Sports: Oh, yeah, mon, B-CC heads to the islands

Oh, yeah, mon, B-CC heads to the islands

By JAMAL THALJI

New Orleans for the Sugar Bowl. Miami for the Orange Bowl. Honolulu for the Aloha and Oahu bowls.

None of those are trips Bethune-Cookman will make this season.

The Wildcats aren't lacking for exotic locales to visit, however. B-CC has a road game in Nassau, Bahamas, on Saturday.

Yes, that Bahamas.

B-CC and Morgan State meet at 7 p.m. in the Bahamas' first college football game in nine years.

The Wildcats played in the inaugural 1991 game, a 51-13 victory over Morris Brown, that first introduced Bahamians to a live exhibition of the sport. B-CC had to ship goal posts from Miami for the game at Thomas Robinson Stadium.

This time the 12,000-capacity soccer stadium will be equipped with its own goal posts. There is also a crowded itinerary for the Wildcats' players, band, fans and alumni.

The bill is estimated to be more than $200,000 and is being footed by local hotels, businesses and the Bahamas Minister of Tourism, a government agency.

The idea was the brainchild of promoter Carlos Mackey. Together with Nate Clay, whose First Choice Tickets, Tours and Travel agency in Fort Lauderdale is helping organize and sponsor the game, they hope to make it an annual black college football event, with either B-CC or FAMU participating.

Clay, a Cleveland native, first visited the island two decades ago, and he envies the B-CC players making their first trip this week.

"I never knew what the islands were about until I came down here in '78," he said. "Some of these kids have never seen it before. So we're just trying to show them that, hey, it's a beautiful country down here.

"Some of these guys might not get to a bowl game or get a chance to experience another county."

It's still a business trip, though. B-CC is coming off a 14-9 win over Morris Brown. Entering this Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference game, the Wildcats are 4-0 for the first time since 1976.

NO OPTION: Before the William and Mary game, a quarterback controversy seemed to be brewing at Central Florida (2-2) between struggling starter Vic Penn and redshirt freshman Ryan Schneider.

Penn enjoyed his best game of the season in Saturday's 52-7 rout at the Florida Citrus Bowl, completing 11 of 19 passes for 163 yards and two touchdowns to help the Knights to a 14-7 lead.

Now, he'll be out for at least a month and Schneider will get the start.

The reason: Penn was injured on the first series of the third quarter while running the option, separating his left, non-throwing shoulder. In relief, Schneider was 8-for-16 for 115 yards and three touchdowns.

Afterward, Penn wondered what coach Mike Kruczek was thinking.

"He likes to run the option," Penn told the Orlando Sentinel. "He likes to run it and see what happens. And what happens is you hurt your quarterback."

Will Penn return to finish his senior season? He has to heal first, and while Kruczek has said he doesn't think injuries should cost a starter his job, he did not commit to playing a healthy Penn again this season.

The play was designed to counter a blitz, Kruczek said, which did not console Penn.

"One play I'm supposed to be (Nebraska quarterback) Eric Crouch," Penn told the Sentinel. "The next play I'm supposed to drop back and be Dan Marino."

RECORD DEAL: While FAMU (4-0) roughed up Tennessee State 21-6 at the Georgia Dome on Saturday, wideout Jacquay Nunnally continued his pursuit of Jerry Rice's Division I-A record for career receptions.

Nunnally caught nine passes for 113 yards. He has 256 career receptions, climbing from 13th to 12th on the chart, 46 catches shy of Rice's record of 301. With five games left, Nunnally needs to average more than nine receptions to tie the record.