The HBCU football Week 4 scores delivered a stunning upset, two overtime escapes and a drought that finally ended after 47 years. North Carolina A&T won for the first time all season. Alabama A&M beat Florida A&M for the first time since 1979. Meanwhile, South Carolina State stayed perfect, though Bethune-Cookman made the Bulldogs sweat.

Here’s what mattered from Thursday night in Tuskegee to Saturday night in Tallahassee. The full Week 4 HBCU scoreboard has every final.

HBCU Football Week 4 Scores: The Upset Nobody Saw Coming

A&T entered Saturday at 0-4. One week earlier, Campbell had beaten the Aggies 42-14. Then Rhode Island arrived in Greensboro ranked No. 19 in the FCS.

The Aggies won anyway, 22-18. Sophomore linebacker Tyrek Brown supplied a 69-yard fumble return, and the defense did the rest. As a result, A&T took down a top-20 FCS team for its biggest win since joining CAA Football. For more on the program, follow our North Carolina A&T coverage.

Delaware State nearly matched the drama. The Hornets drove 90 yards in 11 plays. Their go-ahead touchdown came with 42 seconds left in a 33-28 win over Towson. On top of that, their defense forced four turnovers and turned them into 13 points.

SWAC Opens League Play With Chaos

Jackson State made the loudest statement. After a pregame scuffle, the Tigers handled Southern 35-17 in the BoomBox Classic. That moved T.C. Taylor’s team to 4-0, and it came against one of the league’s traditional powers. Catch up on the Tigers in our Jackson State coverage.

Prairie View A&M took the State Fair Classic 21-14 at the Cotton Bowl. Tevin Carter tied it with a 37-yard strike to Travon Jones. Later, Jahbari Kuykendall gave the Panthers their first lead on a 17-yard run. Grambling State hit a 47-yard touchdown with 3:10 left. However, the Panthers answered by draining the clock. They now sit at 2-0 in conference play.

Alcorn State nearly gave one away. The Braves led Texas Southern 34-12, then watched the Tigers force overtime. TSU even grabbed a 40-37 lead on a 48-yard field goal. Still, Alcorn answered and escaped 43-40. A win is a win, but a 22-point lead should never get that close.

Alabama A&M delivered the history. The Bulldogs beat FAMU 40-21 in Tallahassee. It was their first win over the Rattlers since 1979. For a program that lost to FAMU by three points last November, the margin said plenty.

Alabama State didn’t blink without Andrew Body. The preseason SWAC Player of the Year sat with a wrist injury. So true freshman Aaron Frye made his first career start and led a 41-15 win over Mississippi Valley State. DJ Hicks also returned the second-half kickoff 98 yards for a score.

South Carolina State Survives in Daytona

The top team in the Black College Football poll got a real test. South Carolina State led Bethune-Cookman 24-7 at halftime behind two Keely Watson touchdown passes. Mason Pickett-Hicks added 136 rushing yards. After the break, the Wildcats pulled within three.

Eventually, Josh Shaw ended it. His 1-yard touchdown run with 1:56 left sealed a 31-21 win. The Bulldogs are 5-0.

Elsewhere in the MEAC, Norfolk State fell behind Chicago State 7-0. Then the Spartans scored 29 straight points and won 43-20. In total, they piled up 623 yards. Jalyn Daniels ran for 136 of them, including a 95-yard touchdown.

Tough Nights Against FBS and CAA Opponents

Not every one of the HBCU football Week 4 scores went the right way. Rutgers beat Howard 58-7 on Friday night in Piscataway. It was the 100th win of Greg Schiano’s career. Eden James broke a 75-yard touchdown run for the Bison’s only points. Similarly, East Carolina handled North Carolina Central 42-9 in Greenville.

Hampton hung with No. 22 Campbell for a half. The teams went to the locker room tied 13-13. Then the Camels scored 31 points in the third quarter and won 44-20. Quarterback Kamden Sixkiller threw five touchdown passes.

CIAA and SIAC Races Take Shape

Virginia State beat Winston-Salem State 49-19 to reach 3-0 in the CIAA. Virginia Union matched that mark with a 14-0 shutout of Fayetteville State. Meanwhile, Bowie State beat Elizabeth City State 34-23 for its first win under Dawson Odums.

Shaw supplied the CIAA’s best finish. Livingstone scored first in overtime. Shaw answered with a touchdown, went for two and got it. Final: 28-27.

In the SIAC, Kentucky State won at Albany State 24-16. The loss snapped the Golden Rams’ 11-game SIAC winning streak. It also gave the Thorobreds their first win over Albany State since 2003. Albany State reached the 21-yard line on the final play, but the pass fell incomplete.

Tuskegee opened the week Thursday with a 20-17 win over previously unbeaten Benedict. A late interception sealed it. Edward Waters, on the other hand, survived a 22-point fourth-quarter rally from Morehouse to win 46-38 in Atlanta. Miles beat Savannah State 25-17, and Warner beat Clark Atlanta 32-10.

What Comes Next

Several of these HBCU football Week 4 scores set up big Week 5 matchups. Alabama A&M meets Jackson State in the Gulf Coast Challenge in Mobile. Alabama State makes its first SWAC road trip to Bethune-Cookman. Hampton faces Howard at Audi Field in Washington. And Campbell visits NC Central.

Five weeks in, the picture keeps shifting. A team that started 0-4 just beat a ranked opponent. Anything can happen next Saturday.