During the 2023 regular season, Division I HBCUs will play a combined 17 games against FBS opponents.
Historically, the meetings have been criticized by some HBCU coaches as games that present football players as sacrificial lambs for FBS programs in exchange for a six-figure boon into the coffers of the athletic budget.
Black College football programs are typically massive underdogs in games against FBS opponents. Only once in the last five years has an HBCU knocked off an FBS school.
In 2018, North Carolina A&T beat East Carolina on the road in a game that spawned a viral postgame video clip when then-Aggies head coach Sam Washington addressed a jubilant locker room by saying, “Bring me my money” after the win.
When the calendar turns to the fall, some notable HBCU-FBS matchups this year will feature Bethune-Cookman at Miami, Grambling State at LSU, defending Black National Champion North Carolina Central going to the Rose Bowl to meet UCLA, and Tennessee State will play at Notre Dame in a historic college football meeting.
So, which HBCU has the best chance to pull off an upset in the non-conference matchups?
One SWAC school, says one college football publication, is pegged to have the most reasonable opportunity to topple an FBS foe.
Florida A&M, which will enter 2023 riding the second-longest winning streak in the FCS, is considered by Underdog Dynasty to have the fifth-best odds to beat an FBS school when the Rattlers play at South Florida on Sept. 9.
“The Rattlers are one of the best teams in SWAC and are looking to make a run at the Celebration Bowl this year,” FCS football writer Jared Miller wrote. “Willie Simmons and his team is just two years removed from a trip to the playoffs and only lost two games all of last season (one to FBS North Carolina and the other to Jackson State).
“The Rattlers will return the likes of quarterback Jeremy Moussa and one of his top targets in Jah’Marae Sheread. FAMU will be no pushover, and if USF isn’t careful, they could be on the wrong end of this one.”
If FAMU, which ended last year on a 9-game surge, can pull off this upset, it could go a long way in positioning the program to make a run at the FCS playoffs after missing out on a bid in 2022.
