North Carolina Central running back Christian Mosley may want to give his offensive line an extra swipe or two on his meal card after the way they ripped open holes in Southern’s defensive front seven. Mosley rushed for 174 yards on 15 carries and a touchdown to lead the Eagles to a commanding 31-14 win over the Jags in the week zero MEAC-SWAC Challenge Saturday night.
What appeared to be a potential shoot-out in the first two drives settled into a one-sided, ball-controlled, old-fashioned butt whuppin’. Eagles quarterback Walker Harris opened the season and the game with a 13-play, 80-yard scoring drive. Harris was 5 of 6 in the air and even scrambled for 11 yards for a first down at the Jags’ 1-yard line. The nearly 50-50 attack moved steadily down the field, having only to convert one third down -Harris’s scramble.
Arthur Rodgers, Jr., punched the ball into the end zone on the very next play. Inside the numbers revealed a big problem for the Jags’ defensive front. Mosley touched the ball four times on the drive, rushing for 31 yards -nearly 8 yards a carry. And he was doing it against a highly touted Southern University defense led by three 1st-team All-Conference defenders, including 2025 SWAC Preseason Defensive Player of the Year Ckelby Givens (DE).
“Our offensive line made a statement early,” said Eagles Head Coach Trei Oliver. “They had a chip on their shoulder because y’all (the media) were preaching and praising we could not block the dude (Givens), and our guys blocked him.” The Eagles ran right at Givens for the first rushing touchdown of the game.
Whenever the Eagles needed a spark, Mosley gashed the Jags for big runs. His 15 carries included runs of 13-, 21-, 35-,49-, 20-, and 14 yards.
Southern responded to the punch in the mouth with a quick strike. Red-shirt senior linebacker Max U’ren rushed upfield and had Jags quarterback Cam’Ron McCoy in his sights until he wasn’t. McCoy staggered right and almost lost his balance before running past U’ren and the rest of the Eagles’ defense for a 69-yard touchdown. McCoy was listed as QB2 on the depth chart but got the start when the starting quarterback and local product Jalen Woods (Woodward Academy), was demoted for missing the bus from Baton Rouge to Atlanta.
The Jags defense bowed up shut down Harris and company after the Eagles offense used up nearly 9 minutes on 16 plays. Givens stripped the ball out of Harris’s clutches as the quarterback attempted to score. Southern’s Xavier Franks recovered the ball in the end zone for a touchback, but more importantly, it erased a potential touchdown.
Southern took its only lead of the game with another quick strike. Trey Holly, a transfer from nearby LSU, burst through the middle for an 80-yard scoring romp. The Louisiana high school all-time leading rusher (10,532 yards) transferred to Southern after legal troubles clouded his future with the Tigers. Holly expressed how much being able to play in the season opener meant to him. “I want to shout out Coach Graves for letting me be a part of this football team when he didn’t even have to,” said the soft-spoken star.
The second half was a different story altogether. NC Central kept scoring. Southern did not. The Eagles’ defense put the clamps on the Jags while the offense just kept chugging along.
A horrific 7-yard punt off the foot of Kenny Pham compounded the Jags’ unimpressive three-and-out opening drive out of halftime. The short field resulted in another Eagles touchdown and a widening lead.
Southern’s defense forced the Eagles to punt twice the entire night and recorded only one sack on Harris. “We never got the quarterback off his spot all night, and I talked about that the entire game,” said Southern Head Coach Terrence Graves. “We never changed his momentum.”
The Eagles’ win ruined the Jags’ perfect 3-0 record in the week zero game that is now in its 20th year. Oliver extends his perfect record to 7-0 in classics and 2-0 in the MEAC-SWAC Challenge. The Eagles defeated Alcorn State 23-14 in the 2021 game.
Eagles head coach Trei Oliver demonstrated once again why he is considered one of the best football coaches in college football. The game plan he and offensive coordinator Matt Leone, and defensive coordinator Jesse Thompson developed for the game worked perfectly after a few tweaks at halftime.
The Eagles return home, where they will welcome a young University of New Hampshire. The Wildcats were picked to finish fifth in the Colonial Athletic Association after finishing 8-5 (4-2) in the regular season and a first-round defeat in the playoffs.
Southern will get back on the road for a short drive up to Itta Bena, MS, where they will face the Delta Devils of Mississippi Valley State. The last time the Jags dropped a game to Valley was a 6-0 loss at home in 2012.
Ballers
NCCU Eagles
QB Walker Harris 19 of 24, 183 yards, 1 td, 1 fumble
RB ChrisMosley 15 carries for 174, 1 td, longest run 49 yards, Game MVP
DL Thomas Johnson 7 tackles, 2 tackles for loss, 1 forced fumble, 1 fumble recovery, 1 pass breakup
The Offensive Line: Trevon Humphrey, AC McMoore, Noah McKinney, Brian Hardy, Ja’Quan Sprinkle
Southern Jaguars
RB Trey Holly, 10 carries for 116 yards, 1 TD, longest run 80 yd
QB Cam’Ron McCoy 9 carries for 98 yards, longest run 69