NORFOLK, Va., Aug. 31, 2022 – All six Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) football programs are in action this week, the first true week of the 2022 college football season, with defending champion South Carolina State kicking things off Thursday night.
 
Here is a glimpse at this week’s contests.

South Carolina State Bulldogs (0-0, 0-0 MEAC) vs. Central Florida Knights (0-0, 0-0 AAC)
Thursday, Sept. 1 | FBC Mortgage Stadium | Orlando, Fla. | 7 p.m.
TV: ESPN+ | Live Stats

Head coach Oliver “Buddy” Pough and the defending MEAC and Celebration Bowl champion Bulldogs will get their 2022 season underway on Thursday night, when they hit the road to take on Central Florida. The Knights are in their second season under former Auburn head coach Gus Malzahn; they went 9-4 and went to the program’s sixth straight bowl game. UCF leads the all-time series 3-0, with the last meeting between the two teams coming in 2018. The Bulldogs are in their 21^st season under Pough, they are the MEAC preseason favorites, and defensive end Jeblonski Green was voted the MEAC’s Preseason Defensive Player of the Year. Thursday’s game will be the first of four straight on the road to open the season for South Carolina State.

Lincoln (Pa.) Lions (0-0, 0-0 CIAA) vs. Delaware State Hornets (0-0, 0-0 MEAC)
Saturday, Sept. 3 | Alumni Stadium | Dover, Del. | 2 p.m.
TV: ESPN+ / MEAC Digital Network
 

Saturday’s opener against Lincoln (Pa.) will be the first of seven home games for Delaware State in 2022 and a rematch of the 2019 contest, which the Hornets won 58-12. In fact, the Hornets are 13-10-1 all-time against the Lions and have won each of the last eight meetings. Delaware State was picked to finish fourth in the MEAC this season, its fifth under head coach and MEAC Hall of Famer Rod Milstead. Josh Dean is entering his fifth season as head coach at Lincoln, and he returns 13 starters (seven defense, six offense) from last year’s team that went 1-9. The Lions were picked to finish sixth in the CIAA Northern Division, but did pick up a first-place vote and boast two Preseason All-CIAA honorees in cornerback Rontay Dunbar and Achille Laudet.

Norfolk State Spartans (0-0, 0-0 MEAC) vs. Marshall Thundering Herd (0-0, 0-0 Sun Belt)
Saturday, Sept. 3 | John C. Edwards Stadium | Huntington, W.Va. | 7 p.m.
TV: ESPN3
 

Norfolk State will kick off year two of the Dawson Odums era on the road, taking on the Thundering Herd of Marshall in an FCS-FBS match-up. Picked to finish third in the MEAC this season, the Spartans will look to avoid the struggles that ended 2021 – and they boast the MEAC Preseason Offensive Player of the Year in running back J.J. Davis, who led the conference in rushing last season. Marshall leads the all-time series 1-0, with the only previous meeting between the two teams coming in 2015 (45-7). Charles Huff is in his second season as head coach at Marshall, going 7-6 in his first season and compiling a 5-3 mark in Conference USA. The Thundering Herd are now in the Sun Belt, a year after competing in the New Orleans Bowl.

Howard Bison (0-1, 0-0 MEAC) vs. Hampton Pirates (0-0, 0-0 CAA)
Saturday, Sept. 3 | Armstrong Stadium | Hampton, Va. | 6 p.m.
TV: FloFootball ? Live Stats

Just because Howard and Hampton are no longer conference foes, that doesn’t mean the rivalry no longer matters. A series that dates all the way back to 1908 sees Hampton leading 52-42-1, including last season’s 48-32 win at Audi Stadium. Howard, off a 23-13 loss to Alabama State in the Cricket MEAC/SWAC Challenge Kickoff, will be visiting Armstrong Stadium for the first time since 2017, and the Bison will be looking for their first win over the Pirates since 2014. Hampton is in its first season as a member of the CAA and its fourth under head coach Robert Prunty; the Pirates were picked to finish 13^th in the CAA this season and boast Preseason All-CAA linebacker KeShaun Moore.

Morgan State Bears (0-0, 0-0 MEAC) vs. Georgia Southern Eagles (0-0, 0-0 Sun Belt)
Saturday, Sept. 3 | Allen E. Paulson Stadium | Statesboro, Ga. | 6 p.m.
TV: ESPN3 | Live Stats

Saturday will mark not only Damon Wilson’s Morgan State head coaching debut, but it will also be the first-ever meeting between the Bears and Georgia Southern. Georgia Southern, longtime FCS contenders, moved up to FBS and joined the Sun Belt in 2014, and the Eagles are in their first season under former University of Southern California head coach Clay Helton. Georgia Southern went 3-9 in 2021, going 2-6 in Sun Belt play; the Eagles compete in the East Division alongside Appalachian State, Coastal Carolina, Georgia State, James Madison, Marshall and Old Dominion. This game will be the first of back-to-back road games for the Bears, and it will be their longest trip of the season (636 miles).

North Carolina Central Eagles (0-0, 0-0 MEAC) vs. North Carolina A&T State Aggies (0-0, 0-0 Big South)
Duke’s Mayo Classic
Saturday, Sept. 3 | Bank of America Stadium | Charlotte, N.C. | 7:30 p.m.
TV: ESPN3 (re-air on ESPNU, 11 p.m.)

The week’s second rivalry match-up comes in the form of the Duke’s Mayo Classic in Charlotte, N.C., where the Aggie-Eagle Classic will kick off in early September instead of late November. The Aggies are the preseason favorites to win the Big South, while the Eagles were picked to finish second in the MEAC in 2022. Trei Oliver is in his third season as head coach at his alma mater, while Sam Washington took over the Aggies in 2018. This will be the 93^rd all-time meeting between the two teams, with the Aggies leading 53-34-5. North Carolina A&T State has won 22 of the last 30 meetings, including the last four. North Carolina Central’s last win over its rival from Greensboro came in 2016, when the Eagles won 42-21 in a battle of ranked teams.

The Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) is in its 52^nd year of intercollegiate competition with the 2022-23 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.