Game Notes

HAMPTON, Va. – The Hampton University football team will look to get back into the win column on Saturday, returning to Armstrong Stadium for a 1 p.m. kickoff against North Carolina Central in the annual Military Appreciation Day.

It will be Hampton's sixth Military Appreciation Day, and the pre-game show will start at 12:30 p.m. Miniature American flags will be handed out, and the festivities will include a motorcycle parade of retired veterans.

Orange bins will also be on-site for non-perishable food donations to the FoodBank of the Peninsula.

The Pirates (3-6, 3-2 MEAC), in their fifth season under head coach Donovan Rose, had their three-game winning streak snapped on the road this past Saturday with a 30-27 loss to Morgan State, while the Eagles (4-5, 2-3 MEAC), under interim head coach Dwayne Foster, fell 38-14 to No. 13 Bethune-Cookman this past Saturday.

For the season, freshman quarterback Bryan Bailey (Woodruff, S.C.) is 53-for-98 through the air for 665 yards and six touchdowns. He is completing 54.1 percent of his passes and has a team-best efficiency rating of 110.83. He has at least one touchdown pass in the four games he's started.

Senior running back Antwon Chisholm (Belle Glade, Fla.) is seventh in the MEAC with 3.7 receptions per game.

Senior linebacker Delbert Tyler (Monroeville, Pa.) is currently second in the MEAC in tackles, averaging 11.4 per game, and his 103 stops lead the team. Tyler has 355 career tackles, leaving him 34 shy of the all-time program record of 389 set by Gareth Brooks.

Senior defensive back Carvin Johnson (New Orleans, La.) is currently tied for fifth in the MEAC in tackles, averaging 9.8 per game, and he is second on the team with 88 tackles so far this season – 53 of which were solo efforts.

Sophomore linebacker Joshua Thorne (Oxon Hill, Md.) is eighth in the MEAC in tackles, averaging 9.5 per contest. He is third on the team with 82 tackles so far this season, 44 of which are solo efforts.

Sophomore defensive end Miles Grooms (Richmond, Va.) has been a force in the backfield this season, currently ranking third in the MEAC in tackles for loss (13.0 for 71 yards) and fourth in the MEAC in sacks (7.5 total, 0.83 per game). He had a team-high 3.5 sacks in a 30-7 win over Delaware State on Oct. 26, and he leads the Pirates with 15 quarterback hurries and four forced fumbles so far this season.

The Pirates are 17-8 all-time against the Eagles, even though NCCU snapped Hampton's eight-game winning streak in the series last season with a 37-20 win in Durham, N.C. From 1984-2011, the Pirates won eight straight against the Eagles, but before that, NCCU had defeated Hampton five straight times.

This series dates back to 1924, and the Pirates won the first nine meetings. Hampton is 5-3 against the Eagles at home.

The Pirates are 197-167-6 all-time against schools currently competing in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) after going 3-5 in the conference last season. Hampton is 9-9 against Bethune-Cookman; 25-14 against Delaware State; 8-13 against Florida A&M; 47-41-1 against Howard; 24-37-2 against Morgan State; 25-25-1 against Norfolk State; 26-15-2 against North Carolina A&T; 17-6 against North Carolina Central; 5-0 against Savannah State; and 11-7 against South Carolina State.

For his career as head coach, Rose is 14-9 at Armstrong Stadium. The Pirates are 2-1 at home so far this season, having fallen 30-27 to Tennessee Tech back on Sept. 14 before beating North Carolina A&T 31-26 on Oct. 12 and taking care of Delaware State 30-7 back on Oct. 26.

For more information on Hampton University football, please call the Office of Sports Information at (757) 727-5811, or visit the official Pirates website at www.hamptonpirates.com.