THE GAME
Elizabeth City State University "Vikings" vs. North Carolina Central University "Eagles"

THE KICKOFF
Saturday, Sept. 21, 2019 – Kickoff at 4:00 p.m.

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

THE RECORDS
N.C. Central (0-3 overall, 0-0 MEAC); Elizabeth City State (0-2, 0-1 CIAA)

MEDIA COVERAGE
Audio: NCCU Sports Network at NCCUEaglePride.com (internet stream). Broadcast starts at 5:30 p.m. Jonathan Duren (play-by-play). 
Video: NCCU Sports Network at NCCUEaglePride.com (internet stream). 

QUICK HITS
• Saturday will be NCCU's home opener after three straight non-conference road games to open the season.
• ECSU opened the season against FCS opponent Hampton (65-7 L) and conference foe Livingstone (27-16 L). The Vikings finished with a 1-7 record last season.
• NCCU leads the MEAC and ranks fourth in NCAA Division I-FCS with six interceptions. The Eagles are tied atop the conference and fourth in FCS with nine total takeaways.
• NCCU junior running back Isaiah Totten, the second-leading rusher in the MEAC with 53.7 ground yards per game, is ranked 12th on NCCU's career rushing list with 1,668 ground yards, averaging 5.4 yards per carry.
• NCCU redshirt sophomore Justin Nicholson's five passes defended (four pass break-ups, one interception) are the most in the MEAC.
• NCCU freshman kicker Adrian Olivo tops the MEAC in field goal percentage (85.7%) and ranks fifth in the league in scoring with 6.3 points per game.
• NCCU senior defensive back Stephen Stokes leads the conference with two interceptions and sits 15th in the MEAC with a team-high 19 tackles.
• With 12 catches for 181 yards and a touchdown, NCCU junior receiver Nique Martin ranks sixth in the MEAC in receptions per game (4.0) and eighth in receiving yards per game (60.3).
• In 2018, NCCU led the conference and ranked 14th in the NCAA Division I-FCS in tackles for loss with an average of 7.7 per game. This season, the Eagles have registered 16 TFL in the first three games.
• NCCU topped the MEAC and finished 21st in the nation (FCS) in turnover margin (+0.55 per game) last season. The Eagles have nine takeaways this season with six interceptions and three fumble recoveries.
• NCCU redshirt senior defensive end Darius Royster 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) last season.
• Since the start of the 2012 season, NCCU has scored 38 touchdowns on defense and special teams, including three defensive scores in 2017 and two last season.
• 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).

THE SERIES
This will be the 29th meeting between NCCU and ECSU, since the two programs first met in 1976. The Eagles hold a 20-8 overall advantage. NCCU has won nine of the last 11 contests, including four straight.
LAST 10 MEETINGS:
Sept 6, 2014 – NCCU 34, ECSU 7 (Durham, N.C.)
Sept. 15, 2007 – NCCU 18, ECSU 10 (Giants Stadium - N.J.)
Nov. 11, 2006 – NCCU 17, ECSU 14 (Durham, N.C. – CIAA Championship Game)
Sept. 25, 2004 – NCCU 28, ECSU 20 (Kinston, N.C.)
Oct. 4, 2003 – ECSU 25, NCCU 23 (Rocky Mount, N.C.)
Sept. 28, 2002 – NCCU 13, ECSU 3 (Kinston, N.C.)
Sept. 22, 2001 – NCCU 31, ECSU 21 (Rocky Mount, N.C.)
Sept. 23, 2000 – ECSU 15, NCCU 13 (Durham, N.C.)
Oct. 2, 1999 – NCCU 35, ECSU 6 (Elizabeth City, N.C.)
Oct. 3, 1998 – NCCU 51, ECSU 14 (Durham, N.C.)

LAST WEEK
Gardner-Webb 21, NCCU 12 (Boiling Springs, N.C.): N.C. Central and Gardner-Webb combined for eight turnovers, with NCCU collecting three interceptions and two fumble recoveries, but the host Bulldogs took better advantage of their takeaways for a 21-12 victory inside Spangler Stadium. NCCU amassed 399 yards of total offense, compared to 342 total yards by GWU, and the Eagles made five trips into the red zone, but had to settle for three field goals by freshman kicker Adrian Olivo, who added a 40-yard boot to account for all 12 points by the Eagles.

Livingstone 27, Elizabeth City State 16 (Salisbury, N.C.): After falling behind 27-3 during the fourth quarter, ECSU mounted a furious rally but fell short as the Vikings dropped their first CIAA matchup, 27-16, at the hands of Livingstone Blue Bears. Coming off of an outing where the Vikings were only able to muster 69 yards of total offense (at Hampton on Aug. 31), ECSU was much improved on the offensive side of the ball as the Vikings rushed for 127 yards and quarterback Kevin Caldwell connected on 10 passes for 98 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.

Elizabeth City State: Anthony Jones (Wichita State, 1984) is in his second season as head coach at Elizabeth City State, after posting a 1-7 record in 2018. Jones was twice named SIAC Coach of the Year as head coach at Morehouse College, then spent 12 seasons as head coach at Alabama A&M University, finishing as the second-winningest coach in school history and earning SWAC Coach of the Year honors. A native of Baltimore, Maryland, Jones first played college football at the University of Maryland Eastern Shore before transferring to Wichita State University (playing for Willie Jeffries), where he earned several honors as a tight end. Following his graduation from Wichita State University in 1984, the Washington Redskins drafted Jones where he helped Washington win the 1987 Super Bowl.

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.

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.

SEVEN NCCU EAGLES VOTED TO PRESEASON ALL-MEAC TEAMS
Seven North Carolina Central University Eagles were named to the 2019 Preseason All-MEAC Football Teams, the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference announced on Friday from its annual football media day and luncheon in Norfolk, Virginia. NCCU junior running back Isaiah Totten, redshirt senior defensive lineman Darius Royster, and senior defensive lineman Kawuan Cox were voted to the Preseason All-MEAC First Team. Redshirt junior offensive lineman Andrew Dale was selected to the Preseason All-MEAC Second Team, while redshirt sophomore center Somadina Okezie-Okeke, sophomore offensive lineman Ricky Lee and junior linebacker Branden Bailey received Preseason All-MEAC Third Team honors. 

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 83 games, NCCU has scored 38 touchdowns on defense and special teams, including 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, six kickoff returns, three blocked field goal returns, 11 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 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.