Monday, October 16, 2017

Why it’s so important that this football team (NCCU) beat a 1-5 non-conference opponent

DURHAM, North Carolina -- There’s not a lot Jerry Mack hasn’t accomplished in his four years as the head football coach at N.C. Central.

Mack, 36, has won three MEAC championships, becoming the first coach in school history to win 24 games in his first three years. Last season he led the Eagles to their first national ranking as a Division I-FCS program, finishing No. 19 in the FCS Coaches Poll. After N.C. Central’s first outright MEAC title in 2016, Mack led the team to its first bowl game since making the switch to Division I in 2011.



This season, N.C. Central is off to a 4-1 start and is 3-0 in the MEAC. Since starting at NCCU in 2014, Mack has gone 29-12 and 24-3 record in conference play. But for all he has accomplished, Mack, until this past weekend, still had one more thing to check off his list: beating a non-conference opponent.

N.C. Central this past Saturday finally did just that by beating Gardner-Webb (1-5) from the Big South 24-17, in the fifth meeting between the two in-state schools. The win goes a long way in helping the national reputation of N.C. Central, which entered the game ranked No. 25 in the FCS Coaches Poll.

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