‘Money can’t buy that.’ NC Central’s football win over Alcorn State was priceless.
N.C. Central couldn’t have scripted it any better.
The Eagles opened the college football season Saturday in Atlanta. Playing their first game in almost two years because of the pandemic, they overcame what coach Trei Oliver called a “rocky” start to beat Alcorn State 23-14 in the MEAC/SWAC Challenge.
ESPN was there. The College GameDay set was outside Georgia’s State’s Center Parc Stadium as Lee Corso, 86 and still going strong, again joined the GameDay panel after being a remote TV presence a year ago because of the COVID-19 threat.
According to ESPN, an average of one million viewers watched Saturday night as the Eagles won the game featuring two historically Black universities. The day before, NCCU linebacker Jessie Malit was recognized and saluted on ABC’s “Good Morning America” for his work in collecting and donating hundreds of books to his mother’s village in Kenya.
“Money can’t buy that,” Oliver said during his weekly press conference. “We don’t have the type of money to buy that. We were on national television from about 8 o’clock in the morning (Saturday) until 11 o’clock at night. So all day all you see is ‘North Carolina Central.’
“I’m proud of my university being able to be on that stage. The branding it does for us, it helps in recruiting. I was just so proud to see our university, our program, represented on a national stage. People saw it all over the country.”
Many viewers might have been surprised by the outcome. The ESPN guys were, Corso showing off an Alcorn State jersey — No. 9, which former star Steve “Air” McNair once wore for the Braves — and popping on a golden Alcorn helmet during the GameDay show.
Desmond Howard, Kirk Herbstreit, guest picker Eddie George (now the coach at Tennessee State) and Corso all went with Alcorn State in their pregame predictions as the Alcorn logo was stripped across the board on the ESPN graphic.
“We pretty much knew that coming in,” Eagles quarterback Davius Richard said. “We knew that because of the season we had before and Alcorn having gone to the Celebration Bowl (in 2019). We knew people would favor their side but we didn’t pay too much attention to that.”
Alcorn State was 9-4 and the SWAC champion in 2019, losing to North Carolina A&T in the bowl game. Like Central, the Rams had their 2020 season wiped out by the pandemic but returned for 2021 with a talented group led by senior quarterback Felix Harper and as the preseason pick to win the SWAC West.
Central was 4-8 two years ago in Oliver’s first season as head coach, closing with a 54-0 beating by N.C. A&T. With COVID-19 forcing the cancellation of the MEAC’s 2020 season, then a planned spring 2021 season, the Eagles had to live with that stinging loss for 644 days and went into the game Saturday night as two-touchdown underdogs but aching to get back on the football field.
“Emotion was all over the place,” Richard said. “On Saturday, it was like we’d like to move the game up to like 2 (p.m.) because it had been so long and the guys wanted to get out there and compete.”
Richard did his part in the victory, the sophomore passing for 184 yards and rushing for 64 yards and two scores in being named the game’s offensive MVP. Brandon Codrington, a sophomore from Raleigh, ran back a punt 77 yards for a touchdown and a 23-14 lead. The defense, led by senior linebacker Noah Rainbow-Douglas, made the big plays needed.
“We just locked in,” senior defensive back Stephen Stokes said Tuesday. “We knew some good things would happen and bad things would happen but we couldn’t let anything get us down. We just kept pushing.”
As Oliver put it, “Our guys did not get rattled.”
The Eagles won and then joyously celebrated on the field and continued in a raucous locker room. And why not?
“It means a lot to the program,” Richard said. “It’s great exposure, a great platform for our football team to showcase our talents. HBCUs don’t get as much recognition at the FCS level, so for us to have the first game of the year and be on ESPN was a real blessing.”
But, as coaches like to say, what now? How will the Eagles follow up on such a big win? More so, can it propel them to a big season?
The Eagles have an extra week to prepare for their second game, at Marshall on Sept. 11. The early open date also gives them time to put the Alcorn win behind them, Oliver is hoping. and focus in on the next thing.
Asked Monday if his team was mature enough to handle such unexpected national exposure, Oliver quickly said, “No.”
“And the first thing I talked to those guys about in the locker room,” Oliver said. “I said when we get back to Durham, everybody’s gonna tell you how great you are and we’re the next best thing, and we’ve only won one game. It’s one game. That’s it.
“We’re not going to crown ourselves and say this and say that. We won one football game. We have a long schedule, a long road ahead and a lot of good football teams to play.”
Oliver said he sees much to improve from the opener. The Eagles had 14 penalties, he said. They allowed 189 yards rushing and missed “so many” tackles, with too much grabbing and arm-tackling.
“We’re going to keep our guys grounded and will work to get better,” he said. “We’re not a very good football team right now. ... We’re nowhere near a championship team. We have so much to work on.”
But beating Alcorn State is something to build on moving forward. The 2021 Celebration Bowl matches the MEAC and SWAC winners. Central would like to go back to Atlanta in December — perhaps for a rematch with Alcorn State.
“This will boost our confidence a lot,” Stokes said. “We had a lot of confidence already but we hadn’t played in 600-plus days. Getting that win shows we can do it and now we have to keep pushing.”
This story was originally published September 1, 2021 at 2:14 PM with the headline "‘Money can’t buy that.’ NC Central’s football win over Alcorn State was priceless.."
