#11 Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference...MEAC

Welcome back, we continue our rundown with the second of the two HBU conferences and what an interesting conference it is. The MEAC is one of those conferences that understands while it could be in one place, realizes where it lies and goes about things accordingly. With the introduction of the Celebration Bowl aka the HBU National Championship, the MEAC accepted its place as bigger fish in a smaller pond instead of just another fish in the bigger one. And that isn't a horrible thing at all, it just sometimes leaves you wondering what might have become, especially in recent years with NC A&T.

Placement Reasoning

So for the MEAC like I said in the intro, it knows where its supposed to belong. Can it beat teams from other conferences, of course it can, but when you stack the teams in the conference up against everyone else the bottom of the conference really drags it down. Now some of that fat will be trimmed when Savannah State drops back down to D2, but it still leaves the likes Morgan St, Delaware St who greatly offset the recent play of NC A&T and NCCU. Now could the MEAC be higher? Yeah they really should, and might be soon if some of the teams, who a few years ago were on the level of the Aggies and Eagles, return to past luster  

2017 Recap

2017 was an interesting year for the MEAC...first the good. North Carolina A&T reclaimed it's title as HBU National Champion and was the only undefeated FCS program in 2017. It also had one of the most dominate LT in recent history in Brandon Parker, that'll be back-to-back mid round draft picks for the program which is quite an accomplishment in the FCS level. The conference also had one of the biggest upsets in recent memory as Howard beat UNLV after being 46.5 point underdog. Was also the coming out party for Caylin Newton (yea Cam's younger brother). And while he had an up and down year stat wise, Howard had its best season in recent memory and should be a player in the MEAC race this year.

Now for the bad...The MEAC had a messy divorce with Hampton that just recently got resolved as the Pirates jumped ship to join the Big South. And that wasn't the only team to leave the conference as Savannah St decided enough is enough and moved back to Division 2...oddly enough the three conference wins was the most since becoming an FCS member but overall it has been a disaster for the Tigers as a FCS member. Add on top of that the bad years from regular contenders Florida A&M  and S. Carolina St (plus financial issues) and it was a big ol mixed bag for the MEAC

Playoff/National Championship Contenders

Of course just like the SWAC, the MEAC doesn't have an automatic bid into the FCS playoffs. Now that doesn't mean it isn't possible that a team from here can't get an at-large bid, it did happen two years ago when NC A&T got an automatic bid after N. Carolina Central won a birth in the Celebration Bowl.  But that being said, we shall stick with contenders for the Celebration Bowl

The Favorite

North Carolina A&T

Until further notice, the Aggies are the team to beat in the MEAC and for the HBU National Championship. Yeah, they need to replace seven starters on offense and have a new HC but its hard to see the drop off that great. It helps when the HC is the promoted defensive coordinator, eight starters on that side of the ball and the reigning MEAC player of the year Lamar Raynard. Yes the HBU National Championship is the goal, but depending on how things play out an at-large bid to the FCS playoffs is not a bad secondary prize and given the right draw they could win a game, but they are not FCS championship contenders

The Contender

North Carolina Central

The Eagles and the Aggies have been on each others tails for the last few years and while 2017 the Aggies pulled away a bit, the Eagles have the horses to catch up. And when you look at NCCU, they are in a similar spot as they too have to replace the head coach but also promoted within. What helps in having nine starters return on offense. The end of the season matchup with the Aggies should once again have heavy weight into the final standings in the conference

The Sleepers

Bethune-Cookman

The Wildcats rebounded after having a rare losing season in 2016. Though with a 5-3 record last season in single possession games, the question on can they repeat the success comes into play. What will help is 11 returning starters and a hope that a bump to the upper levels in scoring and scoring D will see a return back to the 2010-2014 standards

Howard

The Bison enjoyed its first winning season since 2012 and Caylin Newton's breakout helped the turn around. But to take the next step and challenge for the MEAC title, more consistency will be asked to help offset the loss of his graduating backfield mate in Anthony Philyard. Also a huge must for Mike London's crew to have back-to-back winning seasons, improve the defense which was last in yards at almost 450 per game

Teams to add/subtract

With the losses of Hampton and Savannah St,  the conference will sit at nine football members after next year and cant really afford to lose anymore members. And don't expect Coppin St or Maryland Eastern-Shore start a football program either since both would be really small fish and a big pond. Now all of that leaves me in a bit of a bind to figure out who would be ideal to add or not to add cause the options are very limited

Adding Winston-Salem State

At the end of the day, this is the only choice that makes any type of sense. Now the biggest issue in keeping this from happening in real life would be the financial hurdle. And its a big hurdle, especially after the Rams tried a decade ago to make the move only to fall flat. The only other team the makes even the least bit of sense would be Tennessee St, but with them being a member of the Ohio Valley since become a FCS (then I-AA) member it would be a huge leap to join the ranks of the HBUs

Best/Worst


Stadium

Best - O'Kelly-Riddick Stadium

You know for a program that only been on this level since 2010, the Eagles have shot up the ranks and their stadium backs up that rise in the program. While not the biggest or the flashiest, its that closed in ranks that makes this my favorite. And in recent years, the fans pack the stadium and make it hard for opposing teams to play a game. Its one of those places that if it was in a different conference we would know a lot more about it

Worst - Alumni Stadium 

Yea this is just one of those stadiums where its there and they have games but there isn't really anything special about it. It doesn't help when there is so much open air in the stadium so there is no real "home team advantage" and the fans haven't really shown up because the teams has not had the best of runs since the playoff birth in 2007

Logo and Nickname 

Best - Delaware State Hornets

Admittedly this was not an easy choice. The conference in general has basic nicknames, so everyone was pretty much even in that standpoint. But the logos were the deciding factor and the Hornets mix of nickname and logo edged out NCCU (seriously the rebranding of the school is incredible). I just like how hornet looks menacing without being over the top and the blend of school colors works

Worst - Bethune-Cookman Wildcats

Yeah its just a blah nickname and logo. Some of the alternative logos for the school are better but the main one isn't anything special. Doesn't mean it isn't good, just means with a nickname a few hundred schools use all over, it doesn't stack up to everyone else in the end. And the more I look at the B and C just blend in together and look like some weird arial view of a race track

Uniforms

Best -  NCCU

Ok once again this was not an easy choice but there is something about the the way the colors flow that makes the Eagles uniforms best. And yes they have a super plain, "looks more like a practice jersey" all-white uniform but those don't come out as often as the black, grey, burgundy combo that I want to jump into and run onto the field with.

Worst - S. Carolina St

This once proud program is going thru some rough times and it sucks because back when the MEAC had an automatic bid this program was good enough to do some real damage. But unfortunately money is the ultimate decider in these things and the entire program has suffered, uniforms included. Gone is the basic, but subtle touches that made the uniform cool. Now you get a bland here you go with basic colors. Just sucks all around 

  

2018 Outlook

The MEAC is a conference that is broken off into tiers. From top to bottom you have a groups of school that are way they are with no real sign of rising or falling. There are hints with school like Howard a step away from joining that top tier but at the same time can fall back to the tier of the "just ok" And that is what makes this a very interesting conference. You'll probably see the same two teams battle it out at the end of the year, but NC A&T and NCCU won't run thru this conference as it has in past years. 

Alright, that was a long delay...loading issues and general wtfness. But alas, three down with ten to go. And soon we shall talk about #10 on my list, the Patriot League. Easily the most disappointing conference last year, is this a bounce back year or are we going to see more disappointment?