From the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference | MEACSports.com
The North Carolina Central University Eagles will make their first trip to NCAA Football Championship (FCS) playoffs, which was announced earlier today during the live selection show on ESPNU. The Eagles will face the University of Richmond Spiders on Saturday, November 25, at 2 p.m. at Robbins Stadium in Richmond, Virginia.
The Eagles secured an at-large bid to the postseason tournament after posting a 9-2 overall record, with non-conference victories against No. 25 Elon, Campbell, North Carolina A&T, and Mississippi Valley State. N.C. Central’s only non-conference loss came against nationally ranked FBS opponent UCLA.
NCCU’s sole loss in 2023 came against Howard University, the eventual 2024 MEAC Champion. The Eagles are currently ranked 14th in the AFCA Coaches Poll and 14th in the Stats Perform FCS Top 25 Poll. NCCU’s 8-1 season start was their best during the program’s NCAA Division I-FCS era.
The MEAC voted to forgo its automatic bid to the NCAA FCS playoffs after the 2014 season. Instead, the conference’s champion is pitted against the Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) champion in the Cricket Celebration Bowl in Atlanta, Ga. MEAC teams that do not finish as conference champions are eligible for at-large bids to the NCAA FCS playoffs.
The Eagles were the 2022 MEAC Co-Champions. NCCU defeated No. 5 Jackson State in the Celebration Bowl and was named the HBCU national champion.
The University of Richmond will be making its 13th trip to the NCAA FCS playoffs. The Spiders, a member of the Coastal Athletic Association (CAA), finished the season with an 8-3 record, including six straight wins to close out the season, and earned a share of the CAA title.
Saturday’s game will be the first meeting between the Spiders and Eagles. The 2023 championship field consists of 10 automatic qualifiers and 14 at-large qualifiers. Team pairings are determined primarily according to geographical proximity.
This is the first trip to the NCAA FCS playoffs for a MEAC team since 2016. No. 20 ranked North Carolina A&T finished the regular season with a 9-2 and an at-large bid. The Aggies lost to the Richmond Spiders in the first round (39-10).
Ticket information will be available at 10 a.m. on Monday, Nov. 20 at RichmondSpiders.com
