North Carolina A&T coach: Nothing is given in college football

GREENSBORO, NC — North Carolina A&T head coach Vincent Brown Sr. walked into his weekly press conference with a home win for the first time in his tenure, and he felt good about it.

NC A&T survived a scare against long-time rival Winston-Salem State on Saturday night, forcing overtime on a last-second field goal and coming up with a 27-20 in front of a sellout crowd of 21,500 . He spoke in front of a group relieved and hopeful supporters, and said he was happy about the win, despite WSSU’s Division II status.

“I know some people might look at it and say, well, you guys were supposed to win,” Brown told the crowd. “In college football, there are no givens. There are no givens. Just ask Marcus Freeman and the Notre Dame Fighting Irish who lost in Northern Illinois this weekend. There are no givens. Each and every week you have to come out and play your absolute best.”

Brown acknowledged that his team didn’t quite play its best, but it did show composure and resilience in fighting back from a late deficit to turn the tide of the game.

“I am so proud of our players and the way they fought back. It would have been very easy to get down on themselves when Winston scored late in the fourth quarter to take the lead. But our kids maintained their composure. We knew we had put countless hours into preparing for a two minute situation. as that ended up playing out.”

NC A&T finished the game with 408 yards of total offense, but WSSU averaged 5.3 yards per carry themselves and stopped its Division I rival on the one-yard line to shift momentum in its favor for a time. Brown says WSSU came ready to play, and made his team battle.

“This is a long rivalry game. A long and storied rivalry. And so, you gotta give Winston-Salem State credit,” Brown said. “They came out amped up and really well prepared and gave us all we could handle there.”

The win was the first at home for Brown since taking over the NC A&T program prior to the 2023 season and just the second overall in 13 games.

“But you know, the lessons for us is that there’s going to be these ebbs and flow and you can’t lose your composure,” Brown said. “And like I said to the players yesterday, big time players make big time plays in big time moments. And so we had some kids to step up and make plays at the right time.”

NC A&T will look to build off that momentum when it returns home to face a powerful Delaware program. The school is in its final season in the CAA as it prepares to make the jump to the FBS.

“It’s always good to be able to come back here and play. We got great fans. We’ve got great fan support — it’s a great environment here,” Brown said. “You don’t have the logistical hurdles of traveling — getting on busses and riding up to Delaware. It’s a pretty lengthy bus ride. It’s nice that we don’t have to deal with that. We can relax and just kind of focus on preparing to play.”

The Aggies had a few key players leave the game against the Rams with injuries. Karon Prunty, an All-CAA cornerback and potential All-American went down late in the fourth quarter with neck soreness, but Brown says he’s doing better and is expected to play against Delaware. Running back Kenji Christian went out with a lower-leg injury. Brown said he’s not sure of his status at this point.

Kickoff against Delaware is scheduled for 1 PM on Saturday at Truist Stadium.

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