NC Central looks to end season on high note at A&T
Not a lot has to be said around Durham when it’s A&T week.
The North Carolina Central Eagles are on a pair of two-game losing streaks - two this season, two in its series with A&T - but first-year coach Trei Oliver said you can throw all that out the window when it comes to rivalry games.
NCCU (4-7, 3-4) has had some growing pains, but was still in the race for the MEAC title until last Saturday. It was a long shot, but it wasn’t meant to be once it fell to South Carolina State.
The pain of all of this season’s mistakes can be numbed considerably with an upset win over the Aggies (7-3, 5-2), who are hoping to secure a third straight trip to the Celebration Bowl. If SCSU beats Norfolk State and the Eagles beat A&T, NCCU can brag that it ended its rival’s run.
It won’t be easy. Last week, Bethune-Cookman rolled into Greensboro, also still in a position to win the MEAC, and got clobbered by the Aggies, 47-17. A&T has won the last two meetings against NCCU by a combined score of 69-10, including a humiliating 45-0 win on Senior Day in Durham last season.
The Eagles have only scored 21 points in the last two games and, as always, the Aggies have one of the best defenses in the MEAC. On paper, it all points to another big A&T win, but NCCU definitely won’t mail it in.
“Nobody has tapped out or given up on the season by any stretch,” Oliver said. “We have a big opponent and a lot to play for.”
Again, one thing the Eagles have to play is an opportunity to play spoiler and keep A&T out of the Celebration Bowl. But if Norfolk State beats SCSU, that won’t matter as A&T will advance anyway. Ultimately, what a win can do for NCCU, regardless of what happens in Norfolk, is give it a good springboard into the offseason.
“This is a big game for us, probably for them too, as far as in-state recruiting,” Oliver said. “We’re fighting for some of the same guys and this has a lot to do with it. Our guys are hungry for the win. Our attitudes are great and the guys continue to work. Us winning this football game can carry us into the spring on a high note. That would be big for the program.”
The Aggies have a 51-34-5 series lead against the Eagles and have won 20 of the last 28 matchups. NCCU will ride into Greensboro with 37 freshmen on the roster, including starting quarterback Davius Richard, who started getting a crash course on the rivalry once he committed.
“When I committed a lot of people started following me, so my social media starting producing a lot of that stuff, so they always argue back and forth about who is better,” Richard said. “I’ve heard about this game since I was back in Florida. It means a lot to me. My teammates always talk about the rivalry, how intense it is and how they play for it. It means as much for me as it does the in-state athletes.”
That’s one thing Oliver can’t prepare his young team for - the rise of the intensity level. In 2017 there were punches thrown in pregame, resulting in personal fouls and ejections before the opening kickoff. There were no issues last season, and Oliver vows there won’t be any this time around.
“Anyone who rides with me to Greensboro on my bus,” Oliver said. “They are going to know how to carry themselves.”
Oliver expects emotions -- that’s natural with a heated rivalry like this -- but he knows you can play an intense game between the lines without losing your cool.
“It’s going to be a physical game out there and one thing I talked to the team about on Sunday was controlling our emotions,” Oliver said. “How hard can we play, how fast can we play, but at the same time we have to control our emotions.”
- NC Central at North Carolina A&T
- 1 PM, Aggie Stadium
- TV: ESPN3
- Audio: NCCUEaglePride.com
This story was originally published November 22, 2019 at 1:58 PM with the headline "NC Central looks to end season on high note at A&T."
