is the Richmond Spiders, with an 8-1 record and coached by Mike London, an African American. The Spiders won the FCS National Title in 2008.
The Villanova Wildcats (8-1) and the William & Mary Indians (8-1), both of the Colonial Conference hold down the number three (3) and number five (5) slots respectively in this prestigious poll. The top teams in the poll will play for the national championship. SWAC teams over the past few years have opted out of the FCS play-offs for the more lucrative Black College Classic match-ups. Interestingly, only two black college teams have made it pass the first round of the Division-I-AA (FCS) play-off. Florida A&M, that won it all in 1978 and Tennessee State that made it to the semi- finals in 1986.
Since the early 1980’s, Southern University and Grambling State have played in the Bayou Classic in New Orleans after the Division I-AA (FCS) play-off schedule began. Also, Alabama State and Tuskegee play the Turkey Day Classic on Thanksgiving, therefore eliminating the SWAC from play-off contention. As former Jackson State Coach W.C. Gorden said about playing in the Divisional play-offs, “we (SWAC) lost money by playing in those games verses playing in a Classic ball game…And, besides that we never had much success in winning any of those games.”
The MEAC still participates in the FCS playoffs.
In the most authentic poll for black College football, the Sheridan Poll; South Carolina State is the top ranked team, followed by Prairie View in second place and Florida A&M at the third spot.
Other SWAC teams in this week’s SBN Poll are… Southern University (5-3) at number five, Grambling State (5-4) at number seven, and Alabama A&M (5-4) is holding down the number nine slot, while Arkansas Pine- Bluff (5-3) is at number 14.
Ironically, the 3-5 Jackson State Tigers travel to Huntsville, Ala. Saturday to take on the Bulldogs of Alabama A&M in a match-up that will surely have SWAC championship implications. Right now JSU is in the driver’s seat of the East race at 3-2, while the Bulldogs are tied for second place in the East with Alcorn State, both at 2-3.
Alcorn State, at 2-5 overall, must survive a date with Prairie View this weekend down at the reservation before facing J-State in the season finale Nov. 21 in the Capital City Classic here in Jackson.
Needless to say, we have some great Black College football still to be played before the dust settles in terms of who will reign as champions.
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