What an exciting weekend of College Football here in Central Virginia this weekend. Homecoming celebrations at Virginia Union and Virginia State Universities, and both came away with victory on a sloppy day for football around the 804. The Trojans were down, but not out on three different occasions against Bowie State, but Latrell Scott’s 6 – 1 squad would not give up, and after three overtimes, VSU prevailed 47 – 44 to win their 5th straight and remain undefeated in CIAA play. With the Trojans 2013 Homecoming in the books, they now head to Lincoln University in Pennsylvania, where it is also Homecoming on Saturday.
In Richmond, the Panthers of Virginia Union have surged back into the CIAA mix winning their third in a row in a 24 = 14 rout of Chowan in Union’s Homecoming at Hovey Field. The Panthers are now 3 – 4 overall after suffering four consecutive losses to open the season, and even more importantly, VUU is now 3 – 1 in the North Division and trails arch-rival Virginia State by one game. So all of a sudden, that VUU-VSU matchup on the final Saturday of the season (November 9th) in Petersburg is looking like a playoff game. But, there are three weeks to go, and anything can happen.
The annual “Battle of the Bay” took place in Norfolk on Saturday and with nearly 10,000 braving the wet weather, the Pirates of Hampton University pulled off the big victory against their arch-rival, Norfolk State University 27 – 17. Neither team enjoying a great season, but for Hampton, which started at 0 – 4, this has to be the crown jewel victory of their 2 – 5 season. NSU drops it’s second straight, and have another local battle this Saturday against cross-town rival Old Dominion University. For the Spiders of UR, their season took a turn for the worse in a 12 – 10 road loss to Rhode Island on Saturday. Richmond still had a remote chance at a playoff berth before this game, but those dreams may have fizzled this weekend.
No one having a tougher year than the Cavaliers of UVA and Coach Mike London, who’s team has suffered embarrassing losses this season, and if the Ball State blowout in Charlottesville wasn’t enough, Virginia took a licking at home from the Dookies on Saturday. Yeah, Duke. The Blue Devils ran away from UVA and took a 35 – 22 victory back to Durham. Now, The Cavaliers face a real uphill battle with Georgia Tech, No. 3 Clemson, North Carolina, No. 10 Miami, AND No. 19 Virginia Tech. Not exactly a lineup to look forward to when you’ve lost four in a row. The Hokies had the weekend off.
