by Jaime C. Harris
College football is just in its third week. There’s still roughly three months of football to be played on the various teams’ regular season schedules. So much can happen between now and the end of November to alter the landscape of conference championships and postseason aspirations.
South Carolina State, the defending HBCU national champion, has begun the 2026 campaign standing on business in its quest for a repeat. The Bulldogs opened Aug. 29 with an 87-0 rout of Division II Savannah State on the school’s Hall of Fame and Faculty & Staff Appreciation night at Willie Jeffries Field at Oliver C. Dawson Stadium in Orangeburg, South Carolina.
Facing a much tougher opponent than the Division II Savannah State Tigers of the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SIAC), SC State traveled to Miami Gardens, Florida, to challenge the Division I Florida A&M Rattlers of the Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC). Although the final score of 31-13 wasn’t as lopsided as it was the previous week, the Bulldogs were even more impressive.
Anchored by a stingy defense that incomprehensibly held the Rattlers to minus one total net yards rushing on 30 attempts, the Bulldogs dictated the terms in the Orange Blossom Classic to move to 2-0 ahead of Saturday’s matchup at home against the Virginia State Trojans.
