NC Central Beats Delaware State 31-12 as Gino Addison Runs for 214 Yards in MEAC Opener

North Carolina Central had lost four straight games, two of them by a field goal or a touchdown, and spent most of October finding new ways to almost win. On a Friday night in Dover, the Eagles stopped flirting with it. They handed the ball to a freshman, leaned on the freshman until Delaware State broke, and turned the MEAC opener into a statement.

NC Central beat Delaware State 31-12 at Alumni Stadium on Oct. 23, scoring 31 straight points after falling behind 6-0 in the first quarter. Freshman running back Gino Addison carried 31 times for 214 yards and two touchdowns, the best night of a young career, and the Eagles ran for 272 yards as a team.

NCCU improved to 3-5 and 1-0 in the MEAC. Delaware State fell to 4-4 and 0-1, losing at home for the first time this season.

A strange start, then a long night for the Hornets

The opening minutes were chaos. Delaware State threw an interception on the game's first drive, then immediately got the ball back by forcing a fumble on the return. Kyree Benton turned that gift into points, ripping off a 26-yard touchdown run for a 6-0 Hornets lead.

That was the last time Delaware State led, and for a long stretch, the last time it scored. Later in the first quarter, Zion Dobson punched in a 5-yard touchdown run, and freshman kicker Riley Daniels added the extra point for a 7-6 NCCU lead with 4:36 left in the opening frame. Daniels pushed it to 10-6 with a 25-yard field goal with 3:05 left in the half.

A four-point halftime lead is not exactly comfortable. But the way NCCU was controlling the line of scrimmage, it felt bigger than that.

The drive that broke it open

If you want the one sequence that decided this game, it came right out of the locker room. NCCU took the second-half kickoff and went 75 yards in 16 plays, burning 8:34 off the clock. Addison finished it by going straight up the middle from 6 yards out, and with 6:26 left in the third quarter, the Eagles led 17-6.

That drive did two things at once. It put NCCU up two scores, and it kept a Delaware State offense that had already been struggling stuck on the sideline for most of the quarter. By the time the Hornets got the ball back, the game had a completely different shape.

Addison added the knockout early in the fourth quarter, a 16-yard touchdown run with 13:35 remaining that capped a seven-play, 71-yard drive and made it 24-6.

The Eagles then got some help. A punt and an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty handed NCCU prime field position late in the game, and quarterback Cobey Thompkins found tight end Luke Bracey for a 21-yard touchdown to make it 31-6 with 2:06 to go. Delaware State scored a late touchdown to make the final 31-12, but by then it was cosmetic.

Gino Addison, freshman workhorse

There are big games, and then there are games where a freshman running back carries the ball 31 times on the road in a conference opener and scores both touchdowns after halftime. Addison had the second kind.

The 214 yards were a career high, and it was Addison's second straight 100-yard game. Over the last two weeks, Addison has 383 yards on 53 carries. The honors piled up fast. The MEAC named Addison both its Offensive Player of the Week and Rookie of the Week, Stats Perform made Addison its FCS National Freshman Player of the Week, and BOXTOROW named Addison its HBCU National Co-Player of the Week. It was Addison's second MEAC Rookie of the Week nod this season and first conference Offensive Player of the Week award.

The line in front of Addison deserves its share. Offensive lineman Victor Goree was named the MEAC's Offensive Lineman of the Week after earning a 93 percent blocking grade with three pancake blocks. When your offensive line plays like that, a 16-play, 75-yard drive in the second half of a road game starts to look routine.

Thompkins was efficient around all of it, throwing for 155 yards and the late touchdown to Bracey. NCCU finished with 427 total yards and averaged just over six yards per play, its second straight 400-yard game.

The defense flipped the script

For all the attention on Addison, the NCCU defense did something just as important. After that early Benton touchdown, it took Delaware State's offense out of the game.

Freshman defensive back Amari Sifford had both of NCCU's interceptions, giving Sifford three for the season. Defensive lineman Zarion Walters was named MEAC Defensive Player of the Week after posting six solo tackles, two tackles for loss and a sack. NCCU finished with three sacks and two takeaways and held Delaware State scoreless in the second and third quarters.

The Eagles came into the night with a habit of taking the ball away, and it showed. They now have 10 interceptions and 18 takeaways on the season.

The stats that matter

The best way to understand this game is through time. NCCU held the ball for more than 37 minutes. It ran up 28 first downs, converted both of its fourth-down tries and put together scoring drives of 15 and 16 plays that ate more than 15 combined minutes. Delaware State, meanwhile, went 1-for-8 on third down and finished with 257 total yards against NCCU's 427.

That is how a 10-6 game at halftime becomes 31-12. You do not have to blow anybody away when the other offense barely gets the ball. NCCU has now posted back-to-back games of 200 rushing yards and 400 total yards, and three 200-yard rushing games on the season. The full numbers are in the official box score (opens in a new tab).

A little payback

This one had some history behind it. Last season, Delaware State came back from a halftime deficit to beat NCCU 35-26 in Durham, which was a sore spot for a program that has otherwise owned this series. With Friday's result, NCCU has won 11 of the last 13 meetings, and head coach Trei Oliver improved to 6-1 against the Hornets. Oliver is also now two wins shy of 50 career victories.

What it means

The four-game skid had a nasty context. NCCU lost to Gardner-Webb and East Carolina, then dropped a 38-31 heartbreaker to a ranked Campbell team and a 17-14 rain-soaked Homecoming game to William & Mary. None of that counts in the MEAC standings. The Eagles are 1-0 in league play, and their conference title hopes are fully intact.

The schedule got real from there. Next was a Halloween home game against Howard at O'Kelly-Riddick Stadium, followed by trips to Norfolk State on Nov. 7 and South Carolina State on Nov. 14 and a home finale against Morgan State on Nov. 21. NCCU's full recap is here (opens in a new tab).

For Delaware State, this stings. The Hornets had been unbeaten at Alumni Stadium, with home wins over Stony Brook, Bowie State, Towson and Franklin Pierce, while all three of their losses came on the road. Friday was the first time this season Dover did not protect them. The Hornets had to regroup quickly: next on the schedule was a Halloween game against Norfolk State at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia, followed by a home game against Morgan State and road trips to Howard and South Carolina State.

The last word

NCCU has spent half a season being close. Close against Campbell. Close against William & Mary. Close does not count in the standings, and the Eagles knew it.

On Friday, they stopped being close. They found a freshman who can carry an offense, an offensive line that can carry the freshman and a defense that can make one early mistake stand alone. That is a formula that travels in the MEAC. If Addison keeps running like this, the conference race just got a lot more interesting.

Sources: NC Central Athletics recap, game notes and MEAC weekly honors release, Delaware State Athletics schedule and results, and BVM Sports. More college football coverage on Undrafted.