Durham, NC—Howard University had its best offensive effort of the season, rolling up almost 500 yards of total offense, but in the end, North Carolina Central made just enough timely plays to escape with a 27-22 win over the Bison in a Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference game at O'Kelly Riddick Stadium.  The loss left Howard (1-5, 0-3 MEAC) winless in the conference while the Eagles (2-3, 1-0 MEAC) won their first MEAC game of the season.

The Bison got on the board first when Greg McGhee mixed up the plays on a 13-play, 60-yard drive.  The offense bogged down, however and had to settle for 26-yard John Fleck field goal at the beginning of the second quarter.

NC Central countered with a five-play drive that covered 69 yards.  The clincher was a 44-yard hookup between Adrian Wilkins, the MEAC leading receiver coming into the game, who got behind the Bison secondary and hauled in a 44-yard TD pass from Malcolm Bell.

The two teams took turns coming away with empty possessions until NC Central had what was perhaps the play that turned the game around.  With 14 ticks left on the clock before the half, Delqwan Jackson split two Bison defenders and grabbed a pass that he turned into a 43-yard TD.  The Eagles led 14-3 at the half.

"It was very huge, a missed opportunity," said Howard Coach Gay Harrell. "Their first TD was off of miscommunication within the secondary. Guys were wide open for a TD. The second TD, guys were in position to make a play and they don't make the plays. Then they came back and got the ball after halftime. That set of points really hurt, that's one thing I didn't want. I at least wanted to go into halftime 7-3. So going down 14-3 was a big big issue for us."

The Bison got on the board in the third quarter when McGhee put together a nine-play, 65-yard drive that was capped off with a six-yard toss to running back Aquanius Freeman.  The PAT failed and Howard trailed, 14-9.

The Bison seemed to finally have some momentum when they stopped the Eagles on their ensuing possession, but William Parker fumbled and gave NC Central a short field at the Howard 21.  It took the Eagles five plays with Andre Clarke bolting in from a yard out to extend the lead to 20-9 at the five-minute mark of the third quarter.

NC Central was able to extend its lead when Bell tossed his third TD of the game, this to Quentin Atkinson from 15 yards on the first play of the fourth quarter.  William Parker scored from four yards with 6:22 left to cut the deficit.  Howard was able to get the ball back but the Eagles dashed their hopes with an interception.

"We came out with a slow start," said Harrell. "We can't keep putting ourselves in that situation down by 14 points, That's when we try to turn it on and play good football. Just too many mistakes, too many opportunities missed on the offensive side of the football. Too many missed tackles; it's the same things we've been trying to get corrected with these young guys and the injuries that we have. But the team keeps fighting and we have to figure it out. We've got to get a win

Robert Mercer caught a one-yard pass from McGhee as time expired.

Lost in the defeat was the effort of McGhee, who accounted for 378 yards of total offense.  The senior became the second all-time career offensive yard leader in MEAC history, behind Ted White, who has 9,845 yards.

The Howard receivers, who have been plagued with dropped passes in recent weeks, had their best day as a unit.  Richard Aiyegoro caught a career-high eight passes, Matt Colvin and Parker, each with five as McGhee connected with 10 different receivers.  Howard controlled the clock for almost 35 minutes.

"The same old thing; we were just more consistent this week with catching the ball," explained McGhee. "It was more of a rhythm on offense and today it showed a lot. We caught the ball well. We had a couple drops but that's the game of football.".

Bell led the NC Central attack with 66 yards rushing and 20 of 30 passing for 245 yards and three TDs.
 
The Bison will try to snap their current losing streak when they travel to Daytona Beach, FL to take on the Wildcats of Bethune Cookman at 4 pm.