The Central State quarterback leads Division II in touchdown passes. Benedict allows fewer points than anybody in the SIAC. At 2 p.m. ET in Columbia on ESPN+, one of them plays for a championship next Saturday. The other goes home.
Somebody's season ends in Columbia this afternoon, and both teams know exactly which version of football gets to survive.
Central State at Benedict, 2 p.m. ET at Charlie W. Johnson Stadium on ESPN+, is a winner-take-all for a berth in the SIAC Championship Game on Nov. 14. Benedict is 8-1 and ranked No. 20 in Division II. Central State is 6-3 and riding its longest win streak in 31 years. Both are 6-1 in the conference. The winner is guaranteed a spot in the title game. The loser is done — no tiebreaker math, no help needed, no next week.
And the game itself is a clean argument about how football works. Central State throws it better than anybody in Division II. Benedict stops people better than anybody in the SIAC. One of those sentences stops being true today.
The quarterback against the wall
Jackson Wasik is the reason Central State is here. The junior has thrown for 2,518 yards and 30 touchdown passes — the most touchdown passes in Division II — against just four interceptions, with a 204.4 efficiency rating that leads the SIAC. He has run for 358 yards and six more scores. Nine different Marauder receivers have caught a pass of 40 yards or more, and Central State averages 17.36 yards a completion, fourth in the nation. Last week, with the season narrowing, Wasik accounted for five touchdowns in a 35-28 win over Edward Waters — three passing, two rushing — and Central State scored on all five of its red-zone trips.
Benedict's answer is a defense that has given up six points in two weeks. The Tigers allow the fewest points in the SIAC, rank second in total defense, first in tackles for loss, first in red-zone defense and first in interceptions. Last Saturday they shut out Savannah State 23-0, allowed 52 passing yards, and scored on defense themselves — Kahmari Cook returned an interception 17 yards for a touchdown, then collected SIAC Defensive Player of the Week. Cook and this secondary just spent a week being the best pass defense in the conference. Now they get the best passer in the country at their level, at home, with everything on it.
The matchup underneath the matchup
The quieter fight may decide it first. Benedict owns the SIAC's best rushing offense at 197.8 yards a game, and David Smith is the conference's leading rusher — 750 yards on 111 carries, 6.8 yards a pop. Central State's defense ranks last in the SIAC, allowing 419.3 yards a game and 205.3 on the ground. If Smith gets going early, Wasik watches the season from the sideline.
Central State's counter is balance Benedict hasn't had to solve: running back Isaiah Thompson ran for 154 yards against Edward Waters, and the Marauders put up 213 rushing yards to go with Wasik's 216 passing. Benedict's offense, meanwhile, managed a season-low 258 yards last week and needed three field goals and a defensive touchdown to reach 23. Head coach Ron Dickerson Jr. said it plainly after the shutout: "I've got to figure out what's going on in the O-line and in the quarterback rooms because we've had two bad games."
The comparison, from the SIAC's official preview numbers:
- Scoring: Central State 35.2 points a game (2nd, SIAC) vs Benedict 30.2 (4th)
- Points allowed: Benedict 15.6 a game (1st, SIAC) vs Central State 28.4
- Total offense: Central State 430.0 yards a game (2nd) vs Benedict 381.9
- Total defense: Benedict 329.8 yards allowed (2nd) vs Central State last in the conference
- At quarterback: Wasik — 2,518 yards, 30 TD, 4 INT, 204.4 rating, plus 358 rushing yards and 6 rushing TD — vs Benedict's Jett Peddy: 1,483 yards, 8 TD
- At running back: Smith (Benedict) — 750 yards, the SIAC's leader at 83.3 a game — vs Thompson (Central State): 642 yards, 154 last week
- In the NCAA's own rankings: Central State No. 2 and Benedict No. 3 in Super Region Two, separated by 0.151 NPI points — today's winner likely cements at least one home playoff game, on top of the title berth
The program that came back from the dead
Central State is not supposed to be in this game, and that is not a figure of speech. The Marauders were a national power under Billy Joe and Rick Comegy — NAIA national champions in 1990, 1992 and 1995, and still the last HBCU program to win a national football title. Then the university dropped football in 1997. The program came back in 2005 and spent two decades as a footnote: before this season, Central State had not posted a winning record since that 1995 title team went 10-1.
Second-year head coach Tony Carter, the former Florida State and NFL defensive back hired to "bring back greatness," has the Marauders at 6-3 with five straight wins — the program's longest streak since 1995. A sixth today puts Central State in a conference championship game. History is not on their side in this specific building, though: Benedict has won four straight against Central State, including a 10-0 shutout last season, and the Marauders haven't beaten the Tigers since 2015.
Benedict's own history is more recent and more painful. The Tigers lost last year's SIAC Championship Game to Albany State. A win today is their fourth trip to the title game in five seasons — and a chance to finish the job at home next Saturday.
The other half settles an hour earlier
One berth is guaranteed in Columbia. The other runs through Frankfort, where Kentucky State (7-2, 6-1) — No. 1 in Super Region Two — hosts Morehouse (3-6, 3-4) at 1 p.m. ET. A Kentucky State win books the Thorobreds' place in the Nov. 14 final; the Columbia winner would then know its opponent before its own fourth quarter ends. (Tuskegee, at 5-2, is the one team still watching both games with a calculator.)
By about 5 p.m. ET, the SIAC Championship Game is set: Nov. 14, at the home of the higher seed. Benedict would host with a win. Everything else gets decided by who is still standing at sunset.
Today's SIAC watch list
- Morehouse at Kentucky State — 1:00 p.m. ET, Frankfort, Ky. (SIAC Network)
- Central State at Benedict — 2:00 p.m. ET, Columbia, S.C., ESPN+
Sources · 6 sources
- Benedict College Athletics — "Tigers Face Central State With Title Berth On The Line" (November 6, 2026); "Benedict Blanks Savannah State, 23-0" (October 31, 2026); the rankings and Defensive Player of the Week releases (November 3, 2026)
- SIAC — "Regular-Season Finale Sets Stage for SIAC Championship Showdown and NCAA Playoff Push" (November 5, 2026); Super Region Two NPI rankings release (November 1, 2026)
- HBCU Sports — "5 Games to Watch in Week 10 of the HBCU football season" (November 7, 2026)
- Sports Illustrated (HBCU) — "HBCU Football Week 10: Scores, How to Watch, TV, and Streaming Schedule" (November 7, 2026)
- Morehouse College Athletics — "Morehouse Looks to Finish Season Strong at Kentucky State" (November 7, 2026)
- Andscape — "30 years later, Central State remains the last HBCU to win a national title in football" (December 2, 2025)
The full HBCU slate — scores, previews and the road to the Nov. 14 title game — lives on the HBCU front.
