NEW YORK/Fuquay-Varina, N.C.– After a crazy weekend that saw several teams within the Boxtorow.com/BASN HBCU coaches and media top 10 football polls lose − including No. 1 South Carolina State − a change at the top was inevitable. The Grambling State Tigers (5-1) now sit atop both editions of the Boxtorow.com/BASN HBCU coaches and media polls.
GSU used a five-touchdown performance from running back Frank Warren (29 carries, 202 yards) to defeat Alcorn State, 38-28, last weekend and attain the No. 1 spot. Rod Broadway’s squad received eight of the 15 first-place votes in the coaches’ poll and 16 of the 23 first-place nods in the media top 10.
The Tigers are idle this week, but they’ll return to action on Oct. 23 when they travel to Greenville, Miss., to face the Delta Devils of Mississippi Valley State. The undefeated Wildcats of Bethune Cookman (6-0), who defeated previous No. 1 South Carolina State last weekend, are No. 2 in both polls.
Not only did Bethune post its first Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference road shutout since 2000 (a 33-0 victory at Howard), it also snapped SCSU’s 21-game MEAC winning streak.
The Wildcats travel to North Carolina Central (2-4) on Saturday in Durham. They’ll look to move to 7-0, a mark that hasn’t been reached since 2002, their last MEAC Championship season. That game is set for a 2 p.m. kickoff.
Jackson State (5-1), Hampton (5-1), and the aforementioned Bulldogs (4-2) make up the rest of the coaches’ top five at three, four and five respectively.
The remainder of the poll has Texas Southern (3-3) sixth, Florida A&M (3-3) seventh, Alcorn State (3-3) drops from sixth to eighth, Prairie View A&M (4-3) rejoins the poll at nine, and Tennessee State (3-4) is 10th.
As for the media poll, Albany State (7-0), South Carolina State and Jackson State are third, fourth, and fifth respectively. The rest of poll includes Winston-Salem State (7-1) in sixth place, Hampton in seventh, Morehouse (6-1) in eighth, Tuskegee (5-2) and Saint Augustine’s College (6-1) debuts this week tied at No. 10.
The football weekend gets started on Thursday night again this week as Alcorn State hosts Arkansas-Pine Bluff at Jack Spinks Stadium on ESPNU.
Below are both the coaches and media’s top-10 HBCU football power ranking polls:
Boxtorow.com/BASN
HBCU Media Top 10 Poll
(Records through Oct.18)
School/ Wins-Losses/ Points
1. Grambling State 5-1/ 231
2. Bethune-Cookman 6-0/ 201
3. Albany State 7-0/ 184
4. South Carolina State 4-2/ 142
5. Jackson State 5-1/ 119
6. Winston-Salem State 7-1/ 107
7. Hampton 5-1/ 92
8. Morehouse 6-1/ 66
9. Tuskegee 5-2/ 40
10. Saint Augustine’s 6-1/ 34
Others receiving votes: Fort Valley State (6-1) 20, Florida A&M (3-3) 20, Prairie View A&M (4-3) 15, Alcorn State (3-3) 14, Texas Southern (3-3) 3, Shaw (5-2) 2, Norfolk State (2-4) 1
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Boxtorow.com/BASN
FCS HBCU Coaches Top 10 Poll
(Records through October 18th)
School/ Wins-Losses/ Points
1. Grambling State 5-1/ 143
2. Bethune-Cookman 6-0/ 140
3. Jackson State 5-1/ 110
4. Hampton 5-1/ 103
5. South Carolina State 4-2/ 96
6. Texas Southern 3-3/ 57
7. Florida A&M 3-3/ 46
8. Alcorn State 3-3/ 39
9. Prairie View A&M 4-1/ 31
10. Tennessee State 3-4/ 19
Others receiving votes: Arkansas-Pine Bluff (3-3), 9, Morgan State (3-3) 4, Norfolk State (2-4) 2
The Boxtorow.com/BASN HBCU Football Power Rankings was founded by DWCommunications, LLC parent company of FROM THE PRESS BOX TO PRESS ROW w/ Donal Ware and boxtorow.com and Black Athlete Sports Network.
