Everything about their performance cried out for an end to the MEAC’s streak of ineptitude in the FCS playoffs. The South Carolina State Bulldogs, with their vaunted rushing attack held in check and passing game all but dismantled, were tied with the Appalachian State Mountaineers midway through the fourth quarter of the FCS Playoffs opening round in Boone, NC last Saturday.
The question isn’t one of competitive balance in the case of the Bulldogs. For two consecutive years, they’ve held their own against an Appalachian State team with national championship resources, talent and aspirations. For two straight years, they’ve shown in ability to play and win a game against the Mountaineers.
And they’ve lost. Two straight years.
If there’s any team that demonstrates why Division I black college football should participate in the FCS playoffs, its the Bulldogs. They have a strong fan base, the backing of their state, the favor of local media and are located in a region where recruiting, even amongst two BCS schools, is possible. The biggest part of this equation is that they have the coaching acumen in Buddy Pough to tie it all together.
But they are the exception and not the rule within black college football. And when the best black college football has to offer comes up just short time and time again, it raises questions about the parity in their own conferences. If SC State or any other HBCU can run over their own conference for years at a time, and still be slightly behind other FCS schools, is there really any growth?
For South Carolina State, there is. And maybe for schools like Florida A&M and Norfolk State. But that’s pretty much it in the MEAC, and the MEAC hasn’t proven itself as a legitimate proving ground for FCS contention. If the conference can’t evolve as a six to seven team race every year, if the members schools do not work to build their programs into FCS threats, then the cream of the MEAC crop will always spoil in postseason play.
I don’t know where it starts. Maybe it’s scheduling more mid-major opponents through the first three games of the regular season, and abandoning the paydays against BCS schools. Maybe it is eschewing participation in the playoffs until every school from top to bottom can be financially and athletically competitive with each other and other mid-major programs.
Nobody wants to hear the latter solution, but it has to start somewhere. Taking losses in the playoffs on the tail end of superlative regular season championships can no longer be the contemporary legacy of black college football.
