Life comes at you fast, and believe it or not we’ve already completed four weeks of the college football season in North Carolina.
In case you missed yesterday’s action — and believe us, there were games you certainly wanted to miss (yeesh, Tar Heels and Wolfpack) — here are some of the top headlines, trending stories and quick hitters.
Triangle Troubles
Fans of North Carolina and NC State are asking tough questions after one of the ugliest Saturdays for those two schools in awhile.
Rumors spread Saturday evening on social media that Mack Brown had told his team after the 70-50 loss to James Madison that he was stepping down. This story is still developing, but things are certainly unsettled in Chapel Hill after that debacle.
Meanwhile, NC State coach Dave Doeren continues to struggle when the lights are brightest. A wipeout against Tennessee a few weeks ago was followed by a 59-35 loss at Clemson. The Pack did put 35 points on the Death Valley scoreboard but never really challenged the Tigers.
Both Brown and Doeren seem to have hit their high-water marks with their respective teams — and should be respected and appreciated for that. But have things stalled and gone so stale in Chapel Hill and/or Raleigh that changes are needed at the top? It will something to monitor.
(If UNC and Brown do part ways, would the coach that beat them Saturday, JMU first-year head man Bob Chesney, be a candidate to take over in Chapel Hill?)
Long live the CIAA South!
The group of teams formerly known as the CIAA Southern Division had a banner week four, going 4-1 against Northern Division opponents.
Johnson C. Smith dethroned the reigning champs, Virginia Union, 21-16. Winston-Salem State KO’d the preseason favorite Virginia State 15-14 on a last-second field goal. Fayetteville State rolled past Elizabeth City State 31-7 in the Down East Viking Classic, and the Shaw “Air Bears” won for the third time in four games, pounding Lincoln.
Only Livingstone lost, and the Blue Bears pushed Bowie State before falling 31-17. Nothing to hang heads about.
When we learned earlier this year the CIAA was planning to do away with divisions, we worried about not getting a North Carolina team to Salem, Va. for the title game. (We were guaranteed a North Carolina team in the divisional format because the entire CIAA South hailed from NC).
Now we have this question: Can we get teams from North Carolina to fill BOTH title game spots? There’s a lot of football left, but teams like Johnson C. Smith, Fayetteville State, Winston-Salem State and Shaw have put the rest of the league on notice.
Shaw visits Virginia Union and Fayetteville State travels to Virginia State this coming weekend. Johnson C. Smith will be on letdown alert at Bluefield State.
Eagles soar, Aggies poor in annual rivalry game
North Carolina A&T’s Aaron Harris returned the opening kickoff 100 yards for a touchdown, but North Carolina Central blocked the PAT and dominated much of the rest of the night.
The Eagles put up the most points — 66 — by either team in the century-long rivalry. They won for the third straight time against the Aggies and seem to be taking control of a series that A&T has dominated significant portions of.
The Aggies swept Central 24-10, 45-0 and 54-0 before announcing plans to leave the MEAC for the Big South in 2020. They won again, 37-14, in 2021 but haven’t been able to find their footing on the gridiron since. Last year’s team went 1-10, and while there has been improvement there is also concern that A&T’s most heated rival is pulling away.
The popular A&T fan site, BlueDeathValley.com had this assessment of Saturday’s game a few hours after its completion: “Make no doubt about it: this was one of the worst days in the history of A&T football.” Yikes.
North Carolina Central, though not invincible, looks to be the class of the 2024 MEAC once again. Walker Harris threw three TD passes for the Eagles on Saturday, while J’Mari Taylor rushed for 126 yards and two more scores.
Lenoir-Rhyne dodges Fabulous 15 curse
Being in the top spot in our weekly Fabulous 15 rankings hasn’t been kind to teams this season.
NC State, North Carolina Central and Elon failed to last two weeks at No. 1 before losing games and being ousted.
Lenoir-Rhyne took over as king of the Fab 15 hill this week but then fell behind Mars Hill 21-10 on Saturday afternoon. The Bears withstood the challenge though, and rallied for a 29-21 triumph.
