American college football season
The 2016 North Carolina Central Eagles football team represented North Carolina Central University in the 2016 NCAA Division I FCS football season . They were led by third-year head coach Jerry Mack . The Eagles played their home games at O'Kelly–Riddick Stadium . They were a member of the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC). They finished the season 9–3, 8–0 in MEAC play to win the MEAC title to play in the Celebration Bowl , where they were defeated by SWAC champions Grambling State .
Schedule [ ]
Date Time Opponent Rank Site TV Result Attendance September 3 6:00 pm at Duke * ESPN3 L 6–4935,049
September 10 7:00 pm at Western Michigan * ESPN3 L 21–7023,727
September 17 6:00 pm Saint Augustine's * NSN W 65–74,016
September 24 2:00 pm at Norfolk State SSC W 34–318,296
October 1 4:00 pm at Bethune-Cookman CEN W 31–144,216
October 8 4:00 pm Florida A&M O'Kelly–Riddick Stadium Durham, NC NSN W 17–13617
October 15 2:00 pm Savannah State O'Kelly–Riddick Stadium Durham, NC NSN W 33–312,966
October 22 1:00 pm at Morgan State W 21–178,534
November 5 2:00 pm at Delaware State WDSU-TV W 38–191,597
November 12 2:00 pm Howard O'Kelly–Riddick Stadium Durham, NC NSN W 30–216,897
November 19 2:00 pm No. 9 North Carolina A&T No. 24 O'Kelly–Riddick Stadium Durham, NC (Rivalry ) ESPN3, ESPNU (Tape Delay) W 42–2115,715
December 17 3:00 pm vs. No. 16 Grambling State * No. 20 ABC L 9–1031,096
*Non-conference game HomecomingRankings from STATS FCS Poll released prior to game Poll released prior to the game All times are in Eastern time
Game summaries [ ]
at Duke [ ]
1
2
3
4
Total
Eagles
0
0
3
3
6
Blue Devils
21
28
0
0
49
at Western Michigan [ ]
1
2
3
4
Total
Eagles
7
14
0
0
21
Broncos
28
14
14
14
70
Saint Augustine's [ ]
1
2
3
4
Total
Falcons
0
7
0
0
7
Eagles
21
20
7
17
65
at Norfolk State [ ]
1
2
3
4
Total
Eagles
10
7
10
7
34
Spartans
0
10
0
21
31
at Bethune-Cookman [ ]
1
2
3
4
Total
Eagles
0
7
10
14
31
Wildcats
7
0
0
7
14
See also: 2016 Bethune-Cookman Wildcats football team
Florida A&M [ ]
1
2
3
4
Total
Rattlers
5
0
0
8
13
Eagles
0
3
0
14
17
Savannah State [ ]
1
2
3
4
Total
Tigers
0
0
0
3
3
Eagles
3
16
7
7
33
at Morgan State [ ]
1
2
3
4
Total
Eagles
14
0
0
7
21
Bears
7
10
0
0
17
at Delaware State [ ]
1
2
3
4
Total
Eagles
9
22
7
0
38
Hornets
0
7
0
12
19
Howard [ ]
1
2
3
4
Total
Bison
7
0
0
14
21
Eagles
6
3
7
14
30
North Carolina A&T [ ]
1
2
3
4
Total
#9 Aggies
0
0
7
14
21
#24 Eagles
0
14
14
14
42
Celebration Bowl–Grambling State [ ]
1
2
3
4
Total
#16 Tigers
0
0
10
0
10
#20 Eagles
3
0
0
6
9
Ranking movements [ ]
Ranking movementsLegend: ██ Increase in ranking. ██ Decrease in ranking. NR = Not ranked. RV = Received votes. т = Tied with team above or below. ( ) = First place votes.
Week
Poll
Pre
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
Final
STATS FCS
RV
NR
NR
NR
RV
RV
RV
RV
RV
RV
RV
24
20
22
Coaches
RV
NR
NR
NR
NR
NR
RV
RV
RV
RV
25
20
18
20
References [ ]
Venues Bowls & rivalries People National championship seasons in bold
Morgan State (1971)
North Carolina Central (1972)
North Carolina Central (1973)
South Carolina State (1974)
South Carolina State (1975)
Morgan State & South Carolina State (1976)
South Carolina State (1977)
South Carolina State (1978)
Morgan State (1979)
South Carolina State (1980)
South Carolina State (1981)
South Carolina State (1982)
South Carolina State (1983)
Bethune–Cookman (1984)
Delaware State (1985)
North Carolina A&T (1986)
Delaware State (1987)
Bethune–Cookman , Delaware State , & Florida A&M (1988)
Delaware State (1989)
Florida A&M (1990)
Delaware State & North Carolina A&T (1991)
North Carolina A&T (1992)
Howard (1993)
South Carolina State (1994)
Florida A&M (1995)
Florida A&M (1996)
Hampton (1997)
Hampton & Florida A&M (1998)
North Carolina A&T (1999)
Florida A&M (2000)
Florida A&M (2001)
Bethune–Cookman (2002)
North Carolina A&T (2003)
Hampton & South Carolina State (2004)
Hampton (2005)
Hampton (2006)
Delaware State (2007)
South Carolina State (2008)
South Carolina State (2009)
Bethune–Cookman †, Florida A&M , & South Carolina State (2010)
Norfolk State (vacated) (2011)
Bethune–Cookman (2012)
Bethune–Cookman †, South Carolina State (2013)
Bethune–Cookman , Morgan State †, North Carolina Central , North Carolina A&T , & South Carolina State (2014)
North Carolina A&T †, North Carolina Central , & Bethune–Cookman (2015)
North Carolina Central (2016)
North Carolina A&T (2017)
North Carolina A&T (2018)
North Carolina A&T & South Carolina State (2019)
No champion (2020)
South Carolina State (2021)
National championships in bold † Denotes postseason representative via conference tiebreaker