JCSU’s football goal: win CIAA, earn automatic playoff bid

DONALD WATKINS | THE CHARLOTTE POST

Johnson C. Smith football players celebrate after beating Virginia Union in the 2025 CIAA title game at Durham County Stadium. The teams will square off again on Nov. 14, 2026, for the conference crown and an automatic berth in the Division II playoffs.

There’s one sure path to the NCAA Division II football playoffs.

Every conference champion earns an automatic bid to the 32-team tournament, which means the winner of Saturday’s Johnson C. Smith-Virginia Union gets in. After that, the field will be filled by at-large berths in the four-region draw. 

In Super Region 1, where the CIAA competes, Virginia Union (9-1, 8-0 CIAA) is seeded fourth in this week’s rankings, followed by the Golden Bulls (8-2, 7-1) in fifth, Fayetteville State in seventh and Virginia State (7-3, 6-2) ninth. Fayetteville State (7-3, 6-2) and Virginia State play tonight in Durham for a chance to snag an at-large bid. The top four seeds will host first-round games.

“What we do know is that the champion of the conference gets an automatic bid,” Flowers said after last week’s 27-14 Commemorative Classic win at Livingstone. “That’s the easiest way to get in – you win your conference championship, you get a playoff bid, so that’s the only thing that we’re really concerned with.”

The VSU-FSU game – billed as the CIAA’s Friday Night Blitz – is the conference’s initiative to land a third team in the playoffs. The Trojans and Broncos have identical overall and conference records as well as a loss to JCSU, which suggests the winner’s path is problematic regardless of who wins the conference.

Virginia State lost to JCSU and VUU to close the season while Fayetteville State has won five straight after losing to the Golden Bulls.

Upsets among the region’s top-ranked teams could change the equation, but there’s a chance at least four Pennsylvania Athletic Conference teams will make the postseason.  East Stroudsburg (9-1, 6-0), Slippery Rock (10-0, 7-0) and Kutztown occupy the first three spots while California (Pa.) is sixth and Shepherd No. 10. East Stroudsburg faces Slippery Rock in the title game.

Assumption (7-2, 6-0 Northeast 10), is that conference’s lone ranked squad at No. 8. They play Pace (6-3, 5-1) in the title game. Although the Mountain East doesn’t have a team in the region’s top 10, West Liberty (7-3, 5-2) or Charleston (5-5, 5-2) is in after Saturday’s games. Charleston, which has the head-to-head tiebreaker, plays West Virginia State in the regular season finale. West Liberty is at Wheeling. 

The Golden Bulls, which lost their season opener at Benedict, went on a six-game win streak before losing 16-13 at Bowie State. They closed with wins against Virginia State to earn the head-to-head tiebreaker and Livingstone to clinch the second seed behind Virginia Union. The goal is to knock off Virginia Union in the CIAA showcase for a second straight season.

“We’re glad to have earned our way back to the championship game, and … turn our focus to the CIAA championship,” Flowers said. “But we know it comes with it. We want to win the CIAA championship, but one of our goals also is to make the NCAA Division II playoffs, so what’s a guaranteed way to get into the playoffs? Win the championship. So that’s where our focus will be, and then the playoffs will take care of themselves.”

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