Bowie State threw helmets into the air. The “Bulls down” signs came out. Johnson C. Smith head coach Maurice Flowers watched the celebration and saw something worth showing his team.
“Look what we built.”
That was his takeaway alongside the frustration of a 16–13 road loss at Bowie State’s homecoming. Beating Johnson C. Smith had become an accomplishment worth celebrating.
Now the Golden Bulls have to respond like the program they have become.
JCSU hosts Virginia State on Saturday, October 31, at 1 p.m. in Charlotte at the Irwin Belk Complex, aka “The Cut.” The Trojans arrive unbeaten in CIAA play, with JCSU football’s pursuit of another championship-game appearance running directly through them.
For anyone who has followed the Golden Bulls’ rebuild through HBCU Gameday’s Brick x Brick with JCSU Football docuseries, these are the stakes the program spent years working toward.
A Halloween showdown brings the next test.
JCSU still has its championship goals in front of it
Virginia State and Virginia Union sit atop the CIAA at 6–0 in conference play. Johnson C. Smith is one game behind at 5–1, with two regular-season games remaining.
The Bowie loss narrowed Smith’s margin for error. It also gave the Golden Bulls a chance to respond immediately against one best of the teams in the conference.
Beat Virginia State on Saturday, then finish the job against Livingstone, and JCSU can put itself in position to return to the CIAA championship game.
“We’re still in a great position, control our own destiny,” Flowers said.
Virginia State and Virginia Union still have to play each other in the regular-season finale. Smith’s immediate responsibility is to ensure it reaches that final weekend with a win over the Trojans.
Saturday alone cannot finish the job. But it carries the urgency of a play-in game.
Flowers reminded his players that an unbeaten conference record never defined their season.
“We’ve never had a goal to go undefeated in conference,” he said. “That was never one of our goals.”
Putting themselves in position to reach the CIAA championship game was.
“It’s right there.”
Bowie exposed what Smith has to fix
The Golden Bulls produced enough offense to win last weekend.
They outgained Bowie State 383–194, collected 25 first downs to the Bulldogs’ 18 and held Bowie to 44 passing yards. Fabian Duncan rushed for 138 yards on 35 carries. Damien Mazil threw for 186 yards and threw no interceptions.
But JCSU scored just one touchdown.
Mazil’s nine-yard touchdown pass to Brian Lane put Smith ahead 13–9 with 9:13 remaining. Bowie answered with a 13-play, 85-yard touchdown drive to take the lead with 34 seconds left.
Flowers said JCSU gave up 50 penalty yards on that final possession.
Across the afternoon, Smith committed eight penalties for 89 yards and scored on three of five red-zone opportunities. Flowers also pointed to two dropped touchdowns, communication breakdowns, and a kickoff-return decision that left the offense starting at its own six.
His diagnosis was direct.
“We’ve got good players,” Flowers said. “We just got to get our good players doing the right thing.”
Every Monday, the staff shows players highlights alongside a playlist of things that keep them from winning.
That second list was long this week.
Virginia State raises the stakes—and the difficulty
Flowers described Virginia State as strong offensively, with an outstanding quarterback, a deep receiving corps, and a defense featuring size and speed.
The Trojans enter Charlotte at 7–1 overall and riding a five-game winning streak.
Giving that offense extra opportunities through penalties would make an already difficult assignment harder. Smith also has to turn its own sustained possessions into touchdowns.
Duncan’s production and JCSU’s 197 rushing yards at Bowie showed the Golden Bulls could move the ball. Saturday demands more from those opportunities.
Flowers sees a talented team still learning how to deliver consistently.
He said Smith looked like a championship-level club at points against Bowie. At other times, it looked like a young roster with only six seniors, facing situations it had yet to master.
The response will come through the same preparation that put JCSU in this position. Flowers said the staff has not overhauled its systems or changed its weekly process because Virginia State is coming.
“You know this game on Saturday means something,” he said.
The standard behind Brick x Brick
Flowers showed his players Bowie’s celebration because it illustrated how much the program’s position has changed.
“We have created that to beat Johnson C. Smith is a true accomplishment,” he said.
That transformation drives Brick x Brick with JCSU Football, the HBCU Gameday docuseries streaming free on Tubi.
Across four seasons, the series follows the Golden Bulls’ rise from years of losing to a historic CIAA championship. The journey includes Not Done Yet, a two-part championship event that documents the breakthrough that changed expectations at Smith.
Those expectations now follow JCSU football into every stadium—and back home after a loss.
Flowers called the current stretch the winningest era in Johnson C. Smith football history. Having a game of this magnitude on campus is part of what the rebuild made possible.
But the Golden Bulls have more in mind than hosting a meaningful afternoon in Charlotte.
Virginia State is coming with an unbeaten conference record. Smith has a chance to pull even with the Trojans, protect its championship pursuit, and show how quickly it can apply the lessons from Bowie.
The stage is set. Now JCSU has to finish its drives, stay composed, and give its own crowd a reason to celebrate.
Watch the Brick x Brick with JCSU Football journey, including the two-part championship event Not Done Yet, free on Tubi.