The fall semester for several fans is the best time of the year because of College Football. This year CFB will be celebrating 150 years of excellence, and several conferences including the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference will be participating in a series of interviews focused on this prestigious milestone.
This past weekend, the MEAC has proven that they need to be taken seriously in all forms of CFB. The highlight game of the week came from Florida A&M, as their rivalry against South-Western Athletic Conference (SWAC) opponent Southern University was renewed. After a 57-20 blowout victory versus Fort Valley State, the Rattlers were confident heading into this non-conference matchup.
FAMU QB Ryan Stanley threw for 355 yards and two touchdowns and earned himself Offensive player of the week honors after his clutch performance. FAMU sealed the game down the stretch, as Stanley drove the Rattlers down the field with less than four minutes left in the fourth quarter and rifled a 17-yard touchdown pass to Xavier Smith to seal the Rattlers 27-21 victory.
This week also kick-started the first week of conference play as first place Howard took on Delaware State. Howard ’s QB Caylin Newton threw for 242 yards, two touchdowns, and led the Bison to a 24-9 victory, giving them their first win of the season. Despite Delaware State striking first on a nine-play opening drive they couldn’t get over the hump and close the gap. Howard currently sits atop the division with a lackluster 1-3 record, but that is due to them being the only team with a conference victory thus far in the season. With it still being fairly early in the season, expect a change in these rankings very soon especially considering that preseason favorites South Carolina State and North Carolina A&T come in at second and third with 2-1 records.
With it being the fall, football is not the only sport happening this semester. On the hardwood, women’s volleyball is heating up across the MEAC. Currently, in the Northern division, there is a new frontrunner as the defending champion Howard Bison are a measly 3-11 and sitting at fifth place in the division. Morgan State is currently first in the division with a 6-7 record and one game below .500 after a tough 3-2 win over Binghamton.
In the Southern Division, however, no team is close to .500, as Bethune Cookman leads the division with a 3-9 record and losing streak of three games. FAMU comes in a second with a
2-11, but it is still extremely early in the season and conference play has yet to commence for the 2019 volleyball season.
Thus, expect several changes to the upcoming volleyball and football rankings especially heading into week five for CFB. This week will commence the start of MEAC play. With the headline games being FAMU vs. Norfolk State, as well as BCU facing off against Newton and Howard. These games can be watched on the MEAC digital network as well as ESPN3 this Saturday, September 28. These are matchups you don’t want to miss and will give MEAC fans a glimpse into who is ready to make their case for a trip to Atlanta and the Celebration Bowl.