North Carolina Central started the 2025 season with a MEAC/SWAC Challenge win, but don’t expect the Eagles to rest on their laurels by any means.
“It’s all gas, no brakes; we’ve got to get better every week,” Eagles head coach Trei Oliver said during Monday’s MEAC coaches’ call. “We’re not saving anybody or pulling anybody out of games. I don’t know anything about any of that stuff. We want to win every game we play; that’s why we play the game.”
North Carolina Central, 31-14 winners over Southern in the 20th edition of the Cricket MEAC/SWAC Challenge, now turn their attention to New Hampshire, 2024 FCS playoff participants. The Eagles defeated the Wildcats 45-27 during their Celebration Bowl championship year of 2022.
Oliver stressed a need for improvement on the defensive side of the ball heading into Saturday’s game at O’Kelly-Riddick Stadium.
“Tackling, tackling, tackling,” he said. “Our defense played better in the second half [Saturday], but the numbers don’t lie: we gave up 250 yards rushing. That’s crazy. We gave up four plays for 194 yards. You cannot do that and beat really good football teams. We were fortunate.”
Oliver also expressed a desire for the North Carolina Central offense to be better from in close.
“We have to tighten some things up in the red zone,” he said. “It’s a totally different game if Walker [Harris] scores on the drive that he fumbled.”
With all of that in mind, Oliver says his team has the pieces and mentality needed to compete each week this season.
“Every week we step on the field, I want to see improvement in all three phases,” he said. “I think we have a good foundation from what I saw this weekend.”
