Other than winning the school’s first playoff game, being the first team to go unbeaten in consecutive seasons might have been the only thing that had not been done, and that had not been accomplished since Alabama A&M head coach Connell Maynor did it for Winston-Salem State in 2012 and 2013.

The Tigers were preseason selected to repeat as champions, but would they be better than the 2022 team, in the newly formatted SIAC, which dissolved divisions and gave the top best regular season teams a shot at the conference title regardless of their location, was the question on everyone’s mind.

In 2023, Benedict’s offense averaged 39.75 points per game and their defense allowed 10.67 points per game. That’s an improvement of over 4 points per game and an allowance of less than 2 points from a year ago. Among other HBCU schools in Division-II, the Tigers were the highest scoring offense. Nationally within Division-II, the Tigers had the top scoring defense, allowed the fewest yards per play (only team to allow less than 4 yards), and top red zone defense, while being in the top 5 in many other defensive categories.

Benedict opened the season with consecutive shutouts and only allowing one score in the first three games, while outsourcing their opponents 134-7. The next two games would not be any better for opponents as the Tigers defense began to clearly assert themselves as one of the best in the nation as they allowed just a field goal in each of those games. Through five games, the Tigers had outscored their opponents 192-13

After leading Miles 21-9 through three quarters, the dream of perfection nearly ended in Fairfield, AL as the Golden Bears would capitalize on some uncharacteristic mistakes and score twice in the last quarter to gain a 24-21 lead. But, championship teams answer back and that’s what Benedict did, driving 87 yards on 12 plays in 5:19 to regain the lead 27-24 with 2:25 to play.

After the dominant start and close finish, the Tigers would put over 100 points on the scoreboard the following two weeks thanks in large part to a 63-14 victory over Kentucky State for Homecoming. The 63 points were the most since the school scored 65 points in the 60s and the 3rd most in school history, according to records.

Benedict's reign over the SIAC continued through the championship game with a 48-10 victory over Albany State to give them 17 consecutive wins against conference opponents and the most players on the all-conference team, 10, with seven on the first-team, including the Coach of the Year (Berry) and Defensive Player of the Year