HBCU FOOTBALL WEEK 13 ROUNDUP

They tell you preparation is everything. Strategy. Film study. The grinding physics of X's and O's. Then comes November 22nd, and four seconds remain, and every theorem collapses into theology.

Benedict 25, Wingate 24
Benedict trailing Wingate 24-19. Fourth-and-10 at their own 14. Four seconds on the clock. The season breathing its last.

What happens next belongs in a different category of human experience. Jensen to Simmons for 12 yards. Simmons laterals across the entire field —across the entire field—to Malik Mullins on the opposite sideline. Mullins catches at the 25. Breaks a tackle at the 5. 88 yards. Game over.

The officials review it for an eternity. The call stands. Because sometimes—sometimes—the universe decides that audacity deserves its reward. Isaiah Isidore blocked a kick and returned it 95 yards, then picked off a pass in the end zone, then watched his team execute a play that required three miracles and one lateral that physics should have rejected.

They were down 24-0. They won. Call it what it is: poetry written in defiance of probability.

Albany State 35, Valdosta State 30
Albany State, the SIAC champions and D2's top seed, went to Valdosta State—last year's national runners-up—and faced a 23-21 halftime deficit after surrendering a 95-yard kickoff return TD to open the second half.

The Golden Rams could have accepted their narrative. Could have folded. Isaiah Knowles threw for 264 yards, ran for a 21-yard TD, then hit Jamill Williams with the 22-yard game-winner with 8:22 left. Valdosta State got one possession. Albany State then ran out the final 7:28 like they were collecting rent.

35-30. Survives and advances. Now they face Benedict—for the third time this season —in the D2 second round. Albany State beat them 31-3 in the regular season. Beat them 22-16 in the SIAC title game. Third time? That's when you learn who's been paying attention.

Bethune-Cookman 38, Florida A&M 34
55,528 fans at Orlando's Camping World Stadium watched Bethune-Cookman build a 24-9 halftime lead over Florida A&M, then watched FAMU respond with 17 straight second-half points to take the lead. Then watched B-CU score twice in the final minutes.

Then watched Timmy McClain —22-of-33, 274 yards, four TDs—hit Josh Evans with a 41-yarder with 20 seconds left for a 38-34 win that felt like cardiac arrest delivered via broadcast. FAMU scored with 2:19 remaining to go up 34-31. B-CU needed 70 yards in eight plays. They got them. McClain to Evans.

The crowd paid for theater. They received Shakespearean tragedy and comedy in the same act.

South Carolina State 28, Delaware State 17
William Atkins IV threw for 249 yards without an interception. The Bulldogs gave up 526 total yards—439 rushing—to Delaware State, yet picked off four passes and walked away with a 28-17 win, a second straight MEAC title , and another Celebration Bowl berth.

Let's be clear: winning when you're outgained by 200+ yards isn't luck. It's discipline married to opportunism. It's a program that understands one truth— turnovers are the only stat that matters when November arrives.

Delaware State's James Jones, Marquis Gillis, and Kaiden Bennett all topped 100 rushing yards. Didn't matter. Four interceptions. Game over. SC State faces the SWAC champion December 13th in Atlanta. This is their house now.

DeSean Jackson walked into his first season and delivered exactly what you'd expect from someone who spent a career making the impossible look routine. His squad finished the year strong, competitive, building something that looks like it has architecture. First year as a head coach? You'd never know it from the poise.

Then there's Michael Vick at Norfolk State. Howard 44, Norfolk State 15. 1-11. 0-5 in the MEAC. Anthony Regan Jr. ran for 113 yards and two TDs while Tyriq Starks threw for 279 and three scores. The Spartans managed 96 rushing yards from Kevon King and not much else.

Let's not dance around it: this was brutal. This was the kind of season where you learn exactly how wide the chasm is between playing at the highest level and teaching others to do the same. Between reading defenses in 2.5 seconds and building a culture from scratch when the cupboard's bare and the talent gap feels geological.

But here's the thing about Vick's legacy—the man rewrote the physics of the quarterback position. That doesn't evaporate because Year One was a disaster. What it means is Year Two becomes the referendum. Some legends adapt. Some struggle. The great ones use the struggle as raw material.

Jackson State 27, Alcorn State 21
Jackson State survived Alcorn State 27-21 after building a 24-7 halftime lead, then watching the Braves claw back before JSU fumbled in victory formation with 1:06 left. Alcorn got six plays. Two Hail Marys failed. JSU exhaled.

Prairie View A&M 59, Miss. Valley State 6
Prairie View destroyed Mississippi Valley State 59-6, holding them to six first downs and 142 total yards. Cameron Peters threw for 234 yards and two scores. The Panthers got four rushing TDs. It was a clinic masquerading as a game.

December 6th. SWAC Championship. Jackson State's precision vs. Prairie View's suffocation.

Johnson C. Smith and Virginia Union—Super Region I's #2 and #3 seeds—both fell at home in the D2 first round.

Frostburg State 21, Johnson C. Smith 7
J.C. Smith, the CIAA champions, held to 50 rushing yards, Kelvin Durham picked off twice, lost to Frostburg State 21-7.

California (PA) 27, Virginia Union 24
Virginia Union, led by Curtis Allen's 148 yards, fell to California (PA) 27-24 after two first-quarter turnovers dug a 14-0 hole they spent the rest of the game trying to escape. Zyaire Tart returned a kickoff 95 yards to pull VUU within 27-24 with 9:41 left. They got the ball back with 5:04 remaining. Drove to the Cal 27. Brady Myers' 46-yard field goal attempt sailed wide left with 1:11 remaining.

That's the margin. That's where seasons die.

Alabama State 44, Arkansas-Pine Bluff 13
Texas Southern 24, Alabama A&M 7
N. C. Central 33, Morgan State 14

Some programs survived on miracles. Others on discipline. The SWAC title game is set. The Celebration Bowl is locked. Albany State and Benedict meet again because fate has a sense of narrative symmetry.

First-year coaches learned that greatness on the field doesn't automatically translate to the sideline—but it's a starting point, not a ceiling.

And November 22nd will be remembered for four seconds in North Carolina when a lateral crossed the entire width of a football field and reminded everyone that sometimes—sometimes— the impossible just needs witnesses.

Benedict's Malik Mullins didn't just catch a ball. He caught belief made tangible. That's the difference between watching games and witnessing them.

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