The big story of the week was North Carolina A&T’s four-overtime victory over Kent State 39-36 on Saturday.  There have not been many times that HBCU FCS programs have defeated FBS programs.  More recently, Bethune-Cookman defeated FIU back-to-back years in 2013 and 2014.

Moreover, 2013 was a particularly good year for FCS HBCUs.  Not only did B-CU trounce FIU 34-13, but North Carolina Central defeated Charlotte 40-13.  Even though Charlotte was an independent FCS program that year, they were already in the process of making the move to FBS and Conference USA.

Similarly, A&T defeated Appalachian State 24-21 in 2013 when the Mountaineers were also in the process of moving to FBS and the Sun Belt Conference which they did the next season.

The Aggies racked up 407 yards of total offense and limited Kent State to just 275 yards.  BOXTOROW All-American Tarik Cohen racked up 258 multi-purpose yards in the game, rushing for 133 yards on 24 carries (5.5 yards per carry) and a touchdown and catching a career-high nine passes for 125 yards.

With the Aggies down 36-33 in the fourth overtime and needing a touchdown to win or a field goal to send the game to a fifth overtime, third-string quarterback Oluwafemi Bamiro found wide receiver Denzel Keyes on a spectacular 15-yard touchdown pass and catch for a “walkoff” win.

“I’d like to congratulate North Carolina A&T in their win over Kent State,” said Alabama State head coach Brian Jenkins during the SWAC’s weekly conference call.  “A lot of times, people think we just take these games as money games.  Once again Coach Broadway as well as others have proven that we can coach on that level and we can beat those teams.”

Jenkins was the head coach at Bethune-Cookman from 2010-2015 including during B-CU’s two wins over FIU.

It was an interesting Saturday for other HBCU FCS schools in playing FBS opponents as Grambling led Pac-12 opponent Arizona 21-3 at halftime before falling to the Wildcats 31-21.  Howard led Big 10 opponent Rutgers 14-0 before falling 52-14.

For A&T and even to some degree Grambling in particular, there is a financial win as both schools received a guarantee to play these games.  This has been a hot debate over the last five years as to whether these “money games” should be played.  A&T took it to another level by winning so it walks away with money, extra exposure and the victory.  Grambling walked away with money and a little more exposure and respect that says our schools can play with the big boys, even though the scholarships don’t dictate as such.

Typically, FBS programs pay FCS programs a guarantee for playing the game.  Payouts are typically $300,000 – $500,000 depending upon the size of the FBS school.

For FCS programs as a whole, more times than people may realize, an FCS program will defeat an FBS program and a major one at that.  Richmond defeated ACC opponent Virginia to open the season.  The most famous one of all was the aforementioned App State’s 34-32 victory at nationally ranked Michigan on September 1, 2007.  While App State probably already had plans of moving to FBS at that time, this win accelerated those plans and put the Mountaineers ahead of where they would have been by the current time.  The Mountaineers are 17-7 in their first two years in FBS and became the first former FCS school to win a bowl game.

One of if not the most famous win by an HBCU FCS over an FBS, or I-A opponent was Florida A&M’s 16-13 victory over Miami in 1979.