October 9th, 2026 12:00am
Last week’s games provided more chaos than clarity. Bowie State laid a bear trap, and Shaw fell right in it. The Bears really struggled with rush defense, and that was a good setup for the Bulldogs to take full advantage. Shaw is a big risk-taking team that scored twice on fourth down, but it’s hard to keep pace with a defense that cant stop a running faucet. Bowie State faced a grueling few weeks, but remember, it is a team that had flashes against Virginia State before flexing its muscle on struggling ECSU. The Bulldogs are following Dawson Odums’ vision of really establishing the run behind the duo of Maximus Jones and Daniel Coles, Jr and are now 2-1 in Division II play.
It is a short week in the CIAA with three schools entering the bye week. Some schools are on the ropes in the championship race, and some schools are still fighting to get out of the basement. Read on to find out more about this week’s games, in order of entertainment.
Shaw (2-2, 4-2) at JCSU (3-0, 4-1)
This game was moved up to 7pm on Friday because of the impending hurricane.
Whose Fabian is better? This game features the four top rushers in the conference in yards per game: Fabian Duncan and Kamarro Edmonds with JCSU and Fabian Diggs and Trey Thorpe at Shaw. That alone could make this game much more fast moving than expected. The defenses have a rather large contrast. The Golden Bulls’ defense is rather stingy on the ground, whilst the Shaw defense’s is prone to giving up chunks yards. The question will be whether Shaw can lean on their passing game to make the best of what may be limited possessions in this game. These two schools love to hold onto the ball (over 30 minutes of possession each game on average. Advantage: JCSU. The difficulty on the schedule just went from rookie to all-conference really quick on Shaw. A Shaw loss likely relegates them to try to qualify for the third place game.
Lincoln PA (1-2, 1-4) at ECSU (0-3, 0-5)
Expect fast starting ECSU and dynamic Lincoln to showcase an entertaining game for ECSU’s homecoming. Speaking of homecoming, this game seems to lately be scheduled for someone’s homecoming. Consider:
2025 – ECSU spoiled Lincoln’s homecoming with a crushing 62-14 performance
2024 – ECSU squeaked by Lincoln 21-20 enroute to the parties in Elizabeth City
2023 – Lincoln emerged victorious 27-21 against ECSU at homecoming
2022 – Lincoln broke a 7-game losing streak to ECSU by tiptoeing past the Vikings 21-19 at ECSU’s homecoming
2021 – ECSU came out of the COVID hiatus with a party-crashing 17-14 win at homecoming.
This seemingly annual setup is why this game can be rather entertaining. Lion wide receiver Kyrie Tyson is the league leader in receiving yards and its not even close. For ECSU, running back Amir Braswell has come on late to spark the Viking rushing attack. Keys to this game will be whether the Lions’ defense, led by Charles Thompson (2nd in tackles for loss in the conference) and Dayone Fitch (3rd in sacks) can slow down dual threat quarterback Tre Manley, or whether Manley will pick on Lincoln’s secondary. Even producing a fraction of what Virginia State did last week will put pressure on Lincoln’s offense to be more consistent. Speaking of, who will start for Lincoln at quarterback will be intriguing. Is Jayden Triplett able to go, or will Mikal Davis get the start. Davis played well in relief, and would be instrumental in getting Lincoln into the win column. Either quarterback will face a stiff test lining up against an active defense lead by Jack Earley and Jaevon Branch.
Advantage: Lincoln – I think they have something cooking, and I am concerned about ECSU’s secondary just as much as Lincoln’s. I just think Lincoln may be a bit more consistent. Plus, special teams have played a big role over the last few years in this game.
Livingstone (2-3, 2-4) at Virginia State (4-0, 5-1)
Advantage: VSU, who is facing a defense capable giving up way too many yards. Livingstone made it a game last week because of special teams turnovers, and I do not see VSU being that generous. Happy Homecoming, Trojans!
Bowie State (2-1, 2-3) at Winston-Salem State (0-3, 0-5)
Advantage: Bowie, who is lining up Maximus Jones and Daniel Coles (combined averaging 133 yards a game) against the 8th worst rushing defense in Division II. WSSU isn’t getting much pressure on quarterbacks either, only notching three sacks all season. These statistics put a lot of pressure on what likely will be a freshman quarterback (Brayden Jeffries? Florentino Lopez?). A win by WSSU is likely because the are able to exploit the Bowie secondary, which is the weakness in the bulldog defense.
Bye
Fayetteville State is looking to figure out how to restore some sanity on special teams to keep its championship hopes from galloping into the sunset. VUU is looking on ways to continue its prowling of opposing offenses as it looks to remain the cat’s meow in the conference. Bluefield State is looking to find that dog in them with the potential to get a win in their next couple of games.