THE GAME
North Carolina Central University "Eagles" vs. Howard University "Bison"
THE KICKOFF
Saturday, Nov. 2, 2019 – Kickoff at 1:00 p.m.
THE SITE
Greene Stadium (7,086 capacity) - Washington, D.C.
THE RECORDS
N.C. Central (3-5 overall, 2-2 MEAC); Howard (1-7, 1-3 MEAC)
MEDIA COVERAGE
Audio: NCCU Sports Network at NCCUEaglePride.com (internet stream). Broadcast starts at 12:30 p.m.
Jonathan Duren (play-by-play).
TV/Video: ESPN3 (live) / ESPNU (delay).
QUICK HITS
• NCCU is coming off a 30-23 home victory over Delaware State, in which freshman
Brandon Codrington returned a kickoff 75 yards for a touchdown with just 38 seconds left in the contest for the game-winner.
•
Brandon Codrington's 75-yard, game-winning kickoff return touchdown against Delaware State was the first kickoff return touchdown by NCCU since Sept. 5, 2015.
• NCCU leads the series with Howard 13-9-1. The Eagles have won seven in-a-row against the Bison.
• NCCU junior running back
Isaiah Totten, the second-leading rusher in the MEAC with 62.6 ground yards per game, is ranked eighth on NCCU's career rushing list with 2,008 ground yards, averaging 5.2 yards per carry. On Oct. 26 against Delaware State, he became just the eighth player in NCCU history to reach 2,000 career rushing yards.
• NCCU redshirt senior defensive end
Darius Royster ranks 10th in the league with a team-high 54 tackles, and is the only defensive lineman in the top-25.
• NCCU is second in the NCAA Division I-FCS with a MEAC-best 13 interceptions, the most picks by the Eagles since 2013 (14).
• NCCU's 21 takeaways (13 interceptions, 8 fumble recoveries) top the MEAC and rank tied for fourth in the NCAA Division I-FCS.
• NCCU is under the direction of first-year head coach
Trei Oliver, who was an all-region safety and punter (1994-97) at NCCU, as well as an assistant coach (2003-06).
• NCCU redshirt senior defensive end
Darius Royster tops the MEAC with 6.5 sacks (17th in FCS) and tied for second with 12.0 stops for a loss. Last season, he amassed 17.0 takedowns behind the line of scrimmage (T-2nd in MEAC, 15th in FCS) and four forced fumbles (1st in MEAC, 9th in FCS).
• NCCU junior cornerback
Bryan Mills tops the MEAC with four interceptions and is tied for second in the conference with nine passes defended (5 pass break-ups, 3 INTs).
• NCCU freshman kicker
Adrian Olivo leads the MEAC in field goal percentage (83.3%/17th in FCS) and is tied for third in field goals per game (1.25).
• Thanks to
Jerome Foster's pick-six against Elizabeth City State on Sept. 21, NCCU has now had at least one interception for a touchdown in 16 consecutive seasons.
•
Davius Richards' 62-yard touchdown run at Morgan State (Sept. 28) is the longest rush by an NCCU quarterback since Lawrence Fuller raced 74 yards against Morris Brown on Sept. 30, 2000.
• NCCU's 330 yards rushing at Morgan State (Sept. 28) are the most against a conference opponent since Oct. 23, 2004, when the Eagles were in the Division II CIAA and rushed for 349 yards against CIAA foe Livingstone College.
• NCCU junior cornerback
Bryan Mills tied the NCCU single-game record with three interceptions, becoming the first Eagle to accomplish the feat since Adrian Jones on the same date in 1996 against Elizabeth City State.
• Since the start of the 2012 season, NCCU has scored 40 touchdowns on defense and special teams, including a pick-six and a kickoff return TD this year.
• Three NCCU Eagles -
Darius Royster,
Micah Zanders and
Chidi Okonya (Duke) - have already earned their undergraduate degrees.
THE SERIES
This will be the 24th meeting between the Eagles and the Bison. NCCU leads the series 13-9-1. The Eagles have won seven in-a-row against Howard.
Series Between NCCU Eagles and Howard Bison:
10/6/2018 - NCCU 40, Howard 35 (Durham, N.C.)
10/7/2017 - NCCU 13, Howard 7 (Washington, D.C.)
11/12/2016 - NCCU 30, Howard 21 (Durham, N.C.)
11/14/2015 - NCCU 41, Howard 6 (Washington, D.C.)
10/04/2014 - NCCU 27, Howard 22 (Durham, N.C.)
10/05/2013 - NCCU 37, Howard 28 (Washington, D.C.)
09/16/1995 - NCCU 37, Howard 32 (Washington, D.C.)
