Inside the MEAC · preview

South Carolina State has lost two in a row and has not lost a MEAC game in two years

South Carolina State won the MEAC in 2024 and again in 2025 without losing a conference game, and then won the Celebration Bowl. The school says the Bulldogs carry a 10-game MEAC winning streak into this season under Chennis Berry.

They also come into Saturday having lost their last two games.

Norfolk State is the first team to try them in the league this year. It is South Carolina State's homecoming, and the school says every reserved seat at Oliver C. Dawson Stadium is sold. Both teams were off last Saturday, and it is the MEAC opener for both.

How the champions lost twice

South Carolina State won its first five games by a combined 235-51, including 87-0 over Savannah State, 31-13 over Florida A&M in the Orange Blossom Classic and 20-17 at Furman.

Then The Citadel came to Orangeburg on October 3 and won 34-31 on a 31-yard field goal on the last play. A week later Charleston Southern won 49-39, and the Bulldogs outgained them 470 to 305 in that game. Charleston Southern returned a punt 60 yards and a kickoff 98 yards for touchdowns, and South Carolina State turned it over four times.

That is 83 points allowed in two games, after 51 in the first five.

The run game dropped off too. South Carolina State ran for 423, 292, 282 and 282 yards in four of its five wins. It ran for 91 against The Citadel and 102 at Charleston Southern. Mason Pickett-Hicks, who has more than 700 rushing yards this season and ran for 210 against Florida A&M, carried 17 times for 38 yards at Charleston Southern.

Keely Watson has thrown most of South Carolina State's passes this season. At Charleston Southern, Ronnie Robinson threw 38 of the 50.

Norfolk State since the quarterback change

Da'Jean Golmond took over at Chicago State on September 26. After that game we wrote that it would take two more weeks to find out whether he was the answer.

Those two weeks are done. Golmond threw for 371 yards and three touchdowns at Robert Morris and went 8 of 9 against Virginia-Lynchburg. Since taking over he is 56 of 85 for 727 yards with six touchdowns and one interception. This week he was named to the watch list for the Jerry Rice Award, which goes to the best freshman in the FCS.

Norfolk State is 4-3. It is 3-0 at Dick Price Stadium and 1-3 away from it, and two of those road losses were to Old Dominion and Virginia. The third was 33-31 at Robert Morris, where a blocked field goal was returned 100 yards for a touchdown.

The last three meetings

South Carolina State won 44-17 in 2023, 53-21 in 2024 and 51-20 last year at Dick Price Stadium. Norfolk State went 1-11 and 0-5 in the MEAC last season, Michael Vick's first.

In our August preview we picked South Carolina State to win the league and wrote that the Bulldogs were the standard until someone takes it from them. Norfolk State was picked fifth.

What decides it

Norfolk State's run game. South Carolina State gave up 235 rushing yards to The Citadel, and their run defense has otherwise allowed 111 or fewer in every game. Norfolk State has run for 240 against Hampton, 358 at Chicago State and 299 against Virginia-Lynchburg.

Special teams. Charleston Southern scored twice on returns against South Carolina State. Norfolk State scored twice on special teams against Virginia-Lynchburg, on a 63-yard punt return and a blocked punt, a week after a blocked field goal cost them the game at Robert Morris.

The ball. Norfolk State has turned it over 11 times in seven games and forced 16 turnovers. South Carolina State has turned it over nine times, four of them at Charleston Southern.

So what happens Saturday

South Carolina State has lost two straight, both to teams outside the league, and one of them on the last play. It has not lost a MEAC game in two seasons, and it has beaten Norfolk State by 27, 32 and 31 points in the last three meetings.

Norfolk State is a better team than the one that lost 51-20 last October. The quarterback is new, and it has scored at least 31 points in each of its last four games.

We think South Carolina State wins a closer game than the last three.

Kickoff is 1:30pm Saturday at Oliver C. Dawson Stadium in Orangeburg, on ESPN+.