Page 2 – HBCU Buzz

A Different World Challenge

Posted on Sep 14, 2026

HBCU Buzz and Netflix Invite HBCU Students to Reimagine the Iconic Opening Sequence

HBCU Buzz and Netflix are inviting HBCU students across the country to bring their campus creativity, culture and school pride to the A Different World Challenge.

Inspired by the iconic opening sequence from A Different World, the challenge asks teams of currently enrolled HBCU students to create an original, campus-specific opening sequence using the official A Different World theme song.

Imagine A Different World taking place at your HBCU today. Who would we meet? What landmarks would we see? Which traditions would come to life? How would your band, dancers, drum majors, cheerleaders, Greeks, student leaders and campus organizations represent your world?

This is your opportunity to show the people, places, traditions and energy that make your HBCU unlike anywhere else.

Use the official theme song. Reimagine the intro. Show us your world.

What Is the “A Different World Challenge”?

The A Different World Challenge is a celebration of HBCU creativity, collaboration, performance and school pride.

Participating teams will produce an original 45- to 60-second video that reimagines the opening credits of A Different World through the lens of their campus. The final submission should feel like the opening of a television series—not simply a general campus montage or promotional video.

Teams may reinterpret the choreography, fashion, characters, title cards, locations and visual storytelling to reflect their school. Videos should feel fresh, contemporary and unmistakably connected to the HBCU being represented.

Important Dates

September 14, 2026: Challenge launches and submissions open
September 20, 2026: Video submissions close
September 21, 2026: Finalists are announced and public voting opens
September 30, 2026: Public voting closes
October 1, 2026: Winning school is announced

All entries must be completed and received by the submission deadline to be considered.

Who Can Enter?

To participate in the A Different World Challenge:

Participants must form a team of currently enrolled students attending an eligible accredited HBCU.
Every team member must attend the same HBCU.
Each participant must be at least 18 years old at the time of entry.
Individual submissions will not be accepted.
Multiple teams from the same HBCU may enter.
Each team must select one team captain to complete the official entry form and serve as the primary point of contact.
Faculty, staff, alumni and community members may provide support where permitted, but the featured performers and primary creators must be currently enrolled students.

Build Your Team

Teams are encouraged to bring together students from different parts of campus. Your team may include:

Marching-band members and drum majors
Auxiliary units, dancers and majorettes
Cheerleaders and step teams
Student Government Association representatives
Greek-letter organizations
Campus performance groups
Student-athletes
Student actors, vocalists and musicians
Filmmakers, editors and content creators
Fashion and costume designers
Members of other recognized student organizations

Teams do not need to include every category listed above. The goal is to assemble a creative group that authentically represents the spirit of your HBCU.

What Should You Create?

Each team must create one original video that reimagines the A Different World opening credits for its campus.

Your video must:

Be between 45 and 60 seconds long.
Be filmed primarily on the HBCU campus represented by the team.
Feature multiple currently enrolled students.
Clearly identify the HBCU being represented.
Use the official A Different World theme song exactly as provided.
Highlight recognizable elements of the school’s culture, traditions, community or student experience.
Be created specifically for the A Different World Challenge.
Be appropriate for a broad public audience.
Comply with applicable campus policies and laws.
Be accessible through a public or campaign-approved submission link.

Teams may create original campus “characters,” showcase campus organizations, incorporate school colors and feature recognizable buildings, locations or traditions.

Student-created costumes, props, graphics, choreography and visual effects may be used as long as they are original or properly authorized.

Official Theme-Song Guidelines

Teams must use the approved official A Different World theme song exactly as provided.

Participants may not:

Rerecord the song with new vocals.
Rearrange the song for a marching band or other instruments.
Remix or sample the song.
Add drumline, beats or other musical elements.
Replace the song with original music.
Combine the song with another song, sample, beat or recording.
Edit the song beyond the campaign’s approved timing instructions.
Adapt, rewrite or replace the lyrics.

Download and follow the official theme-song instructions here:

[ACCESS THE OFFICIAL THEME SONG]

Additional copyrighted songs, samples, recordings, footage, photographs, logos or other third-party materials may not be included unless the team has received the necessary written permission.

How to Enter

To complete an official entry:

Assemble a team of currently enrolled students from the same HBCU.
Select one team captain.
Complete the official A Different World Challenge entry form.
Download and use the approved official theme song.
Create your 45- to 60-second campus-inspired opening sequence.
Upload or post the completed video according to the instructions provided on the entry form.
Include the required hashtags, account tags, school name and caption language.
Submit all required information and materials by September 20, 2026.

An entry is not complete until the organizers have received all required information and materials.

[COMPLETE THE ENTRY FORM]

Suggested Submission Caption

Welcome to our world.

We’re representing [HBCU NAME] in the A Different World Challenge with our own campus-inspired opening sequence using the official A Different World theme song.

[Add one or two sentences describing your team and creative concept.]

#ADifferentWorldChallenge #ADifferentWorldNetflix #[SchoolHashtag]

@HBCUBuzz @Netflix

Prohibited Content

Submissions cannot contain:

Profanity, nudity or sexually explicit material
Discriminatory, hateful, threatening or harassing content
Hazing or the promotion of hazing
Dangerous conduct or illegal activity
Weapons or realistic depictions of violence
Alcohol, tobacco, vaping products or illegal drugs
Unauthorized commercial logos or brand promotions
Copyrighted music or media that has not been approved
Content that violates campus rules or places students, spectators or property at risk

The campaign organizers reserve the right to reject any submission determined to be inappropriate, unsafe, unauthorized or inconsistent with the purpose of the challenge.

Finalist Selection

Eligible finalists will be selected from qualifying entries and announced on September 21, 2026.

Finalist teams may be required to:

Confirm the eligibility of all team members.
Provide proof of current student enrollment.
Submit participant releases and campus filming approvals.
Provide an original, high-resolution version of the video.
Make requested technical or compliance edits.
Remove unauthorized music, logos, individuals or other materials.
Participate in campaign-related interviews or promotional content.
Provide additional materials by the communicated finalist deadline.

If a finalist does not respond, cannot verify eligibility or fails to provide the requested materials, the team may be disqualified and replaced.

Multiple teams from the same HBCU may enter, and more than one team from the same institution may be selected as a finalist.

Public Voting

Approved finalist videos may be featured on the official challenge platform for public voting from September 21 through September 30, 2026.

Any voting limits established by the platform will apply. Purchased votes, bots, automated voting, fake accounts, vote exchanges and other attempts to manipulate voting are prohibited.

Suspicious or fraudulent votes may be removed, and teams connected to deliberate vote manipulation may be disqualified. Social-media likes, views, comments and shares will not count as official votes unless expressly stated.

The final selection method and complete voting instructions will be shared when the finalists are announced.

Show Us Your World

Bring your campus together and create an opening sequence that captures what makes your HBCU special. This is your chance to celebrate your school’s people, traditions, creativity and unmistakable energy on a national stage.

Submissions open September 14 and close September 20, 2026.

Use the official theme song. Reimagine the intro. Show us your world.

Football

Langston Pulls Off the Season’s Biggest Upset Over Lincoln (Mo.)

HBCU Editors

Posted on Sep 14, 2026

Langston Lincoln Missouri produced the biggest shock of the HBCU football season so far. Almost nobody saw it coming. Langston went into Jefferson City as a massive underdog. It left with a 19-14 win, snapping the only perfect prediction streak left on the board.

Langston Lincoln Missouri: A Number Nobody Trusted

Still, the predictive numbers on this game weren’t close. The BC+ model, which has tracked HBCU football results all season, had Lincoln favored by 36.1 points. That projection came with 96 percent confidence attached. That’s about as lopsided a call as the model produces. Langston winning outright wasn’t just unlikely on paper. It was rated the least likely outcome of any game on the entire Week 2 slate.

Why the Model Got It So Wrong

Part of the explanation traces back to the previous week. Langston had opened its season by getting routed 70-14 at Louisiana Christian. That result tanked its rating heading into Saturday. The model took that beatdown at face value and projected accordingly. In hindsight, that single data point carried far more weight than it should have. Both programs entered the weekend with thin résumés. In other words, that’s exactly the kind of matchup where a rating system carries more assumption than actual evidence. This combination turned out to be a recipe for the season’s biggest miss.

The Setting Made It Sting a Little More

This wasn’t just any road trip for Langston, either. The game doubled as Lincoln’s Greek Night and White Out, with Blue Tiger fans encouraged to pack Dwight T. Reed Stadium in white. Langston, meanwhile, brought its own energy. The university ran a fan bus experience for students to make the trip to Jefferson City. Both schools clearly treated the annual meeting as more than a routine non-conference game. That atmosphere added an extra layer to what turned into a signature road win for the Lions.

A Final Margin the Model Never Saw Coming

By the time it ended, Langston had won 19-14. That result flipped the projected outcome by more than 41 points. It’s the largest gap the BC+ model has produced all season. Notably, it landed in exactly the spot where these systems tend to break down: two teams with limited data, where confidence outpaces certainty. For Langston, the win offers real validation after an ugly opener. For Lincoln, it’s a result that will sting well past the weekend, especially with all the extra buildup around the rivalry.

