Eight Minutes and Twenty-Two Seconds

The first column on the HBCU Hub. HBCU Game of the Week, Week 6: Bethune-Cookman at Alabama A&M.

Eight minutes and twenty-two seconds. Eleven points. A lead that was supposed to be enough.

It wasn’t. On October 3, in Mobile, Alabama A&M led Jackson State 28–17 with 8:22 left. The Bulldogs had touchdown catches of 67 and 70 yards. They had a quarterback who had thrown three touchdown passes and run for a fourth. Jackson State, the No. 1 team in the Black College Football Poll, answered anyway, and the game ended 31–28.

Now the Bulldogs go home, and the team waiting for them is the one that never needed the long play. Bethune-Cookman’s Rashon Brown carried the ball 31 times for 260 rushing yards in a 16–10 win over Alabama State, a team that now sits fifth in the poll. It rained. There was a weather delay. Brown kept running.

That is this week’s HBCU Game of the Week. It is not a shootout. It is two teams carrying two different lessons into the same stadium.

Why this column is here

This is the first column on the HBCU Hub, so it should say something plainly. TLP Sports Club is now covering HBCU football in full. Not a score at the bottom of a college football show, and not a highlight with a caption. Researched stories about the coaches, the players, the programs and the games, every week, on the Hub and on video.

TLP’s founder, Harry B., knows this world from the inside. He is a Bowie State University alum, and he went there for graduate school. That is not a talking point. It is the reason the coverage is built the way it is, and the reason the people on these campuses should expect it to be done with care.

The tools are simple. TLP reviews the HBCU slate from Thursday through Saturday. Games with the required inputs receive a Watch Score out of 100; games with missing inputs are tracked separately. The Black College Football Poll, sanctioned by the SWAC, MEAC, CIAA and SIAC, measures team quality. The highest score on this week’s proposed editorial board identifies the game of the week, and the next highest identifies the Honorable Mention. Nobody gets in on a name.

The score: 81 out of 100

• Team quality, 20 of 25. Alabama A&M is No. 4 and Bethune-Cookman is No. 6 on the poll’s FCS list. Both are top ten.
• How close the models see it, 20 of 25. The SP+ projection has Alabama A&M winning by about six points.
• Stakes, 16 of 20. Two ranked teams. A Bethune-Cookman win makes it 2–0 in SWAC play, and an Alabama A&M win makes it 2–1. Neither result clinches anything.
• Story, 10 of 15. A run-first visitor, a pass-first host, and a quarterback question.
• Coverage, 15 of 15. The full mark every HBCU game gets.

Two offenses that don’t look alike

Through October 3	Bethune-Cookman (5 games)	Alabama A&M (6 games)
Points per game	29.6	34.2
Rushing yards per game	246.2	164.7
Passing yards per game	110.4	286.8
Points allowed per game	27.0	18.7
Opponent rushing yards per game	196.8	115.8
Run / pass plays	234 / 93	174 / 207

Bethune-Cookman runs about 72 percent of the time. Alabama A&M passes on about 54 percent of its plays. These are season totals against different opponents, not opponent-adjusted ratings, but the shape is plain. One team wants to shorten the game. The other wants to stretch it.

The runner and the number

Rashon Brown has 484 rushing yards and eight touchdowns this season, and Isaiah Daniel adds 247 yards at 6.3 a carry. They are about to meet a defense that allows 115.8 rushing yards a game.

That number has a shadow. PFF graded Alabama A&M’s run defense an 89.3 for the season and a 61.1 against Jackson State. Different opponents, different afternoons. It is a flag, not a forecast. Bethune-Cookman’s own grades carry a caution as well: its run-blocking grade against Alabama State was 49.7, a reminder that 260 rushing yards on one afternoon does not mean every block was perfect.

The Bulldogs and the clock

Cornelious Brown IV has thrown for 1,572 yards and fourteen touchdowns, and he is expected to make his 50th career appearance if he plays. Jarel Williams has 30 catches for 441 yards. Jordan Chambers-Smith has 18 for 331, and the 67-yard touchdown from last week. In the secondary, Jeremiah Hudson-Davis has 47 tackles and two interceptions.

In TLP’s view, big plays are not Alabama A&M’s problem. Finishing is. Head coach Sam Shade, in his second season, said when he was introduced, “Everything we do in this program will start with discipline.” The school lists a multiple offense and a 4–2–5 defense. Saturday asks whether discipline holds up when the game is a question of the clock.

The question under center

A published depth chart lists freshman Joel Morris first at quarterback for Bethune-Cookman, with Tyler Jefferson behind him. Morris has thrown four passes this season and completed one, for eight yards and a touchdown. Jefferson has completed 35 of 67 for 362 yards, with one touchdown and two interceptions.

