2011 FOOTBALL PREVIEW CIAA U MEAC U SIAC U SWAC
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
2011 FOOTBALL PREVIEW CIAA u MEAC u SIAC u SWAC wEEK oF AUGUsT 29, 2011 Follow Us theyardweekly theyardhbcu theyardhbcu AGAIN?!?? Every Conference Champ is picked To repeat It’s REAL easy to pick a winner in the beginning of the sea- that are new to the conference. son. Just pick the guys that won it last year! Looks like that holds true in black college football in 2011. Every champion 2. Scheduling from last season (Shaw, Bethune-Cookman, Texas Southern Playing within your conference can be hard enough but I and Albany State) is favored to repeat in their respective con- want to know what Fort Valley State and Bowie State were ference. I guess it’s easy to do when these programs return a thinking when they put their schedules together? The Bull- solid nucleus of key players and an experienced coaching staff. dogs three (yes, three) home games have forced them to have Throw in the fact that several other schools within those con- their Homecoming in early September. ferences have made significant changes and those selections The Wildcats can easily be considered the best team in black just became that much easier to make. college football IF they can win out in 2011. Fort Valley State Even with all of this uncertainty, I won’t risk my “cred- will face Florida A&M, Bethune-Cookman and the Division ibility” by personally predicting a champion…this year. After II Runner-Up Delta State along with conference foes Albany all, you play to win the game and ANYTHING can happen. State, Morehouse and Tuskegee. Wow. VUU Downs St. Aug’s 12-0 So with the 2011 college football season officially kicking off in Hurricane: Virginia Union this weekend, I will give you a preview of the conference, picks 3. Players To Watch University’s Jerell Washington made by coaches and other members of the media and a list of It’s easy to keep an eye on guys who have been picked to be rushed for 150 yards as VUU downed Saint Augustine’s College 12-0 in things to watch for this year. players of the year within their respective conference but here a football game at Hovey Field on is a list of players who had big years last year and may have August 27 which was played under 1. Changes break out years this season: hurricane conditions. Every season brings change and 2011 isn’t any different. David Carter, Running Back, Morehouse Washington carried the ball 38 times The Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SIAC) will Carter averaged 122.5yds per game last season as a sopho- as the Panthers braved 35 mile per move to divisional play. The 10-team conference will split into more. hour winds and gusts of 50 mph. two-5 team divisions and the division winners will face off in Brandon Bridge, Quaterback, Alcorn state VUU is now 1-0 and travels to the first Title Game in Atlanta. “Air Canada” was fourth in the league with a 190-yard pass- Columbia, S.C., to face Benedict The Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) has expand- ing average per game in 2010. Only two passers, both upper- College at 3:30 p.m. on September 3. ed into a 12-team league and a total of 10 teams have new classmen, threw for more than his 19 touchdowns. Bridge also head coaches. Southwest Athletic Conference (SWAC) cham- finished No. 7 in the SWAC for rushing, with 600 yards and SCORES pionship contenders Grambling State (Doug Williams), Texas tied for third overall with eight scores on the ground. FOOTBALL Southern (Kevin Ramsey) and Prairie View A&M (Heishma Rico Council, lineback, Tennessee state Saturday, August 27 Northern) all bring in new coaches. The MEAC will bring in Last year, he recorded the best season of his career leading Bellhaven 47, Texas College 3 The loss of former head coach Johnnie Cole has not stopped experts from picking Texas Southern to repeat as SWAC Champion in 2011. Delta State 28, Elizabeth City State 21 OT a total of 5 new head coaches (Blount/Delaware Stste, Har- TSU in sacks with four. Council finished second on the team Virginia Union 12, Saint Augustine’s 0 rell/Howard, Broadway/NC A&T, Fraizer/NCCU, Dixon/SSU) in stops with a career season best with 79 tackles (39 solo). MEAC MVP to UCF: Former Bethune-Cookman guard and reigning MEAC Basketball Player of the Year C. J. Reed is transferring to the University of Central Florida. REED Reed, who averaged an MEAC-best 18.8 points per game while leading the Wildcats to a 21-13 overall record and their first ever MEAC regular season title, received a release from Will NCAA academic Going to Homecoming? B-CU in early July afterthe school abruptly dismissed his father, Clifford Reed, as the changes hurt HBCUs? 