What Comes Next for Both Programs

Langston will look to build on the momentum against Texas College the following week. That will be its first home game of the season, played at W.E. Anderson Stadium. Lincoln, meanwhile, shifts into conference play, opening GLVC action on the road against Quincy. Neither result erases what happened in Jefferson City, though. If anything, Saturday’s upset is a reminder that in HBCU football, especially outside the marquee programs, a single week of data can make or break a preseason expectation.

A Rivalry With Deep Roots

Notably, Langston and Lincoln have been meeting on the football field since the 1930s, long before either school carried the label of an underdog story. The all-time series has swung back and forth across nearly a century of games, and Saturday’s result adds one more chapter to a rivalry that predates almost every other matchup on either team’s schedule. For the players involved, none of that history mattered as much as the final score. Still, it’s a reminder that this wasn’t just a random non-conference game between two overlooked programs.

Taken together, the Langston Lincoln Missouri result says as much about the limits of prediction as it does about either roster. Models built on thin sample sizes will occasionally get burned, and this was about as complete a burn as the season has produced. For one Saturday night in Jefferson City, Langston made sure nobody could argue with the final score.

Football

Eagles Hold Off Aggies’ Late Rally in 98th Eagle-Aggie Classic

HBCU Editors

Posted on Sep 13, 2026

North Carolina Central North Carolina A&T came down to the final play once again. For the first time in 11 years, the 98th Aggie-Eagle Classic was a one-score game deep into the fourth quarter. North Carolina Central held on to win 30-22, extending its winning streak in the rivalry to five straight games.

North Carolina Central North Carolina A&T: A Fast Start, Then a Long Delay

The hosts controlled the opening half. North Carolina Central scored on the game’s first drive, using eight plays to cover 75 yards. Nelson Layne capped it off, finding Mehki Wall for a 27-yard touchdown. Running back Plez Lawrence took over from there. He scored twice in the first half alone, including a 73-yard scamper that pushed the lead to 23-7. Then an hour and 41-minute lightning delay hit right at halftime, with North Carolina Central holding a 23-14 edge. Notably, the game’s original 6 p.m. kickoff had already been moved up to noon because of that same forecast.

Plez Lawrence’s Career Day

When the teams finally returned, Lawrence picked up right where he left off. He scored his third touchdown of the afternoon on a one-yard plunge. That capped a six-play drive that stretched the Eagles’ lead to 30-14 early in the third quarter. The score turned out to be the last one North Carolina Central would need. Even so, the fourth quarter didn’t make it feel that way. Lawrence finished the day as the clear offensive engine for North Carolina Central. His performance kept the Aggies chasing a deficit all afternoon long.

North Carolina A&T Won’t Go Quietly

North Carolina A&T had other plans, though. However, quarterback Kevin White connected with Elijah Kennedy twice for touchdowns, including a 51-yard strike in the first half. He finished the game 21 of 44 for 259 yards and three total scores. Kennedy caught seven passes for 112 yards on the afternoon. With 4:20 remaining, White found Anthony Rucker for a six-yard touchdown. He then hit Mark Tillman for the two-point conversion to cut the deficit to eight. North Carolina A&T got the ball back and drove deep into Eagles territory. The Aggies reached the North Carolina Central 3-yard line with a real chance to tie the game.

The Play That Sealed It

That’s when the rivalry turned on a single penalty. An offensive pass interference call pushed North Carolina A&T back to the 18-yard line. On the very next play, Jakarri Martin II intercepted White to end the threat and clinch the win. It was a fitting way for North Carolina Central to close things out. The Eagles didn’t commit a single turnover all game. They also controlled the ball for more than 33 minutes, even as North Carolina A&T converted 10 of 17 third-down attempts and outgained them through the air.

What It Means for Both Programs

North Carolina Central improves to 2-1 on the season. The win also puts head coach Trei Oliver three victories shy of 50 for his head coaching career. North Carolina A&T, meanwhile, falls to 0-3 to open the year. Four turnovers and eight penalties for 80 yards proved costly for the Aggies. Kennedy, for his part, wasn’t discouraged afterward, noting that conference play hasn’t even started yet. Both teams still have plenty of season left to fix what went wrong, or build on what went right.

A Rivalry Built for Close Finishes

This wasn’t the first time these two programs have decided things late. North Carolina A&T won the very first Aggie-Eagle Classic back in 1994, and the series has swung back and forth through several eras since. Last year’s meeting wasn’t close, with North Carolina Central winning by more than 40 points. This year’s version was a completely different animal, and it’s the kind of finish that reminds both fan bases why the rivalry still matters more than a single line in the standings.

Taken together, the North Carolina Central North Carolina A&T rivalry lived up to its billing once again. Rain delays, penalties, and a fourth-quarter fight made the 98th meeting between these two programs feel every bit like the classic it’s built to be, even if this year’s final score was far tighter than last season’s blowout.

Football

Alcorn State Outlasts Arkansas-Pine Bluff in Double-OT Classic

HBCU Editors

Posted on Sep 13, 2026

Alcorn State Arkansas-Pine Bluff turned into the best HBCU football game of the season. It needed every bit of double overtime to get there. The Braves rallied from a 14-point fourth-quarter deficit to outlast the Golden Lions 53-51 in the 37th Southern Heritage Classic. The 104 combined points set a new scoring record for the rivalry.

Alcorn State Arkansas-Pine Bluff: A Record Night in Memphis

Simmons Bank Liberty Stadium had never seen anything like this. The 104 combined points marked the highest-scoring game in Southern Heritage Classic history. That mark had stood since well before either roster’s oldest player was born. It was also just the fourth overtime game in the Classic’s 37 years, and the first since 2006. Both marching bands reportedly stayed on the field for 20 minutes after the final whistle. Neither one seemed ready to let the moment end.

How Arkansas-Pine Bluff Built the Lead

Arkansas-Pine Bluff controlled the game’s shape for most of the night. The Golden Lions trailed 18-17 late in the first half. Then they took their first lead on a 21-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Garrison Davis. Coming out of the break, Arkansas-Pine Bluff kept pushing. The Golden Lions eventually built their largest lead of the night, 38-24, on a 54-yard touchdown run with under 10 minutes left in the fourth quarter. At that point, a Golden Lions win looked like the safe bet for anyone still watching.

Alcorn State’s Comeback, Point by Point

Then Alcorn State answered with 14 unanswered points to force overtime at 38-38. Quarterback Jaylon Tolbert was the engine behind it. He finished the night with career highs across the board, throwing for 488 yards and five touchdowns on 32-of-45 passing. Those five scores went to four different receivers. Notably, Tolbert became the first Alcorn quarterback to throw for 400-plus yards in a game since 2017. Running back Ernest Temple did his part too. He rushed for 144 yards and two touchdowns on 28 carries, then added five catches for 56 yards. That gave him 200 all-purpose yards on the night. Together, the two teams combined for 1,127 yards of total offense.

Two Overtimes, One Winner

The teams traded touchdowns in the first overtime, sending the game to a second extra period still level. In double overtime, Alcorn State struck first. The Braves converted a two-point attempt to take a 53-45 lead. Arkansas-Pine Bluff answered with a touchdown of its own to pull within two, 53-51, and lined up for a game-tying two-point conversion. This time, though, the Braves defense held. It sealed the win and set off a celebration that spilled well past the final whistle.

What It Means Going Forward

Alcorn State improves to 2-1 overall and 1-0 in SWAC play. The win moves the Braves into a first-place tie with Prairie View A&M in the SWAC West. Arkansas-Pine Bluff, meanwhile, falls to 1-2 overall and 0-1 in conference. Head coach Cedric Thomas didn’t hide how much the rivalry means to him afterward. He said he’d give up a home game every single year just to keep playing in Memphis. That kind of commitment showed up on the field, too. This was Alcorn State’s second straight win in the series, and the Braves have now beaten Arkansas-Pine Bluff in the Southern Heritage Classic in back-to-back seasons. It’s starting to feel like more than a coincidence.

A Bright Spot in a Tough Week for the SWAC

The timing of Alcorn State’s win mattered as much as the game itself. SWAC teams went winless in six matchups against FBS programs this weekend, with Florida A&M, Alabama State, Southern, Grambling State, Prairie View A&M, and Texas Southern all losing their money games. The conference’s only win against a non-FBS opponent came in this exact game. Against that backdrop, the Southern Heritage Classic wasn’t just entertaining. It was the one result SWAC fans could point to and feel good about. The game also aired nationally via HBCU Go’s new home on YouTube TV, with extended syndication on Amazon Prime Video, giving the classic a broader audience than in past years.

Taken together, the Alcorn State Arkansas-Pine Bluff classic delivered exactly what the Southern Heritage Classic is supposed to deliver. It was a genuine rivalry game, decided late, in front of a national audience. Amid a week full of lopsided HBCU results against FBS opponents, this was the one game that reminded everyone why the sport is worth watching in the first place.

Football

Bulldogs Blank Ranked Virginia State, 66-0

HBCU Editors

Posted on Sep 13, 2026

South Carolina State vs Virginia State ended with a final score nobody outside Orangeburg fully saw coming. The defending HBCU national champions blanked Virginia State 66-0 on Saturday night. Virginia State had walked in unbeaten at 2-0, ranked second nationally in Division II. By the final whistle, there was no debate left to have.