10/15/1994 - Howard 35, NCCU 19 (Durham, N.C.)
11/10/1979 - Howard 31, NCCU 20 (Durham, N.C.)
11/11/1978 - Howard 24, NCCU 17 (Washington, D.C.)
11/12/1977 - Howard 33, NCCU 0 (Durham, N.C.)
11/13/1976 - Howard 22, NCCU 21 (Washington, D.C.)
11/15/1975 - Howard 41, NCCU 10 (Durham, N.C.)
11/16/1974 - (tie) Howard 17, NCCU 17 (Durham, N.C.)
11/10/1973 - NCCU 10, Howard 7 (Durham, N.C.)
11/11/1972 - NCCU 14, Howard 13 (Washington, D.C.)
11/13/1971 - NCCU 42, Howard 18 (Durham, N.C.)
10/26/1940 - NCCU 14, Howard 0 (Washington, D.C.)
10/28/1939 - NCCU 19, Howard 0 (Durham, N.C.)
11/17/1934 - NCCU 7, Howard 6 (Washington, D.C.)
11/18/1933 - Howard 7, NCCU 0 (Durham, N.C.)
11/08/1930 - Howard 6, NCCU 2 (Washington, D.C.)
10/31/1925 - Howard 70, NCCU 0 (Washington, D.C.)
THE LAST MEETING
(NCCU 40, Howard 35 - Durham, N.C. - Oct. 6, 2018) North Carolina Central University sophomore quarterback
Chauncey Caldwell amassed a career-high 464 yards of total offense, including 153 rushing yards and the game-winning touchdown run with 24 seconds left in the game, to lead the Eagles to a 40-35 conference victory over Howard University inside O'Kelly-Riddick Stadium. The two MEAC squads exploded for 1,126 combined yards of total offense. The visiting Bison tallied 598 total yards, while NCCU registered 528 total yards.
THE LAST MEETING IN WASHINGTON, D.C.
(NCCU 13, Howard 7 - Washington, D.C. - Oct. 7, 2017) A pair of takeaways resulted in 10 points for North Carolina Central University, including the game-winning touchdown in the third quarter, as the Eagles captured a 13-7 road victory over Howard University.
LAST WEEK
NCCU 30, Delaware State 23 (Durham, N.C.): After Delaware State University tied the score with less than a minute left in regulation, North Carolina Central University freshman
Brandon Codrington returned the ensuing kickoff 75 yards for the game-winning touchdown, as NCCU beat the Hornets 30-23 on Saturday inside O'Kelly-Riddick Stadium. Delaware State had a chance to respond to Codrington's heroics, moving the ball to the NCCU 25-yard line, but NCCU junior defensive back
Bryan Mills' interception at the 4-yard line ended the threat and sealed the victory. The pick was the fourth of the season for Mills and the 13th interception by the Eagles. NCCU freshman quarterback
Davius Richard threw for 174 yards and two touchdowns, connecting with sophomore
Treveyon Pratt for 74 yards in the second quarter and junior
Ryan McDaniel for 20 yards in the third quarter. The Eagles defense was topped by safeties
Manny Smith and
Deonta Fair with 10 tackles apiece, along with
Stephen Stokes with seven stops and a fumble recovery. Senior defensive end
Darius Royster added seven takedowns, including 1.5 hits for a loss with two assisted sacks for NCCU.
NC A&T 64, Howard 6 (Greensboro, N.C.): North Carolina A&T held a slim 10-6 lead over Howard after the first quarter, but the nationally-ranked Aggies scored 54 unanswered points in the final three quarters to beat the Bison 64-6. The Aggies amassed 574 yards of total offense, including 321 rushing yards, while holding Howard to just 173 total yards.
THE COACHES
NCCU:
Trei Oliver (N.C. Central, 1998) is in his first season as a college head coach. With 20 years of college coaching experience that includes five conference championships and three black college football national titles, Oliver returned to his alma mater as North Carolina Central University's 24th head football coach in December 2018. A native of Yorktown, Virginia, Oliver earned all-conference and all-region honors as a defensive back and punter during his four-year playing career at NCCU from 1994-97. The 1998 graduate later returned to NCCU as an assistant coach from 2003-06, helping the Eagles to back-to-back Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association (CIAA) championships in 2005 and 2006.
Howard: Ron Prince (Appalachian State, 1992), is in his first season as head coach at Howard University. Prince has a wealth of coaching experience at the collegiate and NFL levels, working 19 seasons in the college ranks, including three seasons as the head coach at Kansas State (2006-08), and seven seasons in the NFL. In 2018, Prince was an offensive analyst for the Michigan football program after working for the Detroit Lions.
