Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference
FCS Non-Conference Schedule Analysis
The Mid-Eastern is turning into a conference of change, kind of like the Big South. The irony to that? Two former MEAC schools will be in the Big South by the beginning of 2021, as North Carolina A&T made their intentions to leave, like Hampton did two years ago. Remember, Savannah State dropped back to Division II last season. The MEAC will be an eight-team entity from eleven. The negative is less conference games and scheduling certainty. The positive is there’s an opportunity to add an extra FBS game and those large paychecks for going on the road.
Bethune-Cookman: @ South Florida (FBS), @ Arkansas-Pine Bluff, vs. Tarleton State.
- B-C should be able to prosper from this slate. Obviously, the FBS game at South Florida will be tough, but the other two are definitely winnable. The home game, in particular, is against FCS newcomer, Tarleton State.
Delaware State: vs. Albany, vs. St. Augustine’s (lower), @ Delaware.
- For a second consecutive year, Delaware State pulled off a really good schedule. Two homes games, even though one is a lower division game. But a home/road split against the Colonial is good. The roadie is at Delaware, which is virtually zero travel.
Florida A&M: vs. Albany State (lower), @Southern, @ Central Florida (FBS).
- The season starts with a lower division warm-up game. Southern offers a solid HBCU match-up to get the team prepped for MEAC action. After three weeks, this FBS Central Florida game sandwiches in between the two North Carolina MEAC games for a nasty three-game road stretch.
Howard: vs. Central State (lower), @ Arkansas State (FBS), @ Hampton.
- Howard keeps Hampton on the schedule again this year, the “Real HU” game. This year it’s on the road. Arkansas State is a longer travel for FBS money, but what's the difference when flying? Central State is a lower division warm-up game essentially.
Morgan State: @ Appalachian State (FBS), @ Towson, @ Northwestern (FBS).
- Second year in a row, Morgan State is probably playing the hardest non-conference schedule. All three games are on the road, two of which are FBS opponents. One of those FBS games is Northwestern, late in the year. It’s in Chicago, but it’s a little more travel. The Towson game is a game in Maryland, so they save on travel budget there.
Norfolk State: vs. Virginia State (lower), @ Charlotte (FBS), @ East Carolina (FBS).
- This is the kind of schedule you look for when it’s a complete, total money grab, i guess they could have added a third FBS game, instead of the lower division opponent, but this Virginia State contest all but guarantees a win.
North Carolina A&T: vs. Shaw(lower), @ Liberty (FBS), @ North Dakota State.
- The Aggies will use the Shaw game as a glorified scrimmage. The game at Liberty gives them a close FBS opponent with very little travel. That final non-conference game is one fans across the nation have been interested in seeing for many recent years. The question to whether NC A&T is a product of a good team in a poorer conference will get, at least, a little bit of an answer.
North Carolina Central: @ Ohio (FBS), vs. Winston-Salem State (lower), @ Tennessee Tech.
- Looks like a MEAC schedule. One FBS, one lower division, one FCS. The goal will be 2-1 or better, but that’s gonna take a pretty big upset. Probably could have found a little closer FBS game, but you take what you can get sometimes.
South Carolina State: vs. Grambling State, @ Wofford.
- South Carolina State still has one spot they could fill in their schedule. Early thoughts were they were going to play a September 26th game against Hampton, but that seems to be up in the air now. The Grambling State game is the MEAC/SWAC HBCU Showcase game this year. The trip to Wofford is a return from their game last season.
MEAC Numbers
1 vs. Big South
3 vs. Colonial
1 vs. MVFC
1 vs. OVC
1 vs. Southern
3 vs. SWAC
1 vs. FCS Independents
9 vs. FBS
6 vs. Lower Division (Div-II, Div-III, NAIA, NCCAA)