South Carolina State vs Virginia State: A Ranked Opponent, No Contest

Notably, head coach Chennis Berry didn’t undersell Virginia State beforehand. He called the Trojans the toughest opponent his team had faced all season. That’s a fair label for a squad the Black College Football Poll had rated second in Division II. Then his defense delivered a shutout anyway, forcing five turnovers along the way. South Carolina State scored in every quarter, building a 31-0 halftime lead before adding three more touchdowns in the third. Virginia State, meanwhile, never found a rhythm on either side of the ball. The Bulldogs finished with 480 total yards, including 282 on the ground, while holding the Trojans off the scoreboard entirely.

The Bulldogs Are Building Something Real

This wasn’t an isolated performance, either. Mason Pickett-Hicks led the way with 112 rushing yards and caught a touchdown pass from Ronnie Robinson, who also connected with Malik Brightwell for a 30-yard score through the air. Quarterback Keely Watson chipped in too, completing 14 of 19 passes for 119 yards and a touchdown. Even the defense got in on the scoring, with Marquis Lane-Owens returning a fumble for a touchdown and the Bulldogs closing the game with a pick-six. South Carolina State improves to 3-0 on the season. The Bulldogs have now outscored three opponents by a combined 184-13. That run started in Week 0 with an 87-0 record-breaking win over Savannah State, and it now includes this signature win over a ranked Division II program. Consequently, South Carolina State isn’t just winning games. It’s winning them in a way that makes a repeat HBCU national championship feel less like a hope and more like an expectation.

What the Defense Is Doing Right

Two shutouts in three games says as much about the defense as the offensive scoring totals do. South Carolina State’s front seven has consistently disrupted opposing backfields all season. The secondary, for its part, hasn’t allowed a big-play touchdown through three games. Virginia State entered the matchup averaging solid offensive production against its first two opponents. Against the Bulldogs, however, that production simply disappeared, and five turnovers only made things worse. Whatever adjustments came out of practice this week, they clearly worked. As a result, the Stats Perform FCS Top 25 committee took notice, slotting South Carolina State in at No. 22 nationally the following morning. That’s the program’s first national ranking of the season, and it likely won’t be the last if this defense keeps performing the way it has.

Context Around the Result

South Carolina State’s win came during a weekend that otherwise leaned rough for HBCU football. Eight programs lost money games against FBS opponents by an average of nearly 51 points. Southern’s 77-6 defeat at Houston headlined that list. Against that backdrop, South Carolina State’s win stood out even more. It was the one Division I result all weekend that looked genuinely dominant on both sides of the ball. And it came against a team many expected to at least be competitive into the second half, not one that would leave Orangeburg without a single point.

Where the Bulldogs Go From Here

At 3-0, South Carolina State now shifts its attention toward conference play. That’s where the level of competition rises and the margin for error narrows fast. Still, a team that has outscored opponents by 171 points through three games enters that stretch with real momentum behind it. If the Bulldogs keep playing defense at this level, teams across the MEAC and beyond will have a hard time finding an answer. For now, South Carolina State remains the program every other HBCU team is chasing. Saturday’s result only reinforced that gap between the Bulldogs and everyone else on the schedule.

Taken together, the South Carolina State vs Virginia State result says less about one Saturday and more about where this program sits three weeks into the season. Likewise, it says plenty about how far Virginia State still has to climb before it belongs in that same conversation. The Bulldogs have been the most complete team in HBCU football, full stop, and nobody left Orangeburg thinking otherwise.

Football

Everything That Happened in HBCU Football’s Wild Week 2

HBCU Editors

Posted on Sep 13, 2026

This HBCU football week 2 recap opens with a blowout, a shootout, and a gut check. All three landed inside the same 48 hours. South Carolina State posted its second shutout in three games. Meanwhile, Alcorn State and Arkansas-Pine Bluff needed overtime to settle the Southern Heritage Classic. Eight programs also took the field against FBS money-game opponents, and the results were predictably rough. Here’s everything that happened across Division I, Division II, and the NAIA ranks.

South Carolina State Keeps Rolling in This HBCU Football Week 2 Recap

No result made a louder statement than South Carolina State’s. The Bulldogs blanked Virginia State 66-0. That’s notable because Virginia State entered Orangeburg ranked second nationally in Division II and unbeaten at 2-0. Head coach Chennis Berry called it the toughest opponent his team had faced all season. Then he went out and won by 66 points anyway. South Carolina State is now 3-0. The Bulldogs have outscored their three opponents by a combined 184-13. That run started with the 87-0 record-breaker over Savannah State back in Week 0. Consequently, the Bulldogs look every bit like the team to beat heading toward conference play.

Alcorn State Survives a Classic

Memphis delivered the game of the weekend. The 37th Southern Heritage Classic between Alcorn State and Arkansas-Pine Bluff needed double overtime. It produced 104 combined points before the Braves escaped 53-51. Alcorn State improves to 2-1 overall and 1-0 in SWAC West play. Arkansas-Pine Bluff, meanwhile, falls to 1-2. Notably, the win moved the Braves into a first-place tie with Prairie View A&M in the division standings. Few games this season are likely to top it for pure drama. Both fan bases left Simmons Bank Liberty Stadium hoarse.

Albany State Answers Its Doubters

Not every bounce-back story needs overtime to feel dramatic. Albany State entered Saturday 0-2 and left it 1-2, routing Savannah State 49-17 for the program’s first win of the season. The 32-point margin beat even the model’s projection, which had the Golden Rams favored by just 12 points. Meanwhile, in Tallahassee, Quinn Gray’s FAMU squad opened its own season against Albany State back in Week 0. So Saturday’s win gives the Golden Rams something real to build on after a rough start to September.

Southern Gets Overwhelmed in Houston

Not every result went the HBCU’s way this weekend. Houston dismantled Southern 77-6. The Cougars held the Jaguars to negative rushing yardage for most of the afternoon and forced a backup quarterback change before halftime. Afterward, coach Marshall Faulk didn’t mince words. He said his program simply doesn’t have the budget to compete with a Big 12 roster on a given Saturday. Southern wasn’t alone in that boat, either. Troy, TCU, Baylor, Indiana, UTEP, Miami, and Virginia combined to beat eight HBCU programs by an average of nearly 51 points apiece. Only Alabama State kept its game within striking distance, falling to Troy by 17 points.

A Rivalry Classic and an Overtime Bonus

The Eagle-Aggie Classic delivered its usual intensity. North Carolina Central held off North Carolina A&T 30-22 in the 98th meeting between the two programs. Elsewhere, Shaw needed its own overtime to beat Ferrum 34-28. Bethune-Cookman, on the other hand, picked up its first win of the season, topping Stetson 43-18 in the first-ever meeting between the two schools. Delaware State handled Bowie State 21-6. Morgan State, for its part, cruised past Virginia-Lynchburg 55-0 without much resistance.

What Else Stood Out

Nine programs left the weekend still searching for a win, including North Carolina A&T, Tennessee State, and Winston-Salem State. Fayetteville State, previously 2-0, was humbled 38-9 by Valdosta State, a result that reframed how close its first two wins really were. In the weekend’s biggest upset, Langston knocked off Lincoln (Missouri) 19-14 as a significant underdog. That result snapped what had been a perfect run of favorites covering their spread through the first two weeks of the season. It’s also a reminder that in HBCU football, thin data can make even a confident projection shaky.

The Model Had a Rough Week Too

Even the analytics didn’t have a clean weekend. The BC+ predictive model went 15-4 on projectable games, its worst single-week showing of the season so far. Toss-up games were the biggest culprit, hitting on just one of three. Central State’s 49-21 win over Morehouse and Valdosta State’s 38-9 blowout of Fayetteville State both came in well outside the model’s projected range. Still, over three weeks the system sits at 41-10 overall, a mark that suggests the misses were more about small-sample noise than a fundamentally broken approach.

Taken together, this HBCU football week 2 recap tells two stories at once. On one hand, South Carolina State and Alcorn State showed exactly why HBCU football remains must-watch television every fall. On the other hand, the money-game losses are a blunt reminder of the gap that still separates HBCU programs from their FBS counterparts. Both threads will keep shaping the storylines heading into Week 3.

Football

HBCU Football Week 1 in the Books: Comebacks, Classics, and Every Score From the Weekend

HBCU Editors

Posted on Sep 7, 2026

HBCU football Week 1 delivered exactly the mix fans wanted from Labor Day weekend. Marquee classics, a walk-off comeback, and a coaching debut nearly turned into program history. Games stretched from Thursday’s MEAC openers through Sunday’s Orange Blossom Classic. By the time the weekend ended, several conference races already looked different than they did a week earlier.

South Carolina State Sends a Message in Miami

No result carried more weight than South Carolina State’s 31-13 win over Florida A&M in the Orange Blossom Classic. The Bulldogs entered as the nation’s top-ranked HBCU program. They left looking every bit the part. Running back Mason Pickett-Hicks rushed for 210 yards and two touchdowns. The SC State defense held FAMU to negative-one rushing yard for the entire game. It was a rough Power Four-style beatdown for new Rattlers coach Quinn Gray in his signature early test. The result played out in front of a full weekend of Miami festivities built around the game itself.