ALUMS AS HEAD FOOTBALL COACHES AT NCCU
Trei Oliver is the third alumnus to lead the NCCU football program, following in the footsteps of Bishop Harris, a 1963 graduate who coached the Eagles from 1991-92, and Herman Riddick, a 1933 graduate who guided the Eagles to a school record 112 victories from 1945-1964.
ROYSTER NAMED PRESEASON DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR
NCCU redshirt senior defensive end
Darius Royster was named as the Preseason Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference Defensive Player of the Year by Phil Steele's College Football Preview magazine. In 2018, Royster led the MEAC and ranked ninth in the nation (FCS) with 4 forced fumbles, tied for second in the conference and ranked 15th in the nation with a team-high 17.0 tackles for a loss, and tied for fifth in the league with a team-best 5.0 sacks. He finished third on the squad with 58 total takedowns, 39 of which were unassisted. Royster broke the school record for most tackles for loss in a game with 6.0 TFL among his season-best 10 total tackles versus Prairie View A&M (Sept. 2) in the MEAC/SWAC Challenge, and registered 5.0 stops for a loss at S.C. State (Nov. 24) in the final game of last season.
EAGLES TURN DEFENSE, SPECIAL TEAMS INTO POINTS
Since the start of the 2012 season, the Eagles have demonstrated a knack for finding the end zone when the offense is off the field. In the past 88 games, NCCU has scored 40 touchdowns on defense and special teams, including two this year, two last season, three in 2017, three in 2016, six in 2015, five in 2014, nine in 2013 and 10 in 2012. In that time, the Eagles have made trips to the end zone on 14 punt returns, seven kickoff returns, three blocked field goal returns, 12 interceptions and four fumble recoveries.
ABOUT NCCU FOOTBALL
North Carolina Central University is in its ninth season of full NCAA Division I (FCS) athletics competition as a member of the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference. The Eagles have won 11 conference championships as members of the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association (1953, 1954, 1956, 1961, 1963, 1980, 2005, 2006) and the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (1972, 1973, 2016), and have made three appearances in the NCAA Division II playoffs (1988, 2005, 2006). The Eagles won back-to-back football conference championships and a Black College National Championship in their final two years in the Division II ranks (2005 and 2006) before starting the transition to Division I in 2007. During its storied gridiron tradition, NCCU has produced 143 all-conference selections (first team), 68 all-Americans, 41 NFL draft picks, 11 conference championships and two Black College National Championships (1954, 2006). Two Eagles have represented NCCU on the National Football League's grandest stage - the Super Bowl. The first NCCU Eagle to make a Super Bowl appearance was Richard Sligh, who was a reserve tackle with the Oakland Raiders in Super Bowl II against the Green Bay Packers on Jan. 14, 1968. Sligh, who holds the distinction as the tallest player in NFL history (7'0"), played at NCCU from 1962-64 and was later drafted by the Raiders in the 10th round of the 1967 NFL draft. On Jan. 24, 1982, former NCCU Eagle Louis Breeden was a starting cornerback for the Cincinnati Bengals in Super Bowl XVI against the San Francisco 49ers. Earlier in the season (Nov. 8, 1981), Breeden intercepted a pass thrown by San Diego Chargers quarterback Dan Fouts and returned it a team-record 102 yards for a touchdown. The following year, he was selected as a First-Team All-Pro. He completed his 10-year NFL career with 33 interceptions for 558 return yards and two touchdowns. The first Eagle selected in the NFL Draft was Matt Boone, who was taken by the Giants with the eighth pick in the 18th round in 1956. The latest Eagle announced during the NFL Draft was Ryan Smith, who was chosen by the Buccaneers in the fourth round in 2016. NCCU's highest draft pick was Doug Wilkerson, who was selected in the first round with the 14th overall pick of the 1970 NFL Draft by the Oilers. The Eagles have also had three second-round NFL draft picks, including Robert Massey in 1989 by the Saints, Charles Smith in 1975 by the Broncos and Chuck Hinton in 1962 by the Browns. HBCU football pioneer John Brown, who represented NCCU (then North Carolina College) on the gridiron in the 1940s, was one of the first to play professional football out of a historically black college or university. Brown shares the honor with Ezzret Anderson of Kentucky State and Elmore Harris of Morgan State, who all began their professional football careers in 1947. Brown and Anderson were teammates on the Los Angeles Dons, while Harris was a member of the Brooklyn Dodgers. According to NCCU records, Brown was the first of the three to sign a professional football contract. He played center and linebacker with the Dons from 1947-49, before moving to the Canadian Football League.
