INSTANT REACTION: Welcome back Wingate ‘D’, Winston-Salem State swagger, App State atmosphere

Thoughts, musings and observations as we celebrate the return of college football across the Old North State!

New Coach, Same Stout Defense at Wingate

Joe Reich stood on the sidelines of Wingate’s season’s opening football game Saturday night at UNC Pembroke, as he has for the last two decades. Only this time, he was off by himself near the end zone, observing quietly in his new role as the school’s athletics director.

Reich certainly had to enjoy what he was watching. His protegee and new Wingate head coach, long-time defensive coordinator Rashaan Jordan, continues to coach up a salty stopping unit. It showed in the opener. Jordan’s troops picked off two passes, made numerous big hits and stalled multiple drives that had advanced deep inside their territory. The aptly named Bulldogs fended off a feisty, talented UNC Pembroke team 17-12.

Plenty to work on for sure. But the foundation that has led much of D2 in defensive moxie in recent years remains strong.

Built Ram Tough

Winston-Salem State is back! Or at the very least, the Rams’ swagger is back. WSSU faithful have been bold and proud on social media over the summer that their program aims to contend again in the CIAA after several middling seasons. The first returns are promising, a 34-3 whipping of Bluefield State on Saturday night.

It was the first time Winston-Salem State has won an opener under coach Robert Massey. He proclaimed in the spring that quarterback Daylin Lee would be the “face of the franchise.” Lee lived up to the hype, throwing a couple of TD passes.

The Rams’ defense made headlines, too, holding Big Blue to 152 yards of total offense. Justin Fleming put an exclamation point on the victory with a 63-yard pick-six in the second half — his sixth career interception. Welcome back, Rams.

Grin And Bear It

Speaking of winning an opener for the first time in many years, we introduce the Shaw Bears. They had been on the losing end of a season debut every year since 2013 — until Saturday. Shaw held off a late charge by Elizabeth City State 17-13.

Travon Tensley gave us our first 100-yard rushing performance among our D2 teams, showing us a potential successor to long-time Shaw backfield standout Sidney Gibbs. Tensley finished with 126 yards on 20 carries.

FCS Still Batting .000

It’s been a rough opening weekend for North Carolina’s FCS contingent. All six teams who have played thus far have lost — and all by double digits.

To be fair, Western Carolina, Elon and North Carolina A&T faced ACC opponents on the road. Campbell tangled with one of the top Group of Five FBS teams in Liberty.

There are positives to be taken away, though for each team.

Western Carolina led NC State going into the fourth quarter. Elon’s defensive back tandem of Caleb Curtain and Khalil Baker turned away multiple deep threat attempts by Duke’s Maalik Murphy, refusing to give up the explosive play. (And Murphy had a solid game).

North Carolina A&T’s offense showed life, something that was sorely lacking most of last season. Campbell tried to douse the Liberty Flames in Lynchburg, with Sincere Brown making five catches for 126 yards and a touchdown in his Camels debut.

Davidson got outfoxed at its own game. Usually a rushing juggernaut, the Wildcats were outgained by Georgetown 263-224. Turnovers hurt the ‘Cats, and Georgetown used a 21-0 burst in the third quarter to pull away.

Gardner-Webb was nipped by Wofford 21-20 last Thursday.

App State Rocks The Rock

Does anyone in North Carolina do a college football atmosphere better than Appalachian State? This writer grew up going to NC State games at Carter-Finley Stadium, and the Wolfpack can put on quite a show for home games. The tailgates in Raleigh can be epic. But App has college football game day down to a science. Their stadium was packed out, and their team delivered a resounding win over an overmatched East Tennessee State squad.

Quarterback Joey Dimes, err Joey Aguilar, accounted for four touchdowns (two rush, two pass). He threw for 326 yards.

Could this team be ready for another stunning App State-type of upset on the road this week against a reeling Clemson squad that got handled by Georgia?