Sunday’s other marquee matchup went almost as one-sided. Prairie View A&M routed Texas Southern 52-14 in the Labor Day Classic. Quarterback Tevin Carter accounted for five total touchdowns, and Jahbari Kuykendall opened the scoring on a 90-yard kickoff return. Prairie View never trailed. The win kept the Panthers on track in their SWAC title defense.

A Walk-Off Field Goal and a Near-Miracle Comeback

The best individual game of HBCU football Week 1 didn’t even involve two HBCUs going head to head, but it delivered the weekend’s most dramatic finish anywhere on the slate. Tuskegee trailed Fort Valley State 23-7 in the fourth quarter of the Port City Classic. The Golden Tigers then scored 17 unanswered points, capped by a 35-yard walk-off field goal from Lorcan Ryans. Quarterback Bryson McGrew threw three second-half touchdown passes to fuel the rally. Tuskegee escaped Mobile with a 24-23 win that instantly becomes the signature result of its season so far.

Howard nearly delivered a comeback of its own. The Bison trailed No. 23 Richmond 20-0 at halftime. Howard cut the margin to one score twice in the second half before ultimately falling 28-21. It was Howard’s first real test under second-year coach Ted White since his debut win over Alabama A&M the week before. The fight the Bison showed says more about the program’s direction than the final score does.

Clark Atlanta and Terry Sims Win the Battle of the AUC

New coach Terry Sims picked up his first win at Clark Atlanta in about the biggest spot available. The Panthers beat crosstown rival Morehouse 31-21 in the inaugural ATL HBCU Labor Day Classic. Quarterback Xzavier Jackson found receiver Chry’shawn Sellers twice for touchdowns. That included a 51-yard score with 11:40 left that put the game away for good. Clark Atlanta won despite Morehouse holding the ball for over 35 minutes, a testament to how much explosive plays mattered across the weekend’s biggest results.

Elsewhere in the SWAC and SIAC, Jackson State handled Edward Waters 66-14. Alabama State shut out Lane 34-0 to open its season on a strong note. Grambling State outlasted Central State 48-26. Southern beat Kentucky State 34-15 in a game with more separation on the scoreboard than there was on the field for long stretches.

Hampton Gets a Reality Check Against Maryland

Not every HBCU storyline came from an HBCU-versus-HBCU game. Hampton’s first-ever matchup against a Power Four opponent went about as expected. The Pirates fell 62-0 at Maryland, a game in which the Terps outgained Hampton 646-85. Head coach Van Malone was candid afterward. He said his players quickly realized the speed of the game was faster than anything they’d seen before. It’s the kind of result that stings in the box score but tends to matter less once conference play begins in earnest.

Beyond the headline games, HBCU football Week 1 was full of lopsided results that still shaped early-season storylines. Jackson State’s win over Edward Waters and Alabama A&M’s 38-23 victory over Miles kept both programs unbeaten heading into Week 2. Meanwhile, Virginia Union’s 49-20 win over Livingstone and Virginia State’s 42-13 win over Bowie State gave the CIAA two statement results of its own on the same Saturday slate.

Full HBCU Football Week 1 Scoreboard

Here’s every score from September 3-6, organized by day.

Thursday, September 3

Winner	Score	Opponent
Missouri	54-14	Arkansas-Pine Bluff
UCF	73-6	Bethune-Cookman
Roanoke	37-7	Virginia-Lynchburg

Friday, September 4

Winner	Score	Opponent
Georgia State	59-10	North Carolina A&T

Saturday, September 5

Winner	Score	Opponent
William & Mary	22-15	Delaware State
North Carolina Central	27-6	Elizabeth City State
Old Dominion	31-10	Norfolk State
Arizona State	70-7	Morgan State
Richmond	28-21	Howard
Southern Miss	49-3	Alcorn State
Alabama State	34-0	Lane
Jackson State	66-14	Edward Waters
Southern	34-15	Kentucky State
Alabama A&M	38-23	Miles
Sacramento State	52-0	Mississippi Valley State
Grambling State	48-26	Central State
Maryland	62-0	Hampton
Georgia	63-3	Tennessee State
Florida Memorial	38-31	Allen
Tuskegee	24-23	Fort Valley State
Concord	26-22	Bluefield State
Virginia State	42-13	Bowie State
West Chester	21-13	Lincoln (Pa.)
Virginia Union	49-20	Livingstone
Fayetteville State	10-7	UNC Pembroke
Shaw	23-13	Barton
Mars Hill	17-0	Winston-Salem State
Arkansas Baptist	30-19	Texas College
Louisiana Christian	70-14	Langston
Clark Atlanta	31-21	Morehouse
Benedict	24-20	Shorter
Robert Morris	29-9	West Virginia State
Johnson C. Smith	27-7	Albany State

Sunday, September 6

Winner	Score	Opponent
Prairie View A&M	52-14	Texas Southern
South Carolina State	31-13	Florida A&M

Taken together, HBCU football Week 1 confirmed some early hierarchy while scrambling a few assumptions along the way. South Carolina State and Prairie View A&M look like the class of the sport right now. Tuskegee’s comeback and Howard’s near-upset suggest this season won’t lack for dramatic finishes as conference play ramps up in the weeks ahead.

Football

Howard Erased a 20-Point Deficit — And Still Nearly Won

HBCU Editors

Posted on Sep 7, 2026

Howard nearly pulled off one of Week 1’s biggest upsets. The Richmond Howard score reads 28-21, a comfortable final margin on paper. That number hides how it actually played out. Howard trailed No. 23 Richmond 20-0 at halftime Saturday, then spent the entire second half clawing back before finally falling short at Greene Stadium.

Richmond Controlled Every Minute of the First Half

Richmond’s dominance through 30 minutes was as complete as any first half in Week 1. The Spiders scored on three of their first four possessions, building a 20-0 lead behind a balanced attack. Quarterback Ashten Snelsire found freshman Bryce Allen for a 15-yard touchdown on Richmond’s opening drive. It continued a hot start to Allen’s college career, following a four-catch, two-touchdown debut the week before. Aziz Foster-Powell added a rushing score. Snelsire then connected with Quanye Veney for a 42-yard touchdown early in the second quarter, pushing the margin to 20.

The numbers behind that lead were even more lopsided than the score suggested. Richmond held Howard to just nine total yards of offense in the second quarter alone. The Bison didn’t convert a single third down before halftime, going 0-for-7 on the night’s most critical down. Richmond, by contrast, converted four of six third downs in the same stretch. Nothing about the first 30 minutes hinted at the fight Howard was about to show.

Howard’s Second-Half Surge Nearly Completes the Comeback

Richmond’s first possession of the third quarter went nowhere, and Howard capitalized immediately. A fumble in the end zone on Richmond’s next drive gave Howard a recovery. That turned into Howard’s first points of the day. The Bison defense followed with another stop, forcing a Richmond punt that Howard turned into an 84-yard touchdown drive. It cut the deficit to 20-14 with seven minutes left in the third quarter. The home crowd at Greene Stadium sensed a genuine upset building.

Richmond had an answer of its own. Special teams flipped field position when Howard muffed a 44-yard punt. Richmond needed just two plays to cash in, connecting with tight end Sean Clarke for a 29-yard touchdown. The Spiders converted the two-point try to push the lead back to two scores at 28-14. Even that wasn’t enough to shake Howard loose. Running back Billy Roberson II capped a 14-play, 75-yard drive with a one-yard touchdown run. That pulled the Bison within 28-21 with 11:35 remaining, the closest Howard had been to Richmond since the opening quarter.

A Missed Field Goal and a Late Stand Seal It for Richmond

Howard’s defense gave its offense one more chance in the fourth quarter, forcing a Richmond punt that flipped field position again. The Bison moved into scoring range on completions to Allen and Veney. A 32-yard field goal attempt sailed wide with 4:15 remaining, and the door that had been cracking open all night finally shut. Richmond’s defense closed out the win from there. Daniel Sellers sacked quarterback Ja’Shawn Scroggins for an 11-yard loss on third down, forcing Howard’s final punt with two minutes left. Jamaal Brown’s 18-yard run on third-and-11 then let Snelsire kneel out the clock.

The final numbers tell a story of two very different halves. Richmond finished with 300 total yards to Howard’s 240. Howard actually out-rushed the Spiders 131 yards to 39 and nearly matched Richmond in first downs, 14 to 17, closer than the score suggested. Richmond’s defense recorded four sacks, six tackles for loss, and forced two turnovers. Those numbers made Howard’s second-half rally even more impressive given how thoroughly the Bison had been outplayed early.

What the Richmond Howard Near-Miss Means for the Bison

For Howard and second-year coach Ted White, this loss says more about the program’s direction than the final score suggests. Coming off a signature debut win over Alabama A&M in the Cricket MEAC/SWAC Challenge, Howard faced a ranked FCS opponent. The Bison came within one defensive stand of pulling off a road upset that would have been the story of the weekend nationally. A 20-point halftime deficit against a Patriot League power is the kind of hole that ends most games quietly. Howard’s response said otherwise. An 84-yard touchdown drive, followed by a 14-play grind that chewed nearly six minutes off the clock, showed real composure. That kind of poise doesn’t always show up in young programs still building an identity under a new staff.

