After a disheartening loss to North Carolina Central University this past weekend, the North Carolina A&T Aggies are shifting their focus to another HBCU rival, former Mid-Eastern Atlantic Conference foe South Carolina State(SC State), now coached by Chennis Berry.

“The only chance we have is if we stay together,” A&T Head Coach Vincent Brown said in their postgame interview. “If we let the adversity we experienced tonight impact us the rest of the season, it’s going to be a long 2024.”

The rivalry dates back to 1958, when the two schools first met. SC State leads the series with 32 wins to 14 losses. The Aggies have won the last seven meetings since 2015, including a 41-27 victory in Greensboro in 2022.

This will be the Aggies' first matchup against SC State since Brown became the 20th head coach. Brown's Aggies are 2-13 since his arrival and are looking to secure a win this Saturday. In a press conference Monday, Brown addressed his responsibility for the loss and how the team plans to stop the Bulldogs.

“There are a tremendous amount of people we let down with that performance on Saturday. I 100% own it,” Brown said. “When your quarterback has a great day, your team has a great day, so our job is to make sure their quarterback doesn’t have a great day.”

With starting quarterback Kevin White sidelined due to an injury sustained in the last game, backup Justin Fomby will step in.

The Aggies currently rank last in the Coastal Athletic Association conference in offensive efficiency, 12th in defensive efficiency, 11th in offensive yards (1,356), and last in yards allowed (1,859).

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They will face a Bulldogs team coming off a bye week after suffering a 42-14 loss to Georgia Southern. Berry, during the MEAC coaches conference, expressed confidence in his team's readiness for the Aggies.

“We’ll be locked in and ready to go. We probably had our best week of practice. Honestly, guys got better,” Berry said. “We’re not worried about what happened in the past; we have to focus on the team we’re getting ready to play this week.”

The Aggies will need to contain the running ability of Deondra Duehart, who scored two touchdowns last game but has only 228 rushing yards on the season.

If the Aggies can hold SC State's offense in check, they could leave South Carolina with newfound momentum for their season.

The game is scheduled to kick off at 6 p.m. in Orangeburg, South Carolina, and can be streamed on the FloSports network.