Staff report

SALISBURY —Livingstone College’s football team will play its final game of the season on Saturday against Johnson C. Smith.

Kickoff at Alumni Memorial Stadium is set for 2 p.m. for the Blue Bears (5-4) and Golden Bulls (8-1).

J.C. Smith is only allowing 13 points per game and is favored by 10 points by the Massey Ratings. The Golden Bulls, who have been ranked nationally in Division II for much of the season, are given a win probability against LC of  83 percent.

J.C. Smith is playing for a championship and a playoff berth, so there’s some pressure on the visitors. It’s Senior Day for the Blue Bears, who will be emotional and will be able to play unburdened by any sort of pressure.

J.C. Smith has won eight games for the first time since 1975 and has posted impressive and meaningful victories against Virginia State and Virginia Union, two of the CIAA’s top teams.

But the wheels fell off for the Golden Bulls last week against Fayetteville State in a 27-0 defeat. The FSU Broncos own J.C. Smith. J.C. Smith has beaten them only three times since 2000.

Livingstone fought hard in a 24-17 loss at Shaw last week. JyMikaah Wells, the former Salisbury star, scored his second and third TDs of the season. He’s carried 42 times for 147 yards.

J.C. Smith has won 10 of its last 13 meetings with Livingstone, but the Blue Bears have managed to split the last four, including an overtime win at home in 2022.

The series dates back to Dec. 27, 1892. Biddle Memorial Institute beat Livingstone 4-0 that day on a snow-covered cow pasture when touchdowns were worth four points. Biddle eventually became J.C. Smith. That pasture eventually became Livingstone’s front lawn. They put up a historic marker in 1956.

It was a different world in 1892 with the Biddle players traveling to Salisbury either by wagon or by segregated railroad car. Livingstone was able to raise the money to buy a single football for the game and also purchased one uniform. Livingstone’s home economics department then went to work. Using that uniform for a model, the ladies did enough sewing to outfit a full team.

After their victory — it was somewhat controversial, with a Livingstone touchdown being called back  — the Biddle players vowed to return soon, but “soon” turned out to be 20 years later in 1912.

That first tentative encounter in the snow was the start of something big. Livingstone vs. Biddle is regarded as the starting point for HBCU football. The origin of college football dates back to a Princeton-Rutgers game in 1869, but for Black college athletes, Salisbury, N.C., is where it all began, so it’s a significant event any time the Blue Bears and Golden Bulls go at it.