Richmond Moves to 2-0 Despite the Late Scare

For Richmond, the win extends the Spiders’ best start since 2021. It also improves their all-time record against Howard to 4-0. Head coach Russ Huesman credited his team’s ability to fight through what he called tough conditions. The defense’s late-game execution, four sacks and a game-sealing series of stops, ultimately made the difference. Richmond travels to face NC State next. That’s a step up in competition that will test whether Saturday’s slow third quarter was an aberration or a real warning sign.

Both teams walk away from Greene Stadium with something to build on. Richmond banked a win despite nearly blowing a 20-point lead. Howard proved it can hang with a ranked opponent even after falling behind by three touchdowns. How each program carries that forward will shape how this Richmond Howard result gets remembered by the time conference play begins.

Football

Tuskegee’s 17-Point Fourth Quarter Steals the Port City Classic

HBCU Editors

Posted on Sep 7, 2026

Tuskegee trailed by 16 points in the fourth quarter of the Port City Classic and still found a way to win. Here’s the final Tuskegee Fort Valley State score: Golden Tigers 24, Wildcats 23. Tuskegee scored 17 unanswered points in the final period to complete the comeback, capping it with a walk-off field goal as time expired. It’s the kind of finish that instantly becomes the signature win of a season. It happened in Week 1.

Fort Valley State Had Firm Control Through Three Quarters

For most of Saturday, the Tuskegee Fort Valley State matchup belonged to Fort Valley State. The Wildcats built a 23-7 lead heading into the fourth quarter. They controlled the tempo and forced Tuskegee into three-and-outs on drive after drive. Fort Valley State’s offense moved the ball steadily behind a run-heavy approach. Its defense kept Tuskegee’s passing attack largely contained through the first three quarters. Nothing about the scoreboard suggested a collapse was coming.

That’s what made the fourth quarter so jarring. Tuskegee’s offense had struggled to find any rhythm for most of the afternoon. Then it suddenly clicked all at once. Quarterback Bryson McGrew took over the game in the final period. He threw three touchdown passes in a span that flipped the entire outcome. His scoring strikes covered 52, 74, and 39 yards. Each one was a backbreaker for a Fort Valley State defense that had been dominant just minutes earlier. Tuskegee finished with 227 total offensive yards on the day. That’s a modest number overall, but it undersells how explosive those fourth-quarter plays actually were.

McGrew and Ryans Complete the Rally

The touchdown passes tied the score, but Tuskegee still needed a way to finish it. That job went to kicker Lorcan Ryans. He calmly drilled a 35-yard field goal as time expired to complete the win. It was Tuskegee’s clearest example yet of relying on a big offensive burst and a clutch special-teams play to close out a game. That pattern is becoming a real identity for this team early in the season.

Fort Valley State’s collapse wasn’t the product of one single mistake. It was death by a thousand cuts. Head coach Don Hudson Jr.’s offense leaned heavily on the run in the fourth quarter. Possession after possession ended in a three-and-out, and the staff never adjusted to put the ball in its playmakers’ hands to answer Tuskegee’s surge. Meanwhile, the Wildcats’ defense had smothered Tuskegee for three quarters. It simply had no answer once McGrew started finding receivers over the top. Explosive plays are the great equalizer in a game like this. Tuskegee found three of them exactly when it mattered.

Fort Valley State’s Missed Opportunity

For Fort Valley State, this loss carries real weight beyond the standings. The Wildcats entered the season considered one of the SIAC’s top contenders. Building a 16-point fourth-quarter lead against a divisional rival was supposed to be the kind of result that validates that status. Instead, the Wildcats now head into their bye week having let a signature early win slip away in the final 15 minutes. The offensive approach down the stretch will likely draw scrutiny. Playing conservative with a big lead is a common instinct. It left Fort Valley State without answers once Tuskegee started scoring in bunches. Georgia’s Peach County program gets a week to regroup before returning to conference play. How it responds after a loss like this will say a lot about its depth and mental toughness.

What the Win Means for Tuskegee

For Tuskegee and head coach Aaron James, Saturday’s comeback does more than avoid an 0-1 start. It keeps the Golden Tigers’ SIAC championship aspirations firmly alive in Week 1. The program avoids digging an early hole against conference opponents. Winning a game like this tends to build belief. The team looked overmatched for three quarters, and that kind of belief shows up later in a season when games get tight again. Tuskegee proved it could operate an explosive passing attack in short bursts, even if the offense as a whole still has consistency issues to work out.

Tuskegee moves to 1-1 on the season. Still, the quality of the opponent and the size of the deficit erased make this feel like more than a typical one-loss, one-win start. The Golden Tigers don’t get much time to enjoy it, though. Next up is a considerably tougher test on the road against Jackson State, a program with far more talent and depth than Fort Valley State. Whatever confidence Tuskegee built in the final 15 minutes Saturday will be tested immediately.

The Bigger Picture for the SIAC

Games like this one tend to reshape early-season conference races more than they get credit for. Fort Valley State was widely expected to be part of the SIAC’s championship conversation. One September loss doesn’t end that conversation, but it does mean the Wildcats now need a strong response to keep pace. Tuskegee, meanwhile, enters the rest of its non-conference and early conference schedule with proof that its passing attack can take over a game in a hurry. Both programs will get chances to build on Saturday’s result. Only one team walked away from the Port City Classic with the win. The Tuskegee Fort Valley State finish did it in about as memorable a fashion as Week 1 offered anywhere in HBCU football.

News

Terry Sims Gets His First Win — In the Biggest Game on the Calendar

HBCU Editors

Posted on Sep 7, 2026

Clark Atlanta football gave first-year coach Terry Sims his first win the way any rivalry game should decide it. It came on a knockout throw late in the fourth quarter. Here’s the final Clark Atlanta vs Morehouse score: Clark Atlanta 31, Morehouse 21, Saturday in the inaugural ATL HBCU Labor Day Classic, the new name for a rivalry previously played as the Big Cat Classic. A crowd of 9,736 filled B.T. Harvey Stadium for it. Clark Atlanta moved to 1-1 overall and 1-0 in SIAC play. Morehouse dropped to 0-2 and 0-1 in the conference.

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Clark Atlanta vs Morehouse: A Fast Start Set the Tone

Clark Atlanta needed an answer after a 49-7 opening loss at Grambling State on the road, a lopsided result that raised early questions about the SIAC preseason favorites. It found one almost immediately Saturday. Running back Trayvon Pinder broke a 94-yard touchdown run less than two minutes into the game. That early strike set up an explosive afternoon on both sides. Morehouse answered with a Davis Rowe field goal. A 30-yard Chase DeVaughn touchdown run gave the Maroon Tigers a 9-7 lead in the first quarter. Clark Atlanta didn’t let that lead last. Kelan Anderson scored from 39 yards out. Joseph Wright added a 23-yard field goal, and the Panthers led 17-9 by halftime.

The second half turned into a heavyweight exchange. Savion Red pulled Morehouse within 17-15 on a six-yard touchdown run in the third quarter. DeVaughn later cut the Panthers’ lead to 24-21 with a 10-yard score early in the fourth. Each time Morehouse closed the gap, quarterback Xzavier Jackson and receiver Chry’shawn Sellers had an answer ready.

Jackson and Sellers Deliver the Knockout Blow

Jackson found Sellers for a 14-yard touchdown late in the third quarter to push the margin back to seven. The two connected again for a 51-yard score with 11:40 remaining. That was the play that actually decided the game. Jackson finished 13 of 22 passing for 135 yards, two touchdowns, and no interceptions. Sellers caught four passes for 83 yards and both of Jackson’s scores. Running back Dae’Jeaun Dennis added 104 yards on the ground, and the Panthers finished with 259 rushing yards as a team.

The box score tells a strange story for a 10-point win. Morehouse held the ball for 35:05, ran 23 more offensive plays than Clark Atlanta, and picked up 25 first downs. None of that mattered much. The Panthers still produced 394 total yards on just 50 snaps, an average of 7.88 yards per play. They didn’t turn the ball over once, either. Morehouse threw an interception. Explosive plays paired with clean ball security. That combination let Clark Atlanta win despite losing the time-of-possession battle by a wide margin.

A First Win With Extra Meaning for Sims

For Terry Sims, this result carries more weight than a typical Week 1 victory. He took over the Clark Atlanta program in January after previously leading Bethune-Cookman. That meant stepping into a new job and a new conference all at once, learning a new roster and a new rivalry in the same offseason. His first win with the Panthers came against the program’s closest geographic and cultural rival. It happened in a building packed well beyond what most SIAC openers draw. That’s not a small detail for a first-year coach trying to set a tone early, and it’s the kind of win that buys patience with a fan base during a rebuilding stretch. Sims now gets to build from a win in the rivalry game rather than digging out from a loss in it.

