North Carolina A&T will get its shot at North Dakota State after all. It will just have to wait two more years.
North Dakota State, the three-time defending FCS Champion, will host A&T on Sept. 10, 2022. The re-scheduled game was announced on Wednesday after COVID-19 altered the course of college football. The two teams were set to open the 2020 season against each other in Fargo, ND next month.
[inArticle]
North Carolina A&T, the three-time defending HBCU national champion and perennial FCS power, saw its season end back in July. The MEAC postponed fall sports, including football to the spring.
There was some talk of attempting to play as an independent during fall of 2020, possibly as a replacement for Hampton University, but the MEAC’s plans for a spring season nullified that. A&T will join the Big South next July, but would be bound to play a MEAC schedule in the spring if things work out.
NDSU, meanwhile, has decided to play one game in 2020. It will face off against Central Arkansas and then look to play in the spring.
No one knows how fall 2022 will play out. And if we’ve learned any thing in 2020, we should know that forecasting that far into the future is presumptive. What we do know is by then A&T will be firmly entrenched in the Big South and looking to measure up against a program that has been the standard in FCS football for a decade. It will also be without many if not all of the key players who have helped it win three-straight Celebration Bowls, including current seniors Jah-Maine Martin and Mac McCain.
[postBannerAd]