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Emotions will be sky high this Saturday night when A&T travels up I-85 to face arch rival North Carolina Central in a series that has spanned over a century and sparked plenty of ill feelings.
It will be a chance for the Aggies (1-2 overall, 0-1 in the CAA) to finally earn a program-defining victory for second-year head coach Vincent Brown. In the process, it will also be an opportunity to silence some of the chirping that’s been coming from their opponents in Durham as of late.
This Monday during his weekly press conference, NCCU coach Trei Oliver sent another salvo at Aggies, referencing the Eagles’ recent success and even calling Brown’s postgame comments “lame” following Central’s 30-16 win at A&T a year ago.
In a social media post following that loss, Brown shared a photo of A&T’s Celebration Bowls trophies and stated that ‘the little school up the road will never be able to match what A&T has achieved or offers. We are the best for a reason.”
Not surprisingly, Oliver took exception to that jab.
“His account had to have been hacked because there is no way a head coach would have put that out there after getting beat by their rival,” said Oliver, who previously coached at A&T as an assistant under Rod Broadway “I don’t think he would be doing that in the CAA, sending that to Richmond and those other schools in that conference. I don’t know if he just comes to Black college and tries to throw shade. And it’s ironic because two of those trophies, I was a part of winning those championships. If you look closely, I might be in one of those pictures, and half of the staff was from Central anyway.”
To his credit, Brown tried to stay above the trash talk during his own press conference on Monday, but he assured fans that he fully understood the magnitude of this matchup.
“Very excited about Aggie-Eagle week,” said Brown. “We know what’s at stake, we know the pride in which our alums and our (former football players) have for this game coming up. We know it’s going to be a very hostile environment, but it’s going to be a fun environment to go in and play.”
“I think our game two weeks ago (against WSSU) at home with a lot on the line will help prepare our kids to understand – hey, it’s not always going to be easy. You’re going to have to fight and claw your way to win some of these games.”
Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. at NCCU’s O’Kelly-Riddick Stadium and will be televised live on ESPNU.
A&T currently leads the all-time series 54-36-5 but has lost the last two meetings between the universities. That includes a 28-13 defeat at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte back in 2022.
The last time the two schools met in Durham. A&T dominated the Eagles 45-0 in a game in which Central only had 41 yards of total offense and never crossed midfield.
The Aggies are coming off a humbling 42-13 home loss to Delaware last week in which they surrendered 526 total yards on offense and 32 first downs, while they were unable to score an offensive touchdown themselves.
Any hope that the momentum gained from A&T’s gutsy overtime win against Winston-Salem State on September 7 would carry over against the Blue Hens was quickly dashed. Delaware dominated the line of scrimmage from the opening drive and scored on six of their first eight possessions.
For the second week in a row, sophomore quarterback Kevin White Jr. struggled with his accuracy at times and lacked the explosiveness we normally see from him as a runner. He finished with 145 passing yards and no touchdowns on 14-of-25 attempts against Delaware and rushed for just 21 yards on eight carries.
Defensively, A&T again had trouble putting pressure on the opposing quarterback – allowing Delaware’s Ryan O’Conner to complete 23 of 43 passes for 325 and one touchdown. He also rushed for 48 yards and a touchdown and was only sacked once.
A&T currently is last in the CAA in sacks with just two in three games.
“We want to be more effective rushing the passer,” said Brown. “We know we need to affect the quarterback more. We’ve addressed that and we’ll go back and schematically work on some things.”
One thing is for certain, A&T will need to find a way to match NCCU’s energy when the two teams take the field on Saturday.
The intensity was ratcheted up even before the opening kickoff last year, when the two teams got into a midfield skirmish during pregame that involved former A&T defensive back and current NCCU assistant coach Tony McRae.
And that intensity carried over the playing field when the contest started.
“First and foremost, it’s really not about their scheme,” said Brown. “They play really, really hard. Defensively, they’re built for speed. They chase the football, they’re sound, they don’t do a lot of things exotically – but they get after the quarterback.”
Against UNC, the Eagles came out with a purpose – scoring a touchdown on the game’s opening drive and only trailed the Tar Heels 17-10 at halftime. However, after a scoreless third quarter UNC eventually began to pull away, scoring 28 unanswered points in the fourth en route to a 45-10 win.
NCCU quarterback Walker Harris left that contest late in the second half, after completing 7-of-15 passes for 88 yards. Oliver said he was being evaluated for a concussion and his availability for Saturday night has yet to be determined.
Injuries for the Aggies were also the topic of discussion this week, as they were missing several key contributors in their loss to Delaware.
A&T was without star running back Kenji Christian and center Cesar Minarro – considered the captain of the offensive line- which greatly impacted the running game. The Aggies only had 74 yards on the ground against Delaware and averaged just 2.4 yards per carry.
Brown said both are expected to return this week versus Central.
“We’re getting healthy,” he said. “We expect several of the guys who did not play last week to be available this week. We hope to be at near full strength for the game Saturday.”