Clark Atlanta has now won three straight meetings with Morehouse. That streak stretches back before Sims ever arrived on campus. The Atlanta rivalry itself goes back more than a century. It means more locally than the SIAC standings alone would suggest. Both programs sit inside the Atlanta University Center, just a few blocks apart. That proximity turns every meeting into something closer to a campus event than a road trip.

What’s Next for Both Programs

Morehouse leaves Atlanta 0-2 with real questions to answer, chief among them how to finish drives against a defense that gets stops in bursts rather than sustained series. The Maroon Tigers moved the ball consistently and still lost by 10. That points to red-zone execution and explosive-play defense as the areas needing the fastest fix. A team that runs 23 more plays and still trails by double digits usually has a chunk-play problem on defense, and Saturday’s two Jackson-to-Sellers touchdowns were exactly that. Clark Atlanta, meanwhile, gets to build on a signature early win as it settles into SIAC play under a new coaching staff still learning its roster’s identity.

Both teams return home Sept. 12. Clark Atlanta hosts Kentucky State looking to build on Saturday’s momentum. Morehouse faces Central State needing a response before the SIAC race gets away from them. For now, the Clark Atlanta vs Morehouse result belongs to the Panthers. It also belongs to a first-year coach who picked the biggest possible game to get his first win.

Football

Inside the Orange Blossom Classic: SC State Rolls, and the Weekend Delivers Again

HBCU Editors

Posted on Sep 7, 2026

The Orange Blossom Classic weekend delivered exactly what it promised. It was a full Labor Day takeover of South Florida that happened to end with a football score. South Carolina State beat Florida A&M 31-13 at Hard Rock Stadium on Sunday, in the 52nd edition of a Classic that dates back to 1933. But the game was really the closing act of a week that started Tuesday with a career fair. It built through luncheons, parties, and a battle of the bands before a single snap was played.

The Bulldogs Backed Up Their No. 1 Ranking

South Carolina State came into Miami Gardens as the reigning Celebration Bowl champion. It was also the top team in the USA Today HBCU poll, and it played like it. Running back Mason Pickett-Hicks rushed for 210 yards and two touchdowns on just 17 carries. He broke off a 58-yard score on the Bulldogs’ first snap after a lightning delay, then added a 32-yard touchdown early in the third quarter. It was SC State’s first 200-yard rushing performance since 2023. The Bulldogs outgained FAMU 479-161 in total yards, including 292 on the ground. Their defense held the Rattlers to minus-1 yard rushing for the entire game. Defensive back Justin Bostic sealed the day with two interceptions, one of them returned for a touchdown.

For Florida A&M, this was a rough first look at life under new head coach Quinn Gray, who arrived from Albany State this offseason to try to fix a program that finished 5-7 a year ago. The Rattlers actually scored on the opening possession. Quarterback Isaiah Knowles hit Kieren Jackson for 12 yards to help set up an early field goal. That was about as good as it got. FAMU couldn’t find an answer for South Carolina State’s pass rush or its run defense. The Rattlers dropped to 1-1 on the season, and plenty of questions still hang over the quarterback room.

Halftime Belonged to the Bands

If the football told one story, halftime told another. FAMU’s Marching 100 and South Carolina State’s Marching 101 turned the break into the moment fans actually planned their seating around. Ticket packages were built specifically for sections closest to each band. That’s the pull of the Orange Blossom Classic in a nutshell. Even in a lopsided game, nobody in the building was heading for the exits at halftime.

The bands weren’t the only entertainment on the schedule. Fan Fest opened outside Hard Rock Stadium hours before kickoff with live performances from Miami natives Trina and Trick Daddy. Actor Lorenz Tate also made an appearance. Organizers rolled out a new in-stadium day party following halftime, giving fans another reason to stick around even after the outcome was decided.

A Week That Started Long Before Kickoff

Sunday’s game was the finale of a schedule that opened four days earlier. The weekend kicked off Tuesday with a free career recruitment fair. That gave alumni and recent grads a reason to book the trip beyond football. Friday brought the scholarship fundraising luncheon at Jungle Island, where actress Crystal Renee Hayslett sat down for a fireside chat. Organizers also honored Bakari Sellers, Teddy Bridgewater, Dr. Dorothy Jenkins Fields, and William L. Berry Sr. for their leadership and impact on the HBCU community.

From there, the party circuit took over. The sixth annual denim party hit Thursday night. Saturday’s all-white party carried the energy into the final stretch before kickoff. A professional development symposium ran throughout the weekend with panels and mentorship sessions aimed at students and young professionals. The whole thing wrapped Sunday morning with a closing brunch before fans made their way to the stadium. None of it required a ticket to the game itself, which is exactly the point organizers keep making about the Classic.

Why the Orange Blossom Classic Weekend Matters Beyond the Score

South Carolina State’s win moves the Bulldogs to 2-0. It also reinforces what their Celebration Bowl run already suggested: this is a program built to finish games, not just start them fast. Chennis Berry’s defense set the tone from the opening series and never let up. A rushing performance like Pickett-Hicks’ doesn’t happen by accident against a defense that limited FAMU to negative rushing yardage. For South Carolina State, the trip to Miami was as much a statement as a celebration.

FAMU leaves with more urgency than answers. Gray inherited a program coming off a 5-7 season. A 31-13 loss in his signature early test doesn’t erase the rebuild ahead. Still, the Rattlers have time. This loss came against a team most of the sport already considers the class of HBCU football right now.

The bigger picture belongs to the event itself. FAMU has already signed on to host the Orange Blossom Classic through 2030. That means this week-long format of luncheons, parties, and marching band showdowns wrapped around a marquee game isn’t going anywhere. If this year’s edition is any indication, the football will keep drawing headlines. But the Orange Blossom Classic weekend will keep being the real draw for the tens of thousands of alumni who show up for all of it, win or lose.

Football

What Hampton’s 62-0 Loss at Maryland Actually Revealed

HBCU Editors

Posted on Sep 7, 2026

Hampton football learned exactly what the jump to Power Four competition looks like Saturday. The Pirates were shut out 62-0 at Maryland in their first-ever meeting with a Power Four opponent. It was a lopsided scoreline that told only part of the story. Hampton entered the game 1-0 after a 45-0 win over Virginia-Lynchburg the week before. It left College Park 1-1. More importantly, it left with a clear look at the gap between where the program is now and where it wants to go.

A Rough Night Against a Different Level of Speed

Maryland outgained Hampton 646-85 in total yards, a margin that speaks for itself. The Pirates managed just 10 rushing yards on 31 attempts. They added only 75 yards through the air, most of it after the outcome was already decided. Hampton reached midfield on only two drives all night. The Pirates never got inside Maryland’s red zone. Head coach Van Malone didn’t dress it up afterward. He said his players quickly realized the speed of the game was faster than anything they had seen. Some of what showed up on film, he admitted, wouldn’t look pretty.

That kind of honesty matters more than the final score. Hampton’s defense had allowed 233 rushing yards per game a year ago, so absorbing a Power Four backfield was always going to be a stress test. Maryland running back DeJuan Williams broke off a 94-yard touchdown run on the game’s opening snap, the second-longest run in Terrapins history. The rest of the night followed that same script. Maryland scored six rushing touchdowns, its most in a single game since 2001. The Pirates simply didn’t have the horses up front to slow it down.

Bright Spots Were Hard to Find, But Not Impossible

Quarterback Jalen Woods did generate one moment worth remembering. He connected with receiver TK Paisant for a 30-yard gain down the sideline in the first quarter. It was one of the few times all night Hampton’s offense operated with any rhythm. Backup quarterback Tre’Von Taylor also saw time under center as the game got out of hand. That gave Malone a chance to evaluate depth at the position without risking more snaps from his starter. Neither passer found consistent room to work. Maryland’s own athletics site credited a defense that recorded five sacks and three interceptions for making sure Hampton never settled into anything resembling a game plan.

That defensive pressure compounded everything else. Every time Hampton faced second-and-long or third-and-long, Maryland’s front generated pressure. The Pirates rarely had time to let plays develop downfield, and the interceptions came in bunches once Hampton was forced to abandon the run entirely. It’s the kind of setback that shows up starkly in a box score. In the long run, though, it tends to matter less than how a program responds the following week.

Context Matters More Than the Final Score

Games like this one are part of the deal for HBCU programs that schedule Power Four opponents for a paycheck and a measuring-stick opportunity. Hampton is hardly the first MEAC program to take a lopsided loss against a bigger-budget opponent, and it won’t be the last. What matters more for Malone’s program is how it bounces back in conference play. The roster gap narrows considerably there. Hampton’s own talent and depth can show up the way it did against Virginia-Lynchburg in Week 1, when the Pirates controlled the game from start to finish and never let the outcome feel in doubt.

Maryland, for its part, entered the season needing a jolt in the run game. The Terps ranked near the bottom of the Big Ten on the ground in 2025, and they got exactly the response they were looking for against Hampton behind a rushing attack that produced its highest touchdown total in over two decades. None of that changes what Hampton needs to focus on now. The offensive line couldn’t create push against a bigger, faster front. The secondary got exposed early and often. Building the kind of physical toughness that stands up against faster, deeper rosters doesn’t happen overnight. Saturday made that gap obvious in a way conference play rarely does.