2 See when it will be 9 Wildcats head coach on June 27. INSIDE THE YARD wEEK oF AUGUsT 29TH COLLEGE FOOTBALL 2 Vikings Drop Opener in OT, 28-21 DI Board Approves Increased Academic Performance Concept INDIANAPOLIS—Less than 24 hours after emerging from a landmark Presi- dential retreat, the Division I Board of Directors unanimously approved the concept of increasing the required academic performance of all teams and mandated that teams must meet those requirements in order to participate in any NCAA-sponsored championship or football bowl game. NCAA President Mark Emmert tout- ed the change as proof of the NCAA’s commitment to the academic success of all student-athletes. “This is about the academic performance of all of our stu- The raise to the Academic Progress Rate benchmark from 900 to 930 may make it harder for HBCUs that may not have the dents in all of our sports. This is about resources to assist athletes with academic issues. Southern’s football team was one of the eight teams banned from post season the academic expectations we have for competition due to poor academic perfoprmance. all of our student-athletes.” The board voted to raise the Aca- cluding a timeline for phased-in imple- onship Subdivision-specific override demic Progress Rate benchmark from mentation for both the new 930 bench- requests changed as well, from 15 to 25 900 to 930 and supported a penalty mark and the penalty structure. for an override and from 40 to 50 for structure that will require teams to Currently, the most serious APR pen- suspension of legislation. earn at least a 930 four-year, rolling alties are assessed when a team falls be- The Council believed it was impor- APR in order to participate in postsea- low a 900 four-year APR. The move to tant for the membership to have the son competition. 930 will be significant, especially as it opportunity to override legislation if These changes stemmed from the relates to championship participation. a significant majority opposed the ac- two-day presidential retreat which con- The 930 APR predicts an approxi- tion taken by the Council and Board of cluded Wednesday, Aug. 10 and focused mately 50 percent Graduation Success Directors. However, the previous stan- on improving intercollegiate athletics Rate. Within the last year, the presi- dard represented less than 10 percent Second-ranked Delta State came up big on defense in the second half, shutting down Elizabeth City State for a 28-21 OT win. in a variety of ways: academics, fiscal dents on the Board stoutly affirmed a of the Division I membership. The new responsibility and integrity. The presi- commitment to keeping the benchmark standard requires 22 percent of schools CLEVELAND, MS—No. 2 Delta State offense after halftime. third quarter. swered two plays later. After a kickoff dents also directed NCAA President for penalties at a minimum 50 percent to disagree with a legislative action for kicked off the 2011 season with an Mark Hoskins led the way for the Lucas had a solid game for the return and penalty took the ball to the Mark Emmert to assemble whatever graduation rate. The relationship be- an override to take place. The change is overtime thriller, defeating the Eliza- defense with eight tackles and a sack. Statesmen in the second half. The ju- 40, Powell found Keit Strickland for a groups are necessary to codify the rec- tween the two rates had changed over effective immediately and will apply to beth City State Vikings 28-21 on Sat- Triplett led the linebackers with seven nior finished with 79 yards on 17 car- 40-yard strike to go up 21-7 before the ommendations in all three areas dis- the last several years as adjustments any legislation adopted going forward. urday. tackles and Dominique Davenport led ries and the one rushing touchdown in half. cussed at the retreat. were made to improve the fairness of The presidents also directed the Statesmen sophomore Ixavier the secondary with six tackles. overtime. He also was a big player on Elizabeth City State turned Delta “We have made some very significant the APR. staff to apply NCAA recruiting rules Triplett tipped a Creven Powell pass However, the Statesmen need 14 special teams, setting up a touchdown State turnovers into touchdowns in the recommendations that we want to turn In other business, the Division I concerning publicity of prospective that eventually fell into the hands of points in the second half to force over- with a long return. He also broke what first half, punishing the Statesmen for into action. We will begin working on Board of Directors adopted a Legisla- student-athletes to institutional and Jerry Barnes to seal the victory for the time.