If Saturday’s college football action involving our state’s teams had a theme it would be “Old Home Week.”
Of the 34 college football programs that call North Carolina home, an amazing 28 will be playing within our state’s borders this weekend. Of those, 21 will be hosting games on their campuses.
All seven of North Carolina’s FBS teams — Appalachian State, Charlotte, Duke, East Carolina, NC State, North Carolina and Wake Forest — will be playing within the state. Only App State will be getting on a bus, to travel to coastal plain to face ECU in one of the marquee match-ups of the day.
Charlotte will host Gardner-Webb, and North Carolina will entertain North Carolina Central in a pair of in-state FBS vs. FCS showdowns. NC State, meanwhile, welcomes Louisiana Tech, while Duke hosts Connecticut and Wake Forest faces a Top 5 Ole Miss squad in Winston-Salem.
Only Campbell from our seven-team FCS ranks will be leaving the state. The suddenly surging Camels (1-1) will visit Rhode Island (1-1) to open CAA play — their third-straight road contest to start the season.
The headliner for our FCS teams has to be Elon (1-1) hosting Western Carolina (0-2). Both squads have conference title and playoff aspirations. Elon jumped into the national rankings this week after handling NCCU on Saturday. WCU had been ranked No. 17 until suffering an upset loss to Campbell. Can the Catamounts bounce back? Elon’s Rhodes Stadium has been a tough place for opponents in recent years.
North Carolina A&T (1-1), fresh off a rivalry win over Winston-Salem State, hosts Delaware in a CAA clash. Davidson (1-1) welcomes Point University, an NAIA program from Georgia, to its new stadium.
Other in-state match-ups this Saturday include:
* Barton at Chowan (D2)
* Catawba at Shaw (D2)
* Methodist at Guilford (D3)
Other teams hosting games include Greensboro (Averett University), Brevard (Hampden-Sydney), Johnson C. Smith (Lincoln), Lenoir-Rhyne (Tiffin), Wingate (Delta State), Livingstone (Allen), North Carolina Wesleyan (Ferrum) and Winston-Salem State (Ohio Dominican).
Even our state’s lone junior college team, the Louisburg Hurricanes, are scheduled to play at home Saturday, hosting Hocking College at Louisburg High School.
The only other North Carolina schools leaving the state this weekend include Fayetteville State (traveling to Georgia to face nationally ranked Valdosta State), St. Andrews (playing at Cumberland in Tennessee) and Elizabeth City State (crossing south of the border to face Erskine).
Week 3 Schedule