What’s Next for the Pirates

Hampton returns to a schedule better suited to its level in the coming weeks, and this game will fade quickly from the season’s larger storyline if the Pirates take care of business in MEAC play. Malone’s message after the game leaned on perspective rather than panic. He framed the loss as an environment his young players hadn’t experienced before, not as a referendum on the program itself. That framing matters. This roster still has to turn around and prepare for conference opponents who won’t feel anything like Maryland did on Saturday night.

For a Hampton team looking to build on last season, the response over the next month says more. It will say far more about this year’s Pirates than one lopsided night at a Power Four stadium ever could. Programs get remembered for how they play the games that count, not the ones written into the schedule to cover a budget line. Hampton has time to show that distinction still holds.

Football

Prairie View Blows Past Texas Southern 52-14 to Open SWAC Play

HBCU Editors

Posted on Sep 7, 2026

Prairie View A&M turned the Prairie View Texas Southern Labor Day Classic into a rout Sunday. The Panthers cruised past their SWAC rival 52-14 at Panther Stadium at Blackshear Field. The win never felt in question once the opening kickoff went the distance. Prairie View improved to 1-1 overall and 1-0 in conference play, while Texas Southern fell to 1-1 and 0-1. It was never really close after that.

Kuykendall’s Return Sets the Tone Early

Jahbari Kuykendall needed just 15 seconds to set the tone. He took the opening kickoff back 90 yards for a touchdown, and Prairie View never trailed again. Quarterback Tevin Carter added a 24-yard touchdown pass to Damien McDaniel on the Panthers’ first offensive drive. Ethan Eddins tacked on a 37-yard field goal to make it 17-0 after one quarter. Texas Southern answered in the second on Cam’Ron McCoy’s 17-yard touchdown run, trimming the gap to 17-7 at halftime. Still, the Tigers never got closer than that.

Prairie View seized full control in the third quarter, scoring on all four of its possessions there. The Panthers outscored Texas Southern 28-0 in the period alone. Carter capped a five-play drive with a 24-yard touchdown run, then found Travon Jones for a 39-yard score. He connected with Chase Bingmon on a 46-yard touchdown next, then punched in a short score himself to push the lead to 45-7 entering the fourth. A second touchdown pass to Jones in the fourth quarter set the final margin. Carter accounted for five total touchdowns on the afternoon, and he did it efficiently.

Carter’s Efficient Day Through the Air

Carter finished 16 of 22 passing for 217 yards and four touchdowns. He added 17 rushing yards and a score on seven carries. According to Prairie View’s official athletics site, five different Panthers found the end zone. That spread made Texas Southern’s defense pick its poison all afternoon. Bingmon led the ground game with 60 yards and a touchdown on 10 carries, then caught four passes for 59 yards and another score. Rodny Ojo hauled in three catches for 68 yards. Jones turned three receptions into 36 yards and two touchdowns. None of Prairie View’s skill players needed a monster individual line. The production was simply too spread out for Texas Southern to key on any one target.

The Panthers’ defense matched that intensity. Prairie View sacked Texas Southern quarterbacks seven times for 32 yards and forced two turnovers, both fumbles the Panthers recovered themselves. Malachi Williams alone finished with three sacks among his six tackles. DeMarcus Wynn and Dorian Gates each forced and recovered a fumble of their own. Kamrin Canterbury paced everyone with 11 total stops. That kind of pressure up front erased whatever rhythm Texas Southern tried to build offensively, even on the drives where the Tigers were moving the ball.

Tigers Controlled the Clock but Not the Scoreboard

Oddly, the box score tells a story the final margin does not. Texas Southern actually outgained Prairie View 398-318 in total yards. The Tigers also held a lopsided time-of-possession edge of 40:22 to 17:35. None of it mattered much. Texas Southern could not find the end zone again until late. Ri’Jon Hammond capped a 14-play, 71-yard drive with an 8-yard touchdown run with five seconds left, more a formality than a rally. McCoy completed 10 of 19 passes for 81 yards and ran for a score. Athean Renfro led the Tigers’ ground attack with 85 yards on 17 carries. Those numbers point to an offense that moved steadily between the 20s but stalled whenever it mattered. It’s a pattern HBCU Gameday’s coverage framed as the gap between a program still finding its footing and one already playing at a championship level.

Prairie View converted all four of its red-zone chances into touchdowns, a number that decided the game more than total yardage did. The Panthers also had a career-best day in the return game, averaging 55 yards per kickoff return on top of Kuykendall’s opening score. Turning field position into points early put Texas Southern in a hole that 40 minutes of possession time couldn’t dig out of.

The History Behind the Prairie View Texas Southern Labor Day Classic

This rivalry rarely plays it safe. The Labor Day Classic has a long history of coming down to the wire, including last year’s walk-off finish that Prairie View won on the final play. Sunday broke that pattern completely. There was no late-game drama and no nail-biting fourth quarter, just a Panthers team that jumped ahead early and refused to let Texas Southern back in. Second-year head coach Tremaine Jackson got the response he wanted after his team’s opening-week loss at Tarleton State. The margin suggested a program that used that setback as fuel rather than a warning sign. It came against a rival that has owned this series historically, even while losing the last two meetings.

What It Means Going Forward

For Prairie View, the win keeps the Panthers on track in their SWAC title defense and hands them the early lead in the SWAC West race. For Texas Southern, the loss is a reminder that time of possession and total yardage mean little without finishing drives. That’s especially true against a defense as opportunistic as Prairie View’s proved to be Sunday. Both programs now shift attention to their next conference tests. This one, though, belongs entirely to the Panthers, who made the Prairie View Texas Southern Labor Day Classic look lopsided from the opening kickoff onward.

Events

Inside HBCU House: HBCU Buzz’s New Home for Black College Culture

HBCU Editors

Posted on Sep 5, 2026

The HBCU House launch is official. HBCU Buzz just gave Black college alumni a new home base for the moments that matter most. It didn’t start small, either. Founded by HBCU Buzz CEO Luke Lawal Jr., HBCU House is a culture-forward events platform. It’s built to bring alumni, executives, creators, and brand partners together wherever HBCU influence shows up next. Also, the tagline says it plainly: once you’re here, you’re home.

What Exactly Is HBCU House?

Think of it less like a one-off event series and more like a rotating headquarters. HBCU House plants itself at the country’s biggest cultural, political, and entertainment moments. Then it builds a full experience around HBCU pride inside that moment. So a tech conference, a sports weekend, an entertainment awards run, or a major policy week in the nation’s capital each becomes a backdrop. Every stop turns into a curated gathering of graduates and the broader Black collegiate community. The full rundown of that vision lives on HBCU House’s about page.

That mission is baked into the HBCU House launch itself. The platform welcomes HBCU alumni alongside young professionals, athletes, tastemakers, and executives connected to Black collegiate culture more broadly. Guests don’t just network, though. Instead, they get programming built around storytelling, hospitality, and brand collaboration. Still, the whole setting is designed to feel familiar instead of corporate.

For a media company that’s covered HBCU culture since 2011, the move makes sense. HBCU Buzz has spent over a decade reporting on the community’s wins, its leadership changes, and its cultural moments from the outside looking in. Now, HBCU House flips that role entirely. The company is building the room where those moments happen, not just writing about them afterward.

The First Stop: Congressional Black Caucus Week

HBCU House didn’t pick a small warm-up moment for its debut. Instead, the first edition lands during Congressional Black Caucus Week in Washington, hosted at The Gathering Spot DC on September 17. Full event background is up on the HBCU House CBC Edition project page. CBC Week already pulls Black political, business, and media leaders into the city from across the country. The timing puts HBCU House directly inside a room full of the exact people its founder built the platform for.

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“HBCU culture deserves a space that reflects its influence, excellence and reach,” Lawal said in the official HBCU House announcement. “HBCU House is where our community can connect, celebrate and feel at home.” That quote gets at the whole point of the HBCU House launch. Essentially, it’s about giving the community a physical anchor. That beats scattering HBCU representation across other people’s events and hoping it gets noticed.

Attendance runs on approval and venue capacity, so this isn’t a walk-up situation. Anyone hoping to attend the CBC Edition needs an invitation first. Then, requests go through the HBCU House RSVP page before spots run out. Because capacity is limited, HBCU Buzz is pushing that request early rather than waiting until event week.

Why the Timing Matters

CBC Week isn’t a random pick, and that part is worth sitting with. Washington fills up with HBCU graduates every fall for policy panels and reunions that already happen informally around the city. So HBCU House takes that existing energy and gives it a formal address. Alumni usually bounce between five separate receptions hoping to run into old classmates. Now there’s one house built specifically for that purpose instead.

Meanwhile, the platform isn’t positioning itself as a one-city project. Future editions are already planned around sports, technology, art, and entertainment moments, according to the HBCU House announcement. That expansion plan matters. Additionally, it turns a single event into an actual national platform, one that can follow HBCU culture wherever it lands next.

