NCCU vs WSSU Football: How To Follow

The Eagles of North Carolina Central University (1-1, 0-0 MEAC) are set to face off against the Rams of Winston-Salem State University (0-1, 0-0 CIAA) this Saturday, September 18th at 6 PM. The game is taking place at O’Kelly-Riddick Stadium in Durham, NC on the campus of NCCU. Game coverage will be nationally televised on ESPN+, and a live stream will be available on NCCUEaglePride.com.

NCCU, coached by Trei Oliver, looks to bounce back from a road loss to Marshall with a stadium filled with fans, as this will be their first home game in over 600 days, dating back to 2019 against S.C. State.

WSSU, coached by an NCCU Alum Robert Massey, is seeking their first win of the season following a loss to Catawba this past Saturday 28-6. Massey was an All-American defensive back for the Eagles in the late 80’s and returned to Eagleland as an assistant coach in 2003-04, when he was named to the NCCU Athletics Hall of Fame.

Thanks to Cole Williams’ 16-tackle performance at Marshall, the sophomore linebacker now leads the MEAC conference with 19 tackles.

There are 24 NCCU Eagles that have already earned their undergraduate degrees, including 14 from NCCU and 10 graduate transfers.

Since the start of the 2012 season, the Eagles have scored 41 touchdowns on defense and special teams, including a 77-yard punt return by Brandon Codrington in this year’s season opener vs Alcorn State, along with a pick-six and a kickoff returned for a touchdown in 2019.

Speaking of Brandon Codrington, the Raleigh-native ranks 2nd in the nation in punt returns with an average of 27.5 yards. He’s no stranger to big returns, as he scored a touchdown on the kickoff return 75 yards in the final minute of a tie game against Delaware State in 2019.

NCCU Quarterback Davius Richard became just the 3rd QB in school history to throw for more than 2,000 yards passing (2,020 yards/2019) as a freshman, joining Earl “Air” Harvey (3,190 yards/1985) and Stafford Brown (2,577 yards/2006).

Richard can get it done with his legs also. His 62-yard touchdown run at Morgan State in 2019 is the longest rush by an NCCU quarterback since Lawrence Fuller raced 74 yards against Morris Brown in September 2000.

NCCU running back Isaiah Totten ranks 7th on NCCU’s career rushing list with 2,180 ground yards and 15 touchdowns. Totten needs 297 yards to move to 3rd on the list, 661 yards to jump to 2nd, and 829 yards to break Greg Pruitt Jr’s record of 3,008 yards.