FBS Clean Sweep, Almost

It doesn’t happen often that fans of NC State, Wake Forest, Duke, North Carolina, East Carolina and Appalachian State can all celebrate victories on the same game week. That was the case this week.

East Carolina fans had to be breathing a sigh of relief watching their Pirates roll against Norfolk State. An American Athletic Conference social media post beamed that the “Pirates Are So Back!” We’re not quite ready to proclaim that yet, but it is a good sign that many points were scored and an inferior opponent was easily dispatched of.

Charlotte was the only team not to collect a “W” from our state’s FBS contingent. Coach Biff Poggi said his group played much better than the 49ers team that took the field at this time last season. Many fans may beg to differ after a 24-7 loss to James Madison, where the team was shut out in the second half.

Poggi announced earlier in the week that eight or nine projected starters would not play due to injuries sustained in preseason camp. It may be a few more weeks, when those players return, for us to a get a good feel of how much improvement truly has been made in Charlotte.

The Sky Is Falling For NC State! Or Is It?

For three quarters on Thursday, a contingent of NC State fans fell back into old ways, trying to revive the former definition of the Law of the Wolf (“Woe is NC State”). But it is way too early to say that the “luster is off” this Pack squad, as one beat writer wrote following the Western Carolina game. It is still week one. Coach Dave Doeren teams tend to build toward an October or November crescendo.

We’ll know more this week for sure as the Pack travels to Charlotte to play Tennessee. Surely, they were in vanilla mode against the Catamounts, not wanting to put too much on film for their next opponent.

If you’re looking at the SoCon opponent metric, though, Tennessee is going to be scary good. The Vols drubbed Chattanooga 69-3, and the Mocs have been picked to win the FCS Southern Conference.

Western Carolina, which led NC State going into the fourth quarter, was picked third in the SoCon behind Chattanooga and Furman, who absorbed a 76-0 drubbing at Ole Miss in its opener Saturday.

Yikes. So maybe NC State fans should be worried about this game after all.

JUCO Shoutout: Georgia Goes Down!

One team took care of Georgia on the football field this weekend. OK, it wasn’t the Georgia Bulldogs. Louisburg College, our state’s resident junior college program, beat a team called the Georgia Warhawks 30-0 in its season opener Saturday. The Georgia Warhawks are a post-graduate program from Lawrenceville, Ga., that like Louisburg, aims to be an avenue for players to get opportunities at four-year schools.

We’re Not Done!

Yes, there is more college football today (Sunday)! A double-header in fact.

North Carolina Central will play Alabama State in a tantilizing early season HBCU match-up at the home of the NFL’s Miami Dolphins. That game, the Orange Blossom Classic, starts at 3 p.m. and can be found on ESPN.

Johnson C. Smith, coming off a D2 bowl game, will play another bowl game of sorts today (Sunday), taking on Tuskegee in the annual Red Tails Classic in Mobile, Ala. That contest starts at 7 p.m. on ESPNU.

We’re always up for more football, and we’ve still got some tailgate leftovers that we can fire up.

Looking Ahead: Huge Match-Ups Await

Catawba’s football team already had a “Game Week” post on social media by Sunday morning. The Indians did not play this weekend and are likely itching to hit the field after watching all this action around them. Catawba will serve as Davidson’s first home opponent in its new stadium on Saturday night.

Some other games coming up that have us salivating:

App State at Clemson, of course

NC State vs. Tennessee, in Charlotte

Virginia at Wake Forest

Charlotte at North Carolina

Campbell at Western Carolina

Elon at North Carolina Central

Winston-Salem State at North Carolina A&T (a very underappreciated rivalry in our state)

Bowie State at Lenoir-Rhyne

UNC Pembroke at Fayetteville State (another rivalry game in that region)

Guilford at Greensboro (the annual Soup Bowl!)

Welcome back, college football. Feel free to sound off about your team on our social media platforms: Twitter/X and Facebook.