LR will get to savor the view from the top for at least one more week. But the teams around them likely will change significantly. Seven of our Fabulous 15 teams lost, including No. 2 Wingate, No. 4 UNC, No. 7 App State and No. 8 NC State.
Pirates After Dark Fizzles At End
Lightning and thunderstorms around Lynchburg delayed the East Carolina-Liberty game by more than four hours. The teams finished around 2 a.m. Sunday.
In a fitting end to a mostly forgettable day/night for our FBS teams, the Pirates built a 17-0 lead once play resumed only to see it disappear in a 35-24 defeat to the Flames. It was the second straight game ECU squandered a double-digit first-half advantage.
Only Duke won from our FBS contingent this week, taking care of business at Middle Tennessee State. Charlotte, NC State, North Carolina and App State surrendered a combined 229 points in lopsided losses. Wake Forest was idle.
Welcome to the win column, Gardner-Webb
After three heart-breakers to start the season, including a pair of one-point losses, the Bulldogs enjoyed the thrill of a 42-21 victory at Presbyterian. Carson Gresock rushed for 134 yards and scored three touchdowns. Welcome to the win column, first-year coach Cris Reisert!
Other than the North Carolina Central-North Carolina A&T game, where we were assured of having an in-state triumph, Gardner-Webb was the only other FCS winner Saturday.
Western Carolina on the upswing despite loss?
Despite dropping its third game of the season on Saturday afternoon, you have to wonder if the Catamounts feel better about the trajectory of the program than they did a few weeks ago.
WCU suffered a puzzling loss to Campbell but rebounded to beat nationally ranked Elon last week and pushed Montana — last year’s FCS runners-up — to the brink before losing 46-35.
The Catamounts jumped on top of the Grizzlies early, 17-0. Quarterback Cole Gonzales looked more like himself, throwing for 340 yards and two touchdowns despite taking a pummeling on certain plays. DeAndre Tamarez piled up 229 receiving yards. Branson Adams scored two rushing TDs.
Western Carolina still has the whole SoCon schedule in front of them, so all goals remain in place despite the less-than-stellar 1-3 overall record.
James Madison owns Old North State
The Dukes from the Sun Belt Conference completed a clean sweep of North Carolina non-conference foes with Saturday’s 70-50 triumph over the Tar Heels. JMU beat Charlotte 30-7 in week one and survived an upset-minded Gardner-Webb squad 13-7 last weekend.
James Madison has one more North Carolina opponent on the schedule: conference rival Appalachian State. Those teams collide in Boone on Nov. 23. App ruined JMU’s undefeated season last year, upsetting the Dukes with ESPN College GameDay in town. But the Mountaineers are reeling, too, these days after suffering a 48-14 home loss to South Alabama on Thursday.
Quick Hitters
Johnson C. Smith is 4-0 for the first time since 1982. Let that soak in. Coach Maurice Flowers didn’t just come in and say he was going to build something special at his alma mater. He has been executing a plan to actually do it…
Of the 30 North Carolina college teams that played this weekend, 18 of them suffered losses. In four games we were guaranteed a winner and a loser since both teams hailed from the Old North State. In other games, North Carolina schools posted an 8-14 record. Not great…
Three of our five Division III teams picked up victories on Saturday. Guilford improved to 3-0, outlasting Sewanee. Methodist outdueled Greensboro, while Brevard topped Belhaven…
Louisburg College, which plays in the junior college ranks, improved to 3-1 with a home win over Sussex Community College…
UNC Pembroke seemed like a legit playoff contender coming into the season. But the Braves fell to 0-3 with Saturday’s 58-36 loss at Charleston. UNCP, like A&T, ran the opening kickoff back for a score. Charleston got away after halftime and didn’t look back…
Two coaches who directed North Carolina college programs a year ago are off to solid starts in their new out-of-state gigs.
Mercer, now coached by Mike Jacobs (Lenoir-Rhyne), improved to 4-0 on Saturday with a win over The Citadel.
East Tennessee State, led by Tre Lamb (Gardner-Webb), won at Elon 34-14 to improve to 2-2. The Bucs losses came to App State in the opener and to perennial powerhouse North Dakota State (38-35) last week.
On to week five!
