It’s Decision Saturday this weekend in black college football.
It’s Decision Saturday this weekend in black college football.
By the end of the day, two conferences – the SIAC and CIAA – will have crowned their champions; a third, the MEAC, could also have its champion determined, and the division races in the SWAC could be settled.
In the SIAC, defending champion Albany State plays Miles in the inaugural title game in Atlanta, while in the CIAA, Winston-Salem State (10-0, 7-0 CIAA), No. 1 in the BoxToRow.com Black College Poll, plays Elizabeth City State (8-2, 6-1 CIAA) in Durham, N.C., for the conference crown. In the MEAC, Norfolk State has already clinched a tie for its first conference title, and the Spartans can claim the crown outright with a victory against Morgan State.
The SWAC Conference Championship Game isn’t until Dec. 10, but the East and West Division races could end this weekend. If Alabama State (7-2, 7-1 SWAC) loses to Southern (3-6, 3-4), Alabama A&M (7-2, 6-1) will claim the East title if the Bulldogs beat Jackson State (7-2, 5-2). However, if Alabama A&M loses and Alabama State wins, the Hornets will get the title. Prairie View A&M (4-5, 4-3 SWAC) will win the West with a victory against Alcorn State (2-6, 1-6) and losses by Grambling State to Texas Southern and Arkansas-Pine Bluff (4-5, 3-4 SWAC) to Mississippi Valley State (1-9, 1-6 SWAC).
Miles is the least likely of the championship contenders. The Golden Bears, perennial also-rans in the SIAC who were 3-8 last season, have never won a conference championship. They captured the SIAC West championship under first-year coach Reginald Ruffin on the strength of a five-game winning streak before losing to Tuskegee 27-25 in the regular season finale.
Ruffin says the key to the Golden Bears’ turnaround has been the commitment that Miles president Dr. George T. French has made to the football program. Miles installed a new artificial turf playing field at Albert J. Sloan-Alumni Field, Ruffin was permitted to hire seven assistant coaches, and for the first time, the program is giving the equivalent of 36 scholarships, the maximum in Division II.
“The question the president asked me (during the interview process) was ‘What would it to take to compete?’” Ruffin says. “My answer was, ‘If you give me scholarships and assistant coaches, we will win – not compete.’ Competing is shooting marbles. You win some of mine, and I win some of yours. My eight-year-old son can compete. We’re playing to win. Everything we do, we play to win.”
Miles and Albany State are facing each other for the second time this season. The Golden Bears lost 34-27in September on their home field after leading much of the game. They had a chance to tie the score and send the game into overtime, but quarterback David Thomas had a pass intercepted at the goal line on a third-and-two play from Albany State’s one with one minute, 30 seconds left in the game.
Even though the Golden Bears lost, Ruffin looks back at that game as the turning point in the season. They had suffered another close at West Georgia, 23-20, the previous week. Still, they stood toe-to-toe with Albany State, and that was encouraging to Ruffin, who began spring drills with 96 team members and ended with just 41 after dismissing more than half of the squad.
He brought in 89 newcomers for preseason practice, and because of the turnover in personnel, he understood it would take time for the team to gel and develop chemistry. Ruffin says he began to see the Golden Bears come together as a team in the loss to Albany State.
“We were fighting,” he says. “When I took the job, I wanted to make sure they knew how to fight. I didn’t want them to tuck their tails. We had to make sure we got the chemistry going; you can’t do that in three weeks. I knew we had a problem with gelling and camaraderie in our first and that we would be bad team in our first game, and we were (They lost to Morehouse 49-7). They picked it up. After Albany State, they started playing as a unit. They began fighting as a unit. Saw we could fight. Albany State is great team, the defending champions, and we had a chance to tie the game. That brought a spirit of togetherness.”
The Golden Bears will carry that same spirit of togetherness in the SIAC Championship Game. But Ruffin says that alone won’t be enough to beat the Golden Rams.
“It’s hard to play a team twice, whether you won or loss,” he says. “The biggest thing is I reminded them they have a good team. They do the little things. That’s why they are the champions. They are going to run ball down your throat. They have weapons on offense. On defense, they’re big and they can run. I want to make sure our young men know they’re playing good team. They take what you give them, and they’re physical. We can’t make mistakes. We have to give ourselves a chance to win.”
Albany State leads the SIAC in scoring offense, averaging 34.7 yards a game, and the Golden Rams are No. 2 in passing offense with 231.2 yards a game through the air. Senior quarterback Stanley Jennings leads the conference with 2,312 yards and 23 touchdown passes. Miles is second in the SIAC with 17 interceptions and No. 3 in pass defense, allowing 99.3 yards a game in the air.
“We’re small and quick,” Ruffin says of Miles’ defensive unit. “We’re not big, but we can run. We run to ball. That’s our advantage on defense.”
Miles’ offense boasts the second-leading rusher in the conference, junior Jordan Lewis who has run for 813 yards and scored seven touchdowns. Thomas is also a strong runner from the quarterback position. He has 340 yards on the ground and has scored 10 touchdowns.
OTHER GAMES
California (Pa.) (8-2) at Cheyney (1-9)
Virginia University of Lynchburg (3-6) at George Mason
Delaware State (2-7, 0-6 MEAC) at Hampton (5-4, 3-3 MEAC)
Edward Waters (3-6) at Southern Virginia (3-6)
Charleston (West Va.) (4-6) at West Va. State (1-8)
Langston (7-2) at Southern Nazarene (8-2)
Concordia-Selma (5-4) at Stillman (7-3)
North Carolina A&T (4-5, 3-3 MEAC) at South Carolina State (5-4, 4-2 MEAC)
Central State (1-9) at St. Francis (Ind.) (7-2)
Prairie View A&M (4-5, 4-3 SWAC) at Alcorn State (2-6, 1-6 SWAC)
Nebraska-Omaha (Club Team) at Lincoln (Mo.) (1-9)
SW Assemblies of God (3-6) at Texas College (0-10)
Florida A&M (6-3, 4-2 MEAC) at North Carolina Central (2-7, 1-5 MEAC)
Savannah State (1-8, 1-5 MEAC) at Bethune-Cookman (6-3, 4-2 MEAC)
Tennessee-Martin (5-4, 4-2 OVC) at Tennessee State (4-5, 3-3 OVC)
Texas Southern (4-5, 2-5 SWAC) at Grambling State (5-4, 4-3 SWAC
