Football: Howard Bison visit North Carolina Central Eagles Saturday at 2 p.m.

The Howard Bison (4-4, 1-0 conference) travel to Durham, NC, to face the North Carolina Central Eagles (3-5, 1-0 conference) on Saturday, Oct. 31, 2026, at 2:00 p.m. ET at O'Kelly-Riddick Stadium. The game streams on ESPN+.

Where the Bison stand

Howard has won three of its last four games. The Bison beat Hampton 27-13 on Saturday, Oct. 3, and Morehouse College 31-17 at home on Saturday, Oct. 17. Last Saturday, Oct. 24, they beat Morgan State 26-20 in overtime on the road. In between, they lost 24-20 at Pennsylvania on Saturday, Oct. 10. Howard's other loss in that five-game span came on Friday, Sep. 25, 58-7 at Rutgers.

Quarterback Ja'Shawn Scroggins leads the Bison through the air, completing 98 of 196 passes for 1,092 yards with six touchdowns and five interceptions. Eden James leads the team on the ground with 51 carries for 317 yards and three touchdowns. Semaj Pierre has 24 catches for 240 yards.

On defense, Kaleb Gallop has a team-high 44 tackles and Rodney Roane leads with 3.5 sacks.

What the Eagles bring

North Carolina Central comes in off a 31-12 win at Delaware State on Friday, Oct. 23. Before that, the Eagles lost four straight: 44-20 at Gardner-Webb on Saturday, Sep. 19, 42-9 at East Carolina on Saturday, Sep. 26, 38-31 to Campbell at home on Saturday, Oct. 3, and 17-14 to William & Mary at home on Saturday, Oct. 10.

Nelson Layne leads the Eagles in passing, going 77 of 123 for 781 yards with four touchdowns and four interceptions. Gino Addison has 66 carries for 456 yards and three touchdowns, and Chance Peterson has 37 catches for 381 yards and a touchdown.

Defensively, Zarion Walters has 6.5 sacks and Joshua Truesdale has 55 tackles.

The setup

Both teams are 1-0 in conference play. The Eagles are at home, where they have played two of the games in the span above, both of them losses by seven points or fewer. Howard is on the road for the second straight week after winning at Morgan State in overtime.