Inside the MEAC · preview

Norfolk State goes to Chicago and finds the 757 on the other sideline

Norfolk State flies to Illinois on Saturday to play a program that did not exist last year, and when they get there, three of the men running the game will have grown up within about twenty miles of each other.

Warwick, Granby, Hampton

Michael Vick is from Newport News and went to Warwick High School. That part everybody knows. He's in his second season at Norfolk State after going 1-11 in the first one.

Chicago State's head coach is Bobby Rome II. He was born in Norfolk and went to Granby, where he started four years at quarterback, threw for 1,726 yards and 16 touchdowns as a senior, and made second-team All-Tidewater. Granby put him in its athletics hall of fame in 2023. He played fullback at North Carolina, spent time with the Packers and the Steelers, and took his first coaching job in 2010 at Norfolk Christian. Chicago State hired him in April of last year as the first head football coach in school history.

Chicago State's offensive coordinator is Bobby Blizzard, and his map is the same one. Hampton born, Hampton High School, then tight end at Kentucky and North Carolina, where he finished with 78 catches. He spent time with the Steelers, Cardinals, Ravens and Bengals. He coached running backs at Norfolk State in 2022. He was on Hampton's staff as recently as last season, which means the man calling plays against the Spartans on Saturday was working nine miles from Dick Price Stadium a year ago.

Three coaches, three 757 high schools, and a football game in Bridgeview, Illinois.

Chicago State has never had a football team before

This is the Cougars' first season. Not first season in a new conference, not first season back. First season, period. They are the only Division I football program in the city of Chicago, they're playing as an independent this year, and they join the Northeast Conference in 2027.

They're 1-3. They lost their first game in school history 44-28 to Roosevelt at home, then lost 42-7 at UT Martin, beat Kentucky Christian 78-7, and lost 47-20 at Butler last Saturday.

That 78-7 is worth flagging for the same reason we flagged James Madison's 87-3 this week. One result against overmatched opposition sits inside every average a first-year roster has produced, and Chicago State's other three games are the ones that describe them.

What this is for Norfolk State

The Spartans are 2-2 and coming off their best night of the season. Zero turnovers against Hampton, after six in two games against Old Dominion and Virginia. Jason Wonodi returned two punts for touchdowns. Marco Peery made five field goals. It was the first time all year the Spartans played a game without handing part of it away.

The schedule in front of them is the softest run they'll get. Chicago State on Saturday, Robert Morris the week after, Virginia-Lynchburg on October 10. Then the MEAC opens on October 24 at South Carolina State, who are 3-0 and ranked in the FCS coaches poll.

So the question for the next three weeks isn't whether Norfolk State wins them. It's whether the Hampton game was a turning point or a matchup. Ball security against Hampton is one data point. Ball security against three teams they should beat, going into a conference opener on the road against a ranked team, is a habit.

What a good night looks like

Win comfortably and get out clean. That's the whole assignment.

Deljay Bailey doesn't need to throw for 300. He needs to do what he did last Saturday, which was 17-of-25 with nothing given away. Jalyn Daniels and the run game got 240 yards against Hampton and there's no reason to abandon that in a road game on grass they've never played on.

The thing to actually watch is how Norfolk State handles being the better team. They've spent the season as the underdog, losing to two FBS programs and then beating a 1-3 Hampton side. Saturday they're the established program walking into a building where the other team has been playing football for four weeks. Teams do strange things in that spot, and the Spartans have already shown this year that their worst games are the ones where they beat themselves.

Kickoff is 7pm Eastern at SeatGeek Stadium in Bridgeview. No television listing. Recap Sunday.