ORANGEBURG, S.C. — South Carolina State University will get to play a football season after all, although it will be several months later than originally thought.
The Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC), which SC State plays in, announced Thursday its spring sports schedule. It will only involve divisional play in an effort to minimize travel time and expenses as well time missed out of class.
The decision affects football as well other sports. For football, the season will start on February 20 for SC State with a home game against Florida A&M. The regular season will end on April 10. The MEAC Championship game will be held Saturday, April 17.
The league originally announced in July there would be no fall sports due to COVID-19. In August, however, the league said they hoped to resume sports in February and announced the framework for their idea.
“The mental and physical health and safety of our student-athletes, coaches, staff and fans must be at the forefront,” MEAC Commissioner Dennis E. Thomas said in a statement. “With that in mind, creative and innovative scheduling was required to accomplish our goals. Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, we had to restrict travel to regional competition. Hopefully, the type of schedule is for spring 2021 only.”
The conference will be split into a Northern and Southern Division, with SC State playing in the Southern Division.
Here's a look at SC State's schedule:
February 20 - Florida A&M at SC State
February 27 - SC State at NC Central
March 6 - North Carolina A&T at SC State
March 13 - SC State at Florida A&M
March 20 - BYE
March 27 - SC State at Bethune-Cookman
April 3 - NC Central at SC State
April 10 - BYE
April 17 - MEAC Championship
The Northern Division will consist of Delaware State, Howard, Morgan State and Norfolk State. Bethune-Cookman, Florida A&M, North Carolina A&T State, North Carolina Central and South Carolina State will make up the Southern Division.
Northern Division teams will face each other twice, while teams in the Southern Division will have two teams they play twice and two teams they play once. Each team will have two bye weeks.
A divisional format will also be adopted for men’s and women’s basketball, with each school playing 16 games over the course of nine weeks beginning Jan. 2, 2021. Conference games will be played on Saturdays, Mondays and Wednesdays.
Coppin State, Delaware State, Howard, Maryland Eastern Shore, Morgan State and Norfolk State will make up the Northern Division, with Bethune-Cookman, Florida A&M, North Carolina A&T State, North Carolina Central and South Carolina State in the Southern Division.
In the Southern Division, teams will play each other four times, while Northern Division teams will face each other either three or four times in the regular season.
The MEAC Basketball Tournament is currently scheduled for March 8-13, 2021 in the Norfolk Scope Arena.