WSSU hopes for defensive game against Howard

Howard University LB Endor Cooper is the best defensive player in the MEAC and is having an All-American season.

When Winston-Salem State and Howard play, odds are good that the game will be close. That's the history between the teams, which will meet tonight at 6 at Bowman Gray Stadium. "I really don't know why that is, but it just seems to me that it's a good rivalry game where the two schools are always pretty evenly matched," Coach Kermit Blount of WSSU said. Blount also is a former assistant at Howard, and he was on staff there in 1985 when the programs met for the first time. WSSU won 12-7.

Howard won last season's game 24-21 in overtime in Washington, D.C., and WSSU won 12-0 at Bowman Gray Stadium in 2006. This season, the Rams (0-4) are averaging just 11.2 points and hoping for another defensive battle against the Bison (1-3). If it works out that way, WSSU's secondary will have to play well against one of the top offenses in the MEAC. Howard averages 312 passing yards a game and leads the MEAC in total offense with 417 yards a game.

Winston Salem State University Marching Rams Band


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SSU hopes to spoil Clark Atlanta's Homecoming

SSU Freshman QB Kurvin Curry.

Tigers try to even record at 3-3

Savannah State's football team will attempt to snap its two-game losing streak today against Clark Atlanta, which has a four-game winning streak. SSU (2-3) will play Clark Atlanta (4-1) at 1:30 p.m. at Panther Stadium. Adding to the intrigue is the fact that the NCAA Division II school, whose president is ex-SSU president Carlton Brown, has made SSU its Homecoming opponent."It's going to be a big-time college atmosphere with a great crowd for Clark's Homecoming," SSU first-year head coach Robby Wells said.

SSU should feel comfortable. The Tigers are 24-18-1 against the Panthers. When the teams last played each other in 1999, SSU won 34-7. And SSU has 32 players from the Atlanta area, so the game will be a homecoming of sorts for the Tigers. "It's going to be a neat deal for those guys to be able to go back home and play in front of a lot of their family and friends," said Wells, who added that both programs have 36 scholarships. SSU is coming off a 49-21 loss to Howard last Saturday in the Miami Classic. A crowd of 3,926 watched as SSU played perhaps its worst game of the season.

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Moral victory prizes plentiful for Coleman, UAPB Lions

About 20 minutes after his team lost for the fifth straight time to start the season, Monte Coleman walked slowly into the team’s weight room inside the J. Thomas May Field House. He approached a pair of reporters and, trying to keep a tense moment light, said: “Another consolation prize, huh?” Consolation prizes have come in bunches for Coleman in his first season as coach of the Golden Lions, but perhaps no more so than during Saturday’s 23-17 loss to Alabama A&M in both teams’ Southwestern Conference opener.

UAPB senior QB Jonathan Moore is nursing a thumb injury that has impacted performance of the Lion's offense.

UAPB played what Coleman said was its best game of the season. Its defense held the conference’s third best offense to less than 300 total yards and intercepted three passes, which tied the highest total in a game this season. The Golden Lion offense, while it struggled to sustain drives throughout the game, was able to score three times after a defensive or special teams play provided them with good field position. But as this season moves into October and the halfway point of Coleman’s first season, he’s still looking for his first win — and those consolation prizes have become harder to accept.

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Taylor to lead FAMU against SCSU

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. -- Different digs, same old results. With exception to a 1-9 record in his only season at Howard University, winning has followed Florida A&M’s Joe Taylor in 26 seasons as a head coach. The Rattlers’ 28-21 victory over previously ranked and undefeated Tennessee State this past Saturday in the Atlanta Football Classic gave the former Virginia Union and Hampton head coach his 200th career victory.

This Saturday at Bragg Stadium, Taylor looks to continue the quick turnaround he’s orchestrated at FAMU (3-1, 1-1) in his first season after his shocking departure from the Pirates against South Carolina State (3-2, 1-0). When asked about the secret to his success, Taylor simply said it’s all about “doing the right thing.” “It doesn’t really take a rocket scientist,” Taylor said. “A lot of times, people get caught doing the wrong thing, they always say, ‘If I had known better, I wouldn’t have done so.’ It’s nothing profound.

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HU faces versatile QB

HU head football coach Jerry Holmes.

Hampton University football games can be viewed by going to www.hamptonu.edu and clicking on "Webcast Live."

Pirates prepare for important road trip

Hampton kicks off a tough three-game stretch Saturday with a trip to defending Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference champion Delaware State. That's followed by an Oct. 18 home game against rival Norfolk State and an Oct. 25 trip to South Carolina State, but it's first things first for Pirates coach Jerry Holmes.

"To get an opportunity to play the supposedly best team in the conference — it shouldn't take too much motivation this week to get the guys ready," said Holmes, whose team beat North Carolina A&T on Sept. 20 to improve to 3-1 and 2-0 in the MEAC before last week's open date.

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MEAC contenders will square off this Saturday

NORFOLK, VA -- Joe Taylor calls it separation Saturday. Norfolk State isn't involved as the Spartans are off, but a pair of games this weekend should shed some light on the cream of the league race. Hampton (3-1, 2-0 MEAC) travels to Delaware State (1-2, 1-0) and preseason favorite South Carolina State (3-2, 1-0) heads to Tallahassee to take on Taylor's surprising Florida A&M team (3-1, 1-1).

"It's like looking at Hampton in Florida," South Carolina State coach Buddy Pough said of the Rattlers, who rotate two quarterbacks - Kentucky transfer Curtis Pulley and Eddie Battle. Hornets coach Al Lavan, meanwhile, said that without Taylor, Hampton hasn't missed a beat under first-year coach Jerry Holmes.

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Week 5 - Battle of the SWAC Bands

Texas Southern University Ocean of Soul Marching Band

Prairie View A&M University Marching Storm and Black Foxes @ Angel City Classic

Southern University Human Jukebox Marching Band & Dancing Dolls

Alcorn State University Sounds of Dynomite Marching Band & Golden Girls