MEAC Football Weekly Notes | MEAC Football Weekly Coaches Video Conference

NORFOLK, Va., Sept. 29, 2021 – When the Norfolk State buses exit the western end of the Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel on Saturday, the Spartans will be in enemy territory. Enemy territory, in this case, is Hampton, Va., home of the rival Hampton Pirates.
 
Slated for 2 p.m. at Armstrong Stadium on Hampton’s campus, this will be the 54th meeting of the two programs in football, with the series knotted up at 26-26-1. But for new Spartans head coach Dawson Odums, he’s looking at this matchup as just another ballgame on his team’s schedule.
 
“We don’t really worry about who we’re playing. It’s all about the Norfolk State Spartans taking care of business and making sure we’re getting better,” Odums said. “When you talk rivalry games, I’ve been a part of them. We don’t get too big on them. The platform of what you’re trying to instill in your young men is still the same in our process. We don’t deviate from that process, regardless of who we’re playing. We try to just make sure that we’re locked into attention to detail, that we understand what we’re playing for and why we’re playing the game. It’s the next one on our schedule and it happens to be Hampton.”
 
Here’s a glimpse at all the games on tap for Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) teams on Saturday, Oct. 2:
   
When the Delaware State Hornets travel to Staten Island, N.Y. to face the Seahawks of Wagner, it’ll be a matchup of one team that’s on a three-game skid (1-3 DSU) and another that hasn’t tasted victory yet this season (0-4 WC). Both are teams with good talent on their rosters who don’t like their current predicament. “We’ve had three straight losses, two of those being at home. That’s not a good feeling,” Hornets head coach Rod Milstead said. “Our guys are pretty bummed out about it but very optimistic.” Milstead calls the Seahawks “a scrappy team that’s looking for a win” and says his Hornets must find a way to put the ball in their playmakers’ hands in order to defeat the Seahawks.
   
Howard Bison head coach Larry Scott says he’s continuing his quest of laying the foundation for building a good football program at the institution. “You can’t microwave building a program, it just doesn’t happen,” he said. “There’s so much education that goes on within the program.” So, when the Bison make their home debut Saturday against the Sacred Heart Pioneers, part of that educational process will be competing successfully against physical opponents. Scott says Sacred Heart is loaded with big guys up front and that they have a very talented running back: “We’re going to be in for a physical ballgame here at home. Defensively, we’ve got to get in the right position, we’ve got to get the ball on the ground and execute at a better level than we have and against the run.”
   
Against St. Francis (Pa.) on Saturday, Morgan State head coach Tyrone Wheatley says it won’t matter that this week’s opponent just lost to fellow MEAC member Norfolk State (28-16). “It doesn’t make a difference,” he said. “We have to show up, not worrying about who they are and what they are. No matter what the game plan is and no matter who played them, if we don’t tackle well and we don’t read our keys and do what we’re supposed to do, it doesn’t make a difference.” He added, “What do I envision? It’s just plain and simple – tackle, run, throw and catch. Nothing pretty. Nothing cute. Don’t try to make a play. Making a play is just doing your job. Just do your job.  If we do those things, I think we can come out with a victory.”
   
After opening the season with two straight losses, the Spartans now enter their rivalry game against the Hampton Pirates in the “Battle of the Bay” on a two-game winning streak. Norfolk State head coach Dawson Odums said he had predicted that the fourth game of the season, which was their 28-16 defeat over St. Francis (Pa.) last weekend, would indicate what may lie ahead for his squad. He noted, “I’ve always said the fourth game will be the telltale of who we are and what that story will look like. Mentally, I see growth. I believe in this team. I believe in these guys, and that’s the heartbeat of this football team. That’s what we got to see in game four – the heartbeat of the Spartans.  I thought we rose to the occasion, made the plays and came away with the win.” On now facing the Hampton Pirates, Odums said, “I expect us to play inspired football.”
   
Although the Eagles will play an 0-3 Mississippi Valley State football team on Saturday in Itta Bena, Miss., head coach Trei Oliver is trying to do everything he can to make sure his Eagles don’t take the Delta Devils lightly. He says MVSU may actually be the best winless team in the country. “They’ve played some tough teams, some really good opponents,” Oliver said. “They do have some talent, at the skill positions primarily. Their quarterback is outstanding. They’re a physical football team. They fly around. They play fast. They’re a gritty bunch of guys.” On playing in the small, rural town of Itta Bena, Oliver added, “That’s a tough place to play. It’s a tough environment. It’s a little different atmosphere. You really have to be focused on the task at hand and on the game. It’s their Homecoming as well, so there will also be other distractions. But at the same time, it’s football. So, let’s just go down there, play football, execute, win a football game and come back to Durham. It’s not physics. It’s just football.”
   
How does head coach Buddy Pough label the South Carolina State versus Bethune-Cookman game this weekend in Orangeburg, S.C.? He calls it a battle of the “O-fers,” two teams still looking for their first win of the season. It’s also a battle between two teams accustomed to winning on the other’s home turf. “I expect the usual South Caroline State-Bethune-Cookman kind of game,” Pough said. “We’ve made a habit of winning at each other’s place. The last time we played here, they won. The last time we played there, we won. So, it’s not unusual for the road team to win this game. We need to be extremely prepared to be able to deal with this back-against-the-wall kind of Bethune-Cookman football team, knowing that these guys will give everything they’ve got to be successful against South Carolina State. It’ll be a tough game for us, and we’ve got to be sure that we’ve got all of our ducks in a row.”
 
About the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference
The Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) is in its 51^st year of intercollegiate competition with the 2021-22 academic school year. Located in Norfolk, Va., the MEAC is made up of eight outstanding historically black institutions across the Atlantic coastline: Coppin State University, Delaware State University, Howard University, University of Maryland Eastern Shore, Morgan State University, Norfolk State University, North Carolina Central University and South Carolina State University.