What Comes Next for HBCU House

Additional programming details for the CBC Edition are still rolling out. HBCU Buzz says more will be announced soon, including specifics on featured guests and partner brands. For now, though, the clearest signal of intent is the platform itself. There’s a dedicated site at hbcu.house and an active Instagram presence under the handle @hbcu.house. Add to that a founder willing to put HBCU House inside one of the most-watched weeks in Black political life for its very first outing.

It’s also worth watching how the broader HBCU Buzz audience responds once the CBC Edition wraps. A strong debut in Washington gives HBCU House real proof of concept. That matters heading into whatever sports or entertainment moment comes next. After all, a platform like this lives or dies on whether people actually show up. They need to feel something once they walk through the door. And CBC Week is about as high-stakes a first test as Luke Lawal Jr. could have picked for it.

For a community that’s long shown up in force at other people’s cultural moments, the HBCU House launch flips that script. The house comes to the moment now, instead of the other way around. So alumni scanning their fall calendar just got a new reason to circle CBC Week in Washington. That’s the kind of homecoming energy a single article can’t fully capture, honestly. This is a house they’ll want to visit more than once.

Buzzing News

Benedict College Just Became the First HBCU in South Carolina to Pull This Off

HBCU Editors

Posted on Sep 5, 2026

Benedict College’s ABET electrical engineering accreditation makes it the first HBCU in South Carolina to hold this distinction, and the timing couldn’t be better for a school riding real enrollment momentum. The Columbia-based HBCU announced the milestone Sept. 3, putting it among just four institutions statewide with ABET accreditation in any engineering discipline.

President Dr. Roslyn Clark Artis didn’t downplay what this means for the campus. “ABET accreditation is a tremendous achievement for Benedict College and a powerful testament to the excellence of our faculty, the strength of our academic programs, and our commitment to preparing students for careers that will shape the future,” Artis said in the announcement.

What ABET Accreditation Actually Unlocks for Students

This isn’t a symbolic honor. ABET accreditation is the credential engineering employers, graduate schools, and licensing boards actually check for. Graduates of Benedict’s electrical engineering program can now sit for the Fundamentals of Engineering exam immediately after graduation, putting them on the standard path toward professional licensure — something non-accredited programs simply can’t offer in the same way.

That matters enormously for hiring. Large engineering firms and government contractors frequently require ABET accreditation as a baseline for entry-level roles, and graduate programs weigh it heavily during admissions. Consequently, this accreditation doesn’t just validate the program Benedict already built — it removes a real barrier that could’ve quietly limited where its electrical engineering graduates were competitive.

Benedict Has Done This Before

Electrical engineering isn’t Benedict’s first rodeo with ABET. The college earned accreditation for its Environmental Engineering program back in 2022, becoming the first HBCU in South Carolina to hit that milestone as well, and only the second HBCU nationally to achieve it. Clemson University remains the only other institution in the state with an accredited environmental engineering program, which gives you a sense of how small this club actually is.

That track record isn’t incidental. Dr. Jessica Furrer, dean of Benedict’s School of Science and Engineering, has been central to both accreditation pushes, and the college is now actively preparing its Computer Science and Computer Engineering programs for the same process. If those efforts land, Benedict would hold ABET accreditation across four separate STEM disciplines — an unusually deep bench for a school this size.

Why This Lands at the Right Moment

Timing matters here, too. Benedict welcomed 731 new traditional undergraduate students for Fall 2026, its highest new-enrollment total since 2019 and a 15.3 percent increase over last year, marking a third consecutive year of growth. Pairing that recruitment momentum with a newly accredited engineering program gives Benedict a stronger pitch to exactly the kind of STEM-focused prospective students it’s trying to attract.

It also strengthens the college’s broader institutional narrative. Under Artis, whose contract was extended through 2031, Benedict has leaned hard into high-growth fields like cybersecurity, computer science, and esports administration. Electrical engineering accreditation slots neatly into that strategy, giving the college another accredited program to point to when recruiting students who might otherwise default to a predominantly white institution for engineering.

The Bigger Picture for HBCU Engineering Programs

Benedict’s announcement adds to a pattern worth watching across HBCUs generally. Bethune-Cookman’s computer engineering program has held ABET accreditation since 2013, and Savannah State has built out ABET-accredited engineering technology programs in its region. Each new accreditation chips away at a long-standing gap: engineering fields where HBCU graduates have historically been underrepresented, partly because fewer HBCU programs carried the accreditation employers screen for.

That gap has real economic consequences. Electrical engineering consistently ranks among the higher-paying fields for new graduates, and licensure-track careers in the discipline tend to offer long-term earning stability that many liberal arts degrees don’t. A South Carolina HBCU producing ABET-accredited electrical engineers means more Black graduates entering that pipeline with the same credentials as their peers from Clemson or USC.

What Comes Next

Benedict hasn’t disclosed enrollment figures specific to the electrical engineering program itself, so it’s not yet clear how many students will benefit immediately from this accreditation versus how much it’s aimed at future recruitment. Given the environmental engineering program’s history — enrollment there more than doubled after its 2022 accreditation — there’s reason to expect a similar bump here.

For now, Benedict College gets to add another first to its list, and it’s one with real professional weight behind it. As the college works toward accrediting computer science and computer engineering next, this electrical engineering milestone is worth watching as part of a longer STEM accreditation push that’s quietly making Benedict one of the more credentialed engineering options among HBCUs in the Southeast.

Homecoming

Hampton Just Nearly Tripled Its Own Homecoming Number

HBCU Editors

Posted on Sep 5, 2026

Hampton University’s homecoming economic impact estimate just jumped to $8 million–$10 million for the 2026 celebration, a dramatic revision from the $3 million figure the university cited for its 2024 homecoming. That’s not a modest bump. It’s close to a tripling of the estimate in just two years, and this time Hampton is backing it with actual visitor data instead of a projection.

The new number comes from Hampton’s announcement of Homecoming Week 2026, running October 18-25 under the theme “There’s No Place Like Our Home by the Sea.” President Darrell K. Williams framed the shift as proof of concept rather than a fluke. “Homecoming is one of those extraordinary moments when you can see, hear and feel the reach of Hampton University,” Williams said in the announcement.

What Changed Between 2024 and Now

Back in October 2024, Hampton projected 25,000 attendees and a $3 million boost to the City of Hampton and Coastal Virginia region. That figure was largely an anticipatory estimate tied to expected attendance for that year’s “Pirates Island” theme. This year’s number works backward from something more concrete: actual visitor tracking data from the 2025 celebration.

According to Placer.ai visitor analytics, Hampton’s campus generated approximately 96,000 visits from an estimated 40,800 unique visitors during the October 19-26, 2025 homecoming period. Campus visits climbed 16.5% over the previous year, while unique visitors grew 18.3%. That’s a real, measurable jump in traffic, not just a bigger guess.

Why the Multiplier Still Matters

Here’s where things get less clear. Hampton hasn’t published the methodology or multiplier used to translate 96,000 visits into an $8-$10 million regional impact figure. Economic-impact estimates like this typically rely on assumptions about average visitor spending, length of stay, and how many dollars circulate through the local economy before leaving it — and none of those assumptions are laid out in the university’s announcement.

That gap doesn’t mean the number is wrong. It just means the jump from $3 million to as much as $10 million reflects both genuinely higher visitor volume and a change in calculation method, and outside observers can’t fully separate how much of the increase comes from each factor without more detail.

The Bigger Economic Story Hampton Is Building

This homecoming figure fits into a larger case Hampton has been making about its role in the regional economy. A Council of Independent Colleges in Virginia report found that Hampton, among its member institutions, contributes to an estimated $515 million in annual economic activity statewide. Separately, reporting on Hampton’s broader economic footprint has previously cited the university contributing roughly $530 million annually to Virginia’s economy overall, driven by everything from student spending to signature events like the Hampton Jazz Festival.

Homecoming, in that context, isn’t just a nostalgia event. Williams has consistently described it as an economic engine, telling supporters that hotel rooms, restaurant meals, small-business purchases, and vendor interactions all become “part of a much larger economic story.” The new visitor data gives that argument sharper teeth than it had in 2024.

What This Means for the City of Hampton

For local businesses in the Coastal Virginia region, an estimate this size — even without a published methodology — signals real demand pressure on hotels, restaurants, and retail during the last two weeks of October. If even the low end of the range holds up, that’s more than double what the university projected just two homecomings ago.

Whether the final number lands closer to $8 million or $10 million likely depends on factors the public estimate doesn’t capture: how many visitors stayed overnight versus day-tripped, how far people traveled to attend, and how much of that spending actually stayed within city limits versus flowing to Norfolk or Virginia Beach.

Where This Leaves the Estimate

Until Hampton releases the underlying calculation, this remains a headline figure worth taking seriously but not treating as audited fact. The visitor volume behind it — 96,000 visits, over 40,000 unique guests — is real and independently tracked. The dollar translation of that traffic is the part still running on the university’s own math.

Hampton University has clearly decided homecoming is worth measuring more rigorously than it used to, and that’s a meaningful shift on its own. As more HBCUs start leaning on visitor analytics platforms like Placer.ai to make their own homecoming economic cases, Hampton’s $8-$10 million claim may end up setting the bar other schools get measured against — assuming the receipts eventually catch up to the headline.