THE GAME
South Carolina State Univ. "Bulldogs" vs. North Carolina Central Univ. "Eagles"

THE KICKOFF
Saturday, Nov. 16, 2019 – Kickoff at 2:00 p.m.

THE SITE
O'Kelly-Riddick Stadium (10,000 capacity/Mondoturf) - Durham, N.C.

THE RECORDS
N.C. Central (4-6 overall, 3-3 MEAC); South Carolina State (6-3, 4-2 MEAC)

MEDIA COVERAGE
Audio: NCCU Sports Network at NCCUEaglePride.com (internet stream). Broadcast starts at 1:30 p.m. Jonathan Duren (play-by-play).
TV/Video: ESPN3.

QUICK HITS
• Saturday will be NCCU's senior day, with 10 Eagles playing in their final home game.
• This will be the 25th gridiron meeting between NCCU and S.C. State since Oct. 15, 1927. The series is tied at 12-12.
• During NCCU's three-game win streak over S.C. State, the Eagles have rallied from double-digit deficits in each victory.
• S.C. State is tied atop the MEAC standings with a conference record of 4-2.
• S.C. State's three losses are to nationally-ranked FCS teams Florida A&M and North Carolina A&T, and to FBS foe South Florida.
• Earlier this season, Oliver "Buddy" Pough became with winningest coach in S.C. State football history.
• NCCU and S.C. State are ranked second and third in the MEAC, respectively, in total defense.
• NCCU boasts the top pass defense in the conference, allowing just 181.3 passing yards per contest (15th in FCS), and is tied for the league lead with 28 sacks.
• NCCU is sixth in the NCAA Division I-FCS with a MEAC-best 14 interceptions, the most picks by the Eagles since 2013 (14).
• NCCU's 22 takeaways (14 interceptions, 8 fumble recoveries) top the MEAC and rank sixth in the NCAA Division I-FCS. 
• NCCU freshman quarterback Davius Richard achieved the sixth-best passing performance in school history versus Norfolk State on Nov. 9, amassing 384 passing yards with three touchdowns, completing 30 of 46 throws. Only NCCU hall of fame quarterback Earl "Air" Harvey (1985-88) has thrown for more passing yards, as he holds the top five single-game passing efforts in school history.
• NCCU redshirt senior defensive end Darius Royster tops the MEAC with 15.0 tackles for a loss (21st in FCS) and 8.0 sacks (18th in FCS). 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 running back Isaiah Totten, the third-leading rusher in the MEAC with 60.7 ground yards per game, is ranked seventh on NCCU's career rushing list with 2,114 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 junior cornerback Bryan Mills tops the MEAC with five interceptions (6th in FCS) and 13 passes defended (8 pass break-ups, 5 INTs/18th in FCS).
• NCCU redshirt senior defensive end Darius Royster ranks eighth in the league with a team-high 64 tackles, and is the only defensive lineman in the top-23.
• NCCU leads the MEAC in both third-down conversion defense (35.9%) and fourth-down conversion defense (36.4%), which ranks 15th in the 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).
• 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 25th football meeting between S.C. State and NCCU since the two schools first played on Oct. 15, 1927. The series is tied, 12-12. The Bulldogs have won eight of the last 12 match-ups dating back to 1976, while the Eagles have won three in-a-row. In 2012, NCCU snapped a seven-game losing skid to the Bulldogs by cruising to a 40-10 victory at the Circle City Classic in Indianapolis. In 2013, S.C. State returned the favor by beating the Eagles 44-3 in Durham.

Nov. 24, 2018 - NCCU 21, SCSU 17 (Orangeburg, S.C.)
Sept. 21, 2017 - NCCU 33, SCSU 28 (Durham, N.C.)
Oct. 11, 2014 - NCCU 48, SCSU 35 (Orangeburg, S.C.)
Oct. 10, 2013 - SCSU 44, NCCU 3 (Durham, N.C.)
Oct. 6, 2012 - NCCU 40, SCSU 10 (Indianapolis, Ind.)
Oct. 8, 2011 - SCSU 49, NCCU 38 (Orangeburg, S.C.)
Oct. 23, 1993 - SCSU 42, NCCU 13 (Orangeburg, S.C.)
Oct. 24, 1992 - SCSU 69, NCCU 0 (Orangeburg, S.C.)
Oct. 27, 1979 - SCSU 26, NCCU 6 (Charleston, S.C.)
Oct. 28, 1978 - SCSU 17, NCCU 15 (Orangeburg, S.C.)
Oct. 29, 1977 - SCSU 45, NCCU 12 (Durham, N.C.)
Oct. 30, 1976 - SCSU 30, NCCU 0 (Orangeburg, S.C.)
Nov. 1, 1975 - NCCU 6, SCSU 3 (Durham, N.C.)
Nov. 2, 1974 - SCSU 21, NCCU 3 (Orangeburg, S.C.)
Oct. 27, 1973 - SCSU 24, NCCU 3 (Durham, N.C.)
Oct. 28, 1972 - NCCU 43, SCSU 0 (Orangeburg, S.C.)
Oct. 30, 1971 - NCCU 21, SCSU 12 (Durham, N.C.)
Nov. 3, 1956 - SCSU 26, NCCU 12 (Orangeburg, S.C.)
Nov. 5, 1955 - NCCU 26, SCSU 7 (Durham, N.C.)
Oct. 1, 1949 - NCCU 7, SCSU 6 (Durham, N.C.)
Oct. 2, 1948 - NCCU 19, SCSU 0 (Durham, N.C.)
Sept. 26, 1941 - NCCU 19, SCSU 0 (Durham, N.C.)
Oct. 20, 1928 - NCCU 6, SCSU 0 (Durham, N.C.)
Oct. 15, 1927 - SCSU 10, NCCU 6 (Orangeburg, S.C.)

THE LAST MEETING
(NCCU 21, SCSU 17 - Orangeburg, N.C. - Nov. 24, 2018) NCCU overcame a double-digit second half deficit by scoring 21 unanswered points to capture a 21-17 road win over S.C. State inside Oliver C. Dawson Bulldog Stadium.

THE LAST MEETING IN DURHAM
(NCCU 33, SCSU 28 - Sept. 21, 2017): NCCU overcame a 14-point, first-half deficit and scored the only two touchdowns in the fourth quarter to earn a 33-28 victory over MEAC foe S.C. State during a Thursday night nationally-televised ESPNU contest at O'Kelly-Riddick Stadium.

LAST WEEK
Norfolk State 38, NCCU 21 (Durham, N.C.): NCCU amassed a season-high 452 yards of total offense and quarterback Davius Richard posted the sixth-best passing performance in school history, but Norfolk State left Durham with a 38-21 victory on Saturday afternoon.

S.C. State 62, Howard 21 (Orangeburg, S.C.): Redshirt freshman quarterback Corey Fields had a career-setting day, throwing for 333 yards and seven touchdowns to lead South Carolina State to a 62-21 victory over Howard at Oliver. C. Dawson Stadium.

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.

South Carolina State: Oliver "Buddy" Pough is in his 18th season as head coach at South Carolina State, his alma mater. Since succeeding head coach emeritus Willie Jeffries as Bulldog head coach in 2002, Pough has built the SC State football program into a perennial power in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference and is the winningest coach in school history. During his 18-year tenure at the school, where he earned a bachelor's and a master's as well as All-MEAC honors as an offensive lineman, Pough has compiled an enviable 131-74 overall record. His teams have also captured two MEAC titles (2008 & 2009) outright and shared three others (2004, 2010, 2013), and made four trips to the FCS playoffs (2008, 2009, 2010 and 2013).

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 four 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 90 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.