Bethune-Cookman University Crowned Black College National Champions

Karsceal Turner – I Got NEXT!

According to at least one viable source, the Bethune-Cookman University Wildcats are Black College National Champions. Sorry, you won’t really hear them speaking about it on ESPN (although they gave the troubles of Grambling plenty of publicity). You’ll forgive the fact that mainstream news entities aren’t exactly giving the story much love either. Still, amongst Black College football elitists, this is a very big deal. At least one poll has the Wildcats at the top with regards to Black college football.

You’ll recall, B-CU’s only losses were to Florida State and Coastal Carolina. Oh, and that debacle against Norfolk State.

Sources defined the Black college football national championship as a mythical national championship won by the best black college football team(s) in the U.S. There has been some criticism of this title on the grounds that the schools in the various polls compete in different levels of competition (e.g. Division II vs. the FCS level of Division I).

Attempts have been made over the years to determine a non-mythical national champion with an actual football game contested by leading teams amongst historically black colleges and universities in the United States. The Orange Blossom Classic was often billed as such a game, but Florida A&M, as its annual host, was guaranteed a spot in this game and was not always of national championship-caliber each year that it was played between 1933-78.

The Pelican Bowl, a bowl game that pitted the conference champions from the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) and the Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC), was another example, but this venture failed to draw enough attendance and lasted only a few years in the 1970s. Similarly, the Heritage Bowl was played in the 1990s featuring teams from the MEAC and SWAC, but this bowl game has not been held since 1999 and was often snubbed by the conference champions in lieu of the NCAA’s then-Division I-AA playoffs. The two conferences are currently in negotiations concerning the creation of the “Legacy Bowl. Oliver “Buddy” Pough Head Coach at South Carolina State University said that there are two things that must happen for the MEAC to achieve national respect — it must beat an FBS team and it must win an FCS playoff game.

I’ve been on earth 42 years and I haven’t seen it yet. Have you? I’m just saying.

Boxtorow proclaims Wildcats tops in the Nation

From the Press Box to Press Row is a nationally syndicated sports talk radio show which places major emphasis on HBCU (Historically Black College and University) sports or Black college sports. The show airs for one hour weekly on stations across the country. A gander at their site: http://boxtorow.com showcases all black conferences such as: CIAA, MEAC, SIAC, SWAC, and independent Black colleges such as Tennessee State and Langston University.

According to the Boxtorow 2013 poll, The Wildcats were a unanimous vote for top team amongst the 10 listed. The rest of the list is as follows: 2. Alabama A&M, 3. Tennessee State, 4. Arkansas Pine-Bluff, 5. North Carolina A&T, 6. Alabama State, 7. Jackson State, 8.South Carolina State, 9. Florida A&M, 10. Prairie View A&M.

The Wildcats earned their first HBCU national title since 2010. It is the team’s second Boxtorow national title in the history of the media poll, which is voted on by media members around the country who cover HBCU football.

After compiling a 10-3 overall record, and a 7-1 mark in Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) play, B-CU received just four first place votes out of a possible 18 in the final media poll. Champions of the MEAC for three of the past four years, the Wildcats narrowly edged Tennessee State for the HBCU crown.

Different strokes for different folks

The Sheridan Broadcast Network Black College Football has their own thing going on with regards to polls. The National Black Network, or NBN, began operation in July 1973 as the first coast-to-coast radio network wholly owned by African Americans. The National Black Network and Sheridan Broadcast Network are synonymous.

In the Sheridan poll, Tennessee State is ranked at No.1 above B-CU although the Cats bashed TSU 12-9 in Nashville. Coming in third is Winston Salem State University, 4. South Carolina State University, 5. Alcorn State University, 6. Southern University, 7. Virginia State University, 8. Jackson State University, 9. Alabama State University and Tuskegee rounds out the top ten.

Hey, pick which ever poll you like. It really depends where your loyalties lie. One Poll features members of the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC), a couple South Western Athletic Conference (SWAC), and an Independent (Tennessee State), whereas another poll does the opposite and features SWAC and Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SIAC) powerhouses. It can get a little tricky depending upon where one resides in this fair nation. As I said in opening this segment, pick which ever poll you like.

Longtime football fan and critic Zack Phillips scratches his head at the dilemma Black programs face with regards to respectability. “For a time, with Grambling, the excuse was integration. Top notch players went to integrated schools instead of Black Colleges during that era. These days the Black Players have the talent, but do they possess the discipline? Demeanor plays a big part, and you see a lot more of it with the successful mainstream schools whom feature Black players as opposed to all Black schools where there is a plethora of talent and less discipline. The result is a lack of legitimacy to me anyway.

Phillips continued. “Every year when Black schools play bigger mainstream schools, they usually lose. Then, they win their conferences and get to the playoffs and lose within the first round,” Phillips said. “When you get down to it, how seriously can you take any Black College football poll?

Good question sir. In any case, Central Florida can lay claim to the home of the Black College National Champion Bethune-Cookman University Wildcats. Let us find out together if the discipline factor plays into B-CU’s next title run. As always, I shall be on the sideline with camera in hand, in the press box and in the stands because I Got NEXT!