After North Carolina Central football players found out they had earned the program’s first-ever FCS playoff bid, there were cheers, high-fives, and celebratory embraces during a team watch party last Sunday.
Head coach Trei Oliver then walked to the front of the room and made a not-so-surprising move.
“I turned the TV off and told them, ‘It’s time to go to work, guys,'” said Oliver. “We immediately went to the field and went to practice.”
It is all business for the Eagles as they prepare to face Richmond in the first round of the 24-team postseason tournament on Saturday that starts at 2 p.m. Saturday on ESPN+.
North Carolina Central (9-2) lost out on a trip to the Celebration Bowl in Atlanta after it dropped a pivotal MEAC game at Howard, which won 50-20, on Nov. 11. Despite finishing the conference season at 4-1, losing the head-to-head meant Howard, which also was 4-1, took the MEAC title and bowl game bid.
“I told (the media) back, I guess four or five weeks ago when we were about start conference play, I would rather be 0-5 (in nonleague competition) and win six straight and win the conference and go to the Celebration Bowl because that would be Black College National champions,” said Oliver, whose program won the 2022 Celebration Bowl and was named the HBCU national champion.
“But I’m not going to complain with us sitting here 9-2, and we were one of 24 teams selected in the country to go compete (in) the national playoffs. So, we are definitely blessed to be here. We’re excited to be here … There are probably a hundred-and-some (FCS) teams at home right now about to go grab their fishing poles and go fishing. So we’re excited about playing in the playoffs.”
The Eagles will enter postseason play on a run where it has won 14 of its last 15 games against FCS opponents, including three winx against CAA teams, the conference Richmond represents as co-champion this season, along with Albany and Villanova.
NC Central running back Latrell Collier indicated that the records won’t matter come Saturday in the single-elimination situation.
“We were 3-0 against the CAA, but it’s the playoffs now, and a lot more is on the line,” he told HBCU Sports earlier this week. “We know we are going to get their (Richmond’s) best, and we look forward to the matchup.”
For Richmond (8-3), the Spiders are making its 13th to the postseason trip and have won six consecutive games after starting the season 2-3.
“They (the players) know what it is. They know what it’s about and what has to happen here,” Russ Huesman, Richmond’s seventh-year coach, told The Richmond Dispatch.
