(09-02-2018 11:42 PM)Cyniclone Wrote:  North Carolina A&T has won its last three games against FBS competition. It's not *great* FBS competition but it still counts.

But the only way they can make the NCAA playoffs is if they don't win the MEAC because their champion is earmarked for the Celebration Bowl.

I wonder to what degree A&T is happy with this setup. It's been reported that some of the MEAC schools (presumably Hampton among them) were not happy being voluntarily excluded from the playoff structure. If A&T goes unbeaten again this season and finishes in the top 10 (probably unlikely but it's a hypothetical, work with me here), does that stir any unrest? Or are they happy with things?

Hampton is no longer in the MEAC and Dr.Thomas of Hampton wasn't happy in the MEAC because the MEAC got tired of Hampton threatening to leave every time something didn't go their way. Hampton had been threatening to leave the conference since around 2005-ish and finally the conference members told Hampton and Delaware State that they could take their ball and go elsewhere. DSU stayed, Hampton left and it was a nasty divorce to say the least. A&T has been on record saying that they prefer the Celebration Bowl over the playoffs. A&T made the playoffs in 2016 and was in the Celebration Bowl a year ago and the excitement and experience between the two were night and day. It'll be interesting to see how the season plays out because A&T and Howard don't meet in the regular season this year so there's potential for a split title which would send one to the playoffs and one to the Celebration Bowl.

(09-03-2018 08:38 AM)quo vadis Wrote:  

(09-02-2018 10:35 PM)GreenHornet33 Wrote:  

(09-02-2018 09:41 PM)Fighting Muskie Wrote:  

(09-02-2018 09:30 PM)GreenHornet33 Wrote:  

(09-01-2018 04:12 PM)Fighting Muskie Wrote:  South Alabama should host Southern at Ladd-Peebles sometime. I can guarantee that it will be a Jaguars victory.

Southern plays at Ladd-Peebles on Sept.22nd vs Alabama A&M

Is that game a classic? I kind of wish the HBCU tradition of neutral site games was something that all of college football did.

Yes. The Gulf Coast Classic.

Not to be a nit, but the Southern - Alabama A&M game is being billed as the "Gulf Coast Challenge", and this is its inaugural year. Going forward, Alabama A&M is expected to host it annually, but the team they play will rotate.

The "Gulf Coast Classic" was a real game though, it existed for 35 years, from 1974 - 2009. It featured Alabama State versus a revolving cast of opponents. Ironically, the last of those was ... Southern.

I well aware of the series, I played at ASU. The Gulf Coast Challenge is a rename. The previous two season this game was called the 5th Quarter Classic and featured Tuskegee vs FAMU in 2016, and Tuskegee vs. Jackson State in 2017. The Gulf Coast Challenge is basically the same game rebranded but put on by the same people.