Livingstone and Johnson C. Smith, two teams that share a football history dating back to 1892.
Greg Richardson is well aware of the long-standing rivalry between the two schools, but it’s one he doesn’t expect his young Blue Bear team to fully grasp.
For many of Livingstone’s players, this game stands out for another reason:It pits two teams without a conference win against each other and provides the Blue Bears with a chance to build momentum for the rest of the season.
Livingstone (1-4, 0-3 in the CIAA) clashes with Johnson C. Smith (1-4, 0-2) for the 76th time today at 1 p.m. at Memorial Stadium in Charlotte.
It will be only the first or second meeting with the Golden Bulls for a large portion of the Livingstone squad.
“When you have a young team like we have, they don’t understand the traditions or the history of the teams we are going to be playing, particularly J.C. Smith,” Richardson said. “That can be a good thing because they don’t really understand what has to be done or they don’t put a lot of extra emphasis on winning the game.”
The Blue Bears are hungry for a win against anybody, and one on Saturday would do a world of good for LC’s inexperienced team. Thirty five of its 42 players on the two-deep depth chart are freshmen or sophomores.
The Golden Bulls lead the all-time series 33-28-4, including a 35-12 win last year that broke J.C. Smith’s seven game losing streak to the Blue Bears.
“The game with J.C. Smith has always been a feisty rivalry, we are the two smallest teams in our conference,” Richardson said. “Because of the history of our schools, we play a very spirited game.”
Livingstone, with an enrollment of 1,100 students, is the smallest football-playing school in the
CIAA.
Johnson C. Smith, which has 2,500 students, has a slightly larger enrollment than Virginia Union and Elizabeth City State.
The Blue Bears are heading into the backstretch of their season with a chance to put together a winning streak. Livingstone travels to ECSU and North Carolina Central the next two weekends before hosting Benedict on Nov. 4.
Last season, the Blue Bears defeated ECSU and N.C. Central in back-to-back weeks for their only two wins.
“This is an important game for us because we’re in a stretch now where we’re very compatible with a lot of teams we’re going to play for the rest of our schedule,”Richardson said. “It’s during this time last year that we won a couple of games in a row. We’re just hoping we can duplicate that and build on next year.”
Today's News
