In home finale, South Carolina State blows by NC Central, 24-0
The North Carolina Central football team will head into its regular-season finale at North Carolina A&T next week looking for answers.
It’s been that way for most of the season for first-year head coach Trei Oliver, as his Eagles fell to South Carolina State, 24-0, in the home finale at O’Kelly-Riddick Stadium on Saturday.
South Carolina State came in tied with A&T atop the MEAC standings. It was a stretch, but when the day started NCCU had a longshot chance at winning the crown. The Eagles (4-7, 3-4) needed a lot of help, but ultimately those scenarios didn’t matter as they didn’t take care of their own business.
To win the MEAC outright, South Carolina State now needs to beat Norfolk State next Saturday and for NCCU to top A&T. The Aggies defeated Bethune-Cookman, 47-17, Saturday.
The way things have gone for the Eagles, it’s unlikely South Carolina State will be sending thank you cards to Durham next weekend.
“There’s still a lot to play for,” Oliver said. “Unfortunately we don’t get to play in the Celebration Bowl but we get to determine who does. We have to go 1-0 this week, starting tomorrow in practice.”
It’s the third straight year NCCU lost on Senior Day, having been outscored 69-0 in the last two home finales.
“I’m a little disappointed we couldn’t send those seniors out on a better note,” Oliver said. “I told the 10 seniors that we had that I love them. We didn’t win the game, but nothing changes, I love them and we have to get better next week.”
By the time Bulldogs’ running back LaBron Morris scored his second touchdown to make it 24-0 late in the third quarter, many of the fans on the home side of the stadium were heading for the exits. Morris, who also had a 3-yard touchdown run late in the second quarter, finished with a career-high 135 yards on 24 carries.
It didn’t say a lot for NCCU that its biggest play of the first half was a punt by John Pecaro that went 70 yards. After three quarters, the Eagles had only 132 yards of offense.
SCSU used a three-play drive to get on the board first, with Corey Fields throwing a 25-yard pass to De’montrez Burroughs. SCSU’s Dillon Bredsen used the wind to his advantage to connect on a career-long 44-yard field goal in the third quarter that extended the lead to 17-0.
The Bulldogs snapped a three-game losing streak to NCCU and won in Durham for the first time since 2013.
The Eagles can end a two-game skid to A&T on Saturday, but Oliver said that’s not all the team is playing for. In fact, that alone shouldn’t be what drives them this week.
“We have an opportunity to play another football game, it doesn’t matter who we are playing,” Oliver said. “We have another game to play and we talked about finishing strong. Some of the games didn’t go the way we wanted and that’s fine, but we are going to finish this season off.”
FIRST DOWN
Eagles senior defensive end Darius Royster kept his name in the race for MEAC Defensive Player of the Year with 8.0 tackles, 1.0 sacks and 1.0 tackles for loss.
TOUCHDOWN
Redshirt sophomore defensive back Justin Nicholson finished with three pass breakups, playing one of his best games of the season.
PENALTY
South Carolina State had a very rare penalty happen not once but twice. The Bulldogs had two players on the field wearing the same number twice on special teams. South Carolina State has two players who wear No. 12 and two who wear No. 23 and they somehow ended up on the field at the same time.
ICYMI
The North Carolina Central marching band went over its allotted time on the field during halftime, which results in a penalty for the home team. But there is an unwritten rule in Black College Football that when that happens, the visiting coach usually declines. SCSU coach Buddy Pugh kept it classy and declined the penalty.
KEY NUMBERS
1 of 13 - North Carolina Central just converted one third down conversion the entire game, going 1 of 13 on third down.
3 - Number of turnovers for the Eagles. Freshman quarterback Davius Richard threw two interceptions and NCCU fumbled the ball away to the Bulldogs in the first half.
This story was originally published November 16, 2019 at 6:22 PM with the headline "In home finale, South Carolina State blows by NC Central, 24-0."