A depth chart is not a confirmed starter, and the listing doesn’t tell us why. It is still a real question for a team that runs 72 percent of the time. If the ground game works, nobody asks it. If Alabama A&M’s front holds, somebody will have to throw. Raymond Woodie Jr., in his fourth season at Bethune-Cookman, will need an answer, and in a 2024 camp report he praised players holding one another accountable on every play.

The ground they stand on

Alabama A&M is 3–0 at Louis Crews Stadium this season, and this is its first home SWAC game. A fifth win would already pass its four-win total from all of 2025. Bethune-Cookman leads the full series 13–7–1 across 21 meetings, including a 41–34 win on September 27 last year. Alabama A&M has won three of the five SWAC-era meetings since 2021, including a 56–12 win in Huntsville in 2024. Different scopes, same two programs.

TLP’s pick

Alabama A&M, 31–24, with moderate confidence. The passing production, the home record and the season run defense point that way. Bethune-Cookman’s ground game, and a last-game run-defense grade that fell well below Alabama A&M’s season mark, keep it from being high confidence. It is a pick, not a certainty.

Watch it

Saturday, October 10, 7 p.m. Eastern / 6 p.m. Central. Louis Crews Stadium, Huntsville, Alabama. Video on SWAC TV (tv.swac.org). Radio on WJAB 90.9 FM. Check the provider for access requirements before kickoff.

Honorable Mention: Miles at Kentucky State (76 out of 100)

The same week, two lessons about defense.

Kentucky State led Edward Waters 28–14 at halftime on October 3 and lost 61–42, giving up 47 second-half points. Miles beat Lane 9–6 on a blocked-punt safety by Tre Jones, even though its offense turned the ball over four times inside Lane’s three-yard line. One defense let a game slip. The other held one together.

Both teams are 3–1 in the SIAC and ranked in the Division II list of the Black College Football Poll, Kentucky State at No. 5 and Miles at No. 10. Kentucky State is also deciding between quarterbacks Juan Gainous (86 of 138, 1,142 yards, eight touchdowns, no interceptions) and Denim Johnson (45 of 77, 577 yards, six touchdowns, two interceptions), and head coach Felton Huggins Jr. has said he wants one of them to take the job. The SP+ projection has Kentucky State by about 13.

TLP leans Kentucky State, with moderate confidence. Saturday, October 10, 2 p.m. Eastern, Alumni Stadium, Frankfort, Kentucky (Homecoming). Video on the SIAC Network. No radio broadcast or free viewing option has been confirmed.

Also on the slate

Jackson State at Grambling State (69 out of 100). Jackson State is 5–0 and No. 1 in the poll, and Grambling State is No. 7. Grambling trailed Alcorn State 59–42 with 10:18 left, scored three touchdowns in the last 6:11, and won 63–59 on Ashton Frye’s 11-yard pass to Tyson George with 19 seconds left. Grambling also won the last two meetings, 26–24 last year and 41–20 in 2024. Jackson State’s Jared Lockhart has 1,320 passing yards, 13 touchdowns and no interceptions. Saturday, 5 p.m. Eastern, SWAC TV. TLP’s lean is Jackson State, with moderate confidence.

Tuskegee at Central State (60 out of 100). Tuskegee University relieved head coach Aaron James of his duties on October 4 and named Keith Higdon interim head coach while it searches nationally. Saturday is the first game under the new leadership, a week after a 30–28 loss to Morehouse that ended with a missed 59-yard field-goal try. Central State comes off a 45–32 win over Fort Valley State, in which it gave up 508 yards. Saturday, 1 p.m. Eastern, Wilberforce, Ohio, Homecoming. Central State’s official schedule links viewers to its SIAC Network portal. Check the portal for the event and access requirements.

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Eight minutes and twenty-two seconds is a long time to be ahead. Saturday, one team shows up with the answer, and one shows up with the question.

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SOURCES

Official statistics, rosters, schedules, staff pages and game recaps from Alabama A&M, Bethune-Cookman, Kentucky State and Miles (October 3–7, 2026); Alabama A&M’s October 4 game-day announcement and 2026 Fact Book; the Alabama A&M flip card and game notes; the Black College Football Poll (FCS list, October 5; Division II list, October 4); SWAC and MEAC poll releases (October 5); Alabama A&M’s introduction of Sam Shade (January 2025); the Bethune-Cookman August 2024 camp report; the Kentucky State October 3 box score and Miles October 3 recap; the SIAC Network event listing; Felton Huggins Jr.’s October 3 interview; Grambling State’s October 4 recap and series history; Tuskegee University’s October 4 announcement; PFF team grades (NCAA, 2026, regular and postseason, viewed October 7); SP+ projections. PFF’s Division II tables cover only a subset of each team’s games and are not used here. Broadcast and radio details were checked October 9, 2026, using current school schedules and the retained October 7 SIAC event verification. Verify everything before kickoff.

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Harry B. and TLP use AI to research and assist in the publication of this article. AI makes mistakes, so please check for yourself.