jjohnson@heraldsun.com; 419-6667
DURHAM -- It's been a long road trip for N.C. Central and the road doesn't get any easier as the Eagles travel to face Appalachian State on Saturday.
NCCU (0-5) has been away from home for all but one of its games this season and road weariness may be setting in, according to Eagles coach Mose Rison.
"We've got another road game," Rison said. "We've traveled a lot in the past two years. Few teams have played this type of schedule."
Because N.C. Central is in transition from Division II to Division I, it has few choices when it comes to making schedules. Teams already in the Football Championship Subdivision are looking for home games without the necessity of playing at return game in Durham. And it does NCCU no good to play teams in Division II for the sake of having home games. Rison said it's just part of the process of moving up in the NCAA hierarchy.
"It's a process. It's called transition," Rison said. "It's the same thing every other team that has moved up a level has gone through. We're looking towards the future and the opportunities it will bring."
One of those opportunities is membership in the MEAC, which will mean four home games each year as part of the conference schedule. Then NCCU might be able to add to that number with non-conference matchups.
Rison said the front-loaded schedule with mostly away games is no reason for his team to be 0-5 because it has played well enough to win three of the games. He said critical mistakes at untimely moments have cost his team those victories.
The latest occurred against N.C. A T when a potential game-winning field goal was blocked. It was from chip-shot distance but a breakdown in the line allowed the Aggies to crash through and block the kick, sending the game to overtime where N.C. A T eventually won. Failure in the kicking game also cost NCCU a likely victory against Morehead State in the Eagles' only home game thus far.
"We've had a couple of breakdowns and it has cost us," Rison said. "They understand the mistakes that we made and we can't let them happen again."
Saturday's game at Appalachian State will be last on the road for a while as NCCU's next two games will be at home.
Rison said facing the Mountaineers will be a doubly tough challenge because his team will need to shake off the doldrums that have accompanied their road trips while at the same time trying to contain one of the most dynamic players in the country in quarterback Armanti Edwards. If the Eagles are not ready to play, Appalachian State can do a lot more damage than N.C. A T inflicted on the Eagles when it jumped out to a 17-0 lead.
"We cannot come out flat," Rison said. "If we come out flat, it's going to be a long day for us. I know we won't be overwhelmed because we've played in similar situations that we're going to face at Appalachian State. We've been in every game. At times we've showed our youth but at others we've looked like we're a pretty good football team."
