‘The family feud’: Aggie-Eagle Classic to take center stage in uptown for Duke’s Mayo Classic

CHARLOTTE — On Saturday night, North Carolina’s two largest historically Black universities will hit the gridiron for the 100th time in the annual Aggie-Eagle Classic and this year, the rivalry game will be played on Charlotte’s biggest stage.

The Duke’s Mayo Classic is taking over uptown with North Carolina A&T State University and North Carolina Central University set to faceoff at Bank of America Stadium.

The HBCUs are separated by 55 miles and share more than 100 years of history between them. Any meeting between the Aggies and Eagles has potential to be a big game.

“I like to call it the family feud,” Brian Holloway, the associate athletic director at NC A&T, told Channel 9′s DaShawn Brown.

This year, in a pair of firsts, HBCUs will headline the Duke’s Mayo Classic and the age-old rivalry between A&T and Central will be hosted at the home of the Carolina Panthers.

“You have opportunity to play in front of, you know, 50,000 people in a venue like the Panthers stadium and, you know, to have a great weekend,” said Trei Oliver, head football coach at NC Central.

The Charlotte Sports Foundation and 100 Black Men of Greater Charlotte, an organization that works within the community to enrich the lives of African-American youth, have been working with the universities to help capture the HBCU experience in the Queen City.

“I’m glad that HBCUs now are starting to get the recognition that they deserve, because they were absolutely essential to educating African-Americans and getting us to where we are now,” Holloway said.

Big game at Bank of America Stadium tomorrow night and the weather should cooperate. Just a low chance for a brief shower or downpour early. Otherwise just warm and muggy through the game. pic.twitter.com/Jmvx3ftfjD

On the opposite side of the rivalry, Kyle Serba, athletic director for NC Central said the spotlight is long overdue.

“It’s definitely a bitter rivalry in competition, but a friendly one outside of it. And let’s face it all comes down to education,” he told Channel 9. “There’s been a renewed focused on HBCUs with a lot of the social injustices that have been taking place recently and it’s definitely warranted.”

The countdown to the game is almost over. The Aggies and Eagles will kick off in primetime at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday.

“It’s great when you’re on campus (for the game) and then you see all the people,” Holloway said. “But when you take it outside of the campuses, everybody else gets a chance to see how special it is that the two largest HBCUs in North Carolina are coming together and what that means for the state and the culture.”

You can watch the game live via ESPN3 or on ESPNU later that night. Tickets are available on Ticketmaster or by contacting the CSF offices at Tickets@CharlotteSports.org.

Bubba Wallace North Carolina A&T State University and North Carolina Central University visited 23XI Racing in Mooresville on Thursday. Driver Bubba Wallace will be racing with the teams logos at Darlington Raceway.

Both teams visited the 23XI Racing headquarters Thursday in Mooresville.

The rivals found common ground and were thrilled to meet Northwest Cabarrus High School alum and driver Bubba Wallace.

“Bringing them here for a shop tour has given them some insight on what it’s like for us,” Wallace said. “And who knows, whenever they finish up with their football career, they could be in here working on cars putting cars on a race team than us.”

ALERT: Duke's Mayo Classic & Fanfest tomorrow at @BoAStadium_ will close roads starting at 11AM-11:30PM #clt #clttraffic #cltraffic pic.twitter.com/OwPw1dqhAe

They got a taste of making their mark on a stock car.

Wallace will race with both logos on his car this weekend at the Darlington Raceway.

“For our brand to be on Bubba Wallace’s car for the whole nation to see, you know, it’s unbelievable,” Oliver said.

“It sent chills through my bones,” said Sam Washington, head football coach at NC AT&T. “It really did. It still is.”

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