It’s been quite a year for B-CU football. Many fans began the year with lofty expectations, only to be met with the harsh reality that our program is still a significant work in progress. But for now, the Wildcats (3-7) are riding high after their first win streak since 2021. After several weeks of painful losses, it appears that something finally clicked. You wouldn’t believe me if I told you, but our football scored 31 unanswered points this past weekend. It almost sounds strange when you say it out loud, right?
Classic Time
It’s almost like they’re growing up right before our very eyes, and it couldn’t be happening at a better time with a matchup with “That School From Up North” (TSFUN) looming this weekend. The Florida Classic is one of the few games where you toss the records out of the window because they don’t matter. Any team can win any year, regardless of how good or bad they are.
If you remember, in 2010, Brian Jenkins’ first year, the Wildcats blasted through the MEAC like a buzzsaw, beating their opponents by an average of 26 points per game. There still hasn’t been a team as dominant as that one. As prolific as that team was, we still lost the Florida Classic that year. That game still haunts me. Fortunately, that loss would be the last time we’d lose to TSFUN for the next nine consecutive years. What a time to be alive.
I share that story to remind everyone that anything can happen this weekend. It’s no secret that the “other school” is on a roll and riding high, winning 27 of their last 33 games. They’ve got all the momentum, but stranger things have happened in this series. However, if B-CU can pull out a win this weekend, I’m not sure it would be considered “strange.” An upset? Certainly. But strange? Not at all.
Wildcats Not a Tough Out
If nothing else, this team has shown itself to be tough out. The defense doesn’t give up much, and even with a pedestrian offense, the average margin of victories in our conference losses is 9.5 ppg. So, if you want to beat Bethune Cookman, you will have to beat Bethune Cookman. This team hasn’t laid down for anyone, so they have an excellent shot at winning.
It also helps that Coach Woodie’s team may have reached the next level of the rebuild. Walter Simmons III, who has been woefully inconsistent all year, has finally shown his capabilities. Amassing over 150 yards on the ground this week and 3 TDs, Simmons has given the offense a new wrinkle that “the other team” must now prepare for. And the Bethune-Cookman defense is as advertised. They bend, but they don’t break. They have single-handedly kept games close by creating turnovers and getting timely stops. However, the offense hasn’t been good enough to take advantage of.
That wasn’t the issue Saturday. The game appeared to be headed toward a familiar ending: A hard-fought match that fell short. We all saw it coming. But strangely, something happened for the first time in a long time. We smelled blood. We saw a wounded team find itself in a dogfight it never expected to be in. In the end, we hung around long enough to take advantage.
On Saturday, we’ve got to do the same thing. We’re not going to score 31 straight against TSFUN. They’re too good for that to happen. But we’re good enough to hang around. When you do that, they get uncomfortable and sometimes unravel if you hang around long enough against good teams. That’s our best shot this weekend. And it’s not farfetched considering a few things. One, no SWAC team has blown us out. Every game has been close. Secondly, we don’t kill ourselves with penalties. We’re currently ranked #1 with the most minuscule penalty yards per game. We’re going to need that level of discipline on Saturday. And lastly, the team has won a couple of games, and winning does wonders for confidence, which we lacked for much of this season.
We’ll show well on Saturday at the much anticipated Florida Classic, that much I’m sure of. But can we win? Like I said before, stranger things have happened in this game.
All Hail to Thee.
