The 2025 HBCU football season will bring excitement, great games, rivalries and more. We’ll be tracking the season from start to finish below with scores from every FCS HBCU football game, plus the latest news.
You can click or tap each of the links below to jump ahead to a section:
See this week’s HBCU football results in the FCS below.
Click or tap any of the games below for live stats | Click or tap here for a live scoreboard
Click or tap here for a complete list of HBCU homecomings and classics in 2025.
Click or tap here to view the latest HBCU football standings in a new tab
Hampton fires head coach
Hampton and head coach Trenton Boykin are parting ways. Hampton finished 2-10 this year after a 5-7 season during the first year of Boykin’s tenure. Hampton only had one Division I win this year.
Hampton joins Southern as the two HBCUs to fire head football coaches this cycle.
FCS regular season attendance leaders
HBCUs again set the pace in FCS attendance, with Jackson State’s average of 28,733 fans leading the FCS. Alabama State and Missisippi Valley State still have one more home game to add to their total. See where every team ranked nationally via average fans per game in the list below.
Jackson State wins the SWAC East, SWAC Championship game set
Jackson State batted down a Hail Mary attempt from Alcorn State to defeat the Braves 27-21. The win clinches a SWAC East title for the Tigers, it’s second straight and fourth in the last five years.
South Carolina State won the MEAC with a 28-17 win over Delaware State on the road. The win gives the Bulldogs back-to-back undefeated seasons in conference play and consecutive Celebration Bowl berths. South Carolina State is the first repeat MEAC Champion since North Carolina A&T won three straight from 2017-19.
Postseason Clinching scenarios
We’ll know who wins the MEAC and SWAC East after Week 13. See the scenarios below.
Legendary Jackson State coach W.C. Gorden was named the American Football Coaches Association’s recipient of the 2025 Trailblazer Award. The AFCA Trailblazer Award honors leaders in the football coaching profession who coached at HBCUs. The award will be presented posthumously to Gorden during the 2026 AFCA Convention in Charlotte, North Carolina.
The hit daily sports talk show “First Take” visited its third HBCU football game this season, hitting Delaware State ahead of DSU’s matchup with Norfolk State in Philadelphia. That game will be played in Lincoln Financial Field, home of the Philadelphia Eagles, the same place Norfolk State head coach Michael Vick and Delaware State head coach DeSean Jackson starred during their NFL careers.
First Take previously visited Norfolk State and the Magic City Classic. Checkout some clips from the show below.
The hit daily sports talk show “First Take” visited its second HBCU football game this season, hitting the Magic City Classic in Birmingham, AL featuring Alabama A&M and Alabama State. First Take previously visited Norfolk State. Checkout some clips from the show below.
One HBCU player makes Jerry Rice Award watch list
Alabama A&M quarterback Eric Handley is the lone HBCU football representative on the 22-player Jerry Rice Award watch list. Handley has taken over as the starting quarterback for the Bulldogs after Quad Brown got injured.
The Jerry Rice Award is in its 15th year, named after HBCU and Mississippi Valley State great Jerry Rice. The 2025 winner will be announced on December 3.
Southern fires head coach
The Southern Jaguars have fired head football coach Terrence Graves. Graves most recently lost in blowout fashion on homecoming, dropping Southern’s 2025 record to 1-6. Graves won the 2024 SWAC West title last season with an 8-5 record, going 7-1 in SWAC play. He first took over as Southern’s interim head coach in 2023, leading the Jaguars to a win in the 50th Bayou Classic.
Fred McNair wil take over as interim head coach this year. McNair was the co-offensive coordinator under Graves, where Southern had the worst scoring offense and total offense in SWAC. McNair was the head coach of Alcorn State from 2016-2023.
Southern defensive end Ckelby Givens was named one of the top edge rushers in the FCS at the midseason mark. Click or tap here for the full list.
The Georgia Football Classic is no more. The game that was going to feature Mississippi Valley State and Florida A&M will no longer be played in Atlanta, Georgia’s Mercedez-Benz Stadium — home of the Atlanta Falcons and Celebration Bowl. Instead the game between MVSU and FAMU will be pushed back to November 29, after the regular season concludes for most FCS teams.
NCAA Digital’s Stan Becton ranked the top HBCU football players in the FCS after one month. View the top-10 below and click or tap here for more info.
The following players earned player of the week honors after their Week 3 performances:
The Tampa Bay Football Classic is no more. Bethune-Cookman announced Monday that the Tampa Bay Football Classic is canceled and the game against Southern is back to Daytona Beach.
Last Week’s Players of the Week
The following players earned player of the week honors after their Week 2 performances:
The following players earned player of the week honors after their Week 1 performances:
The hit daily sports talk show “First Take” visited the campus of Norfolk State ahead of NSU’s season-opener against Towson. Checkout some clips from the show below.
Before the season, we looked at some of the top storylines and players to follow for 2025. Click or tap the links below for more.
The preseason is here, conferences are announcing their all-conference teams and predicted orders of finishes. Here’s where HBCU programs landed.
MEAC
Click or tap here to see the full MEAC preseason all-conference teams.
Click or tap here to see the full SWAC preseason all-conference teams.
Click or tap here for a complete HBCU football championship history
Here are some key dates for the 2025 HBCU football season.
Key dates
See a week-by-week HBCU football schedule in the FCS below. Stay tuned for HBCU football power rankings each week.
All time Eastern | Click or tap any of the games below for live stats | Click or tap here for a live scoreboard
There are 21 football programs at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) at the FCS level. FCS HBCU football programs primarily play in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) or the Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC).
Below are all the HBCU football programs and the conference they will play in for the 2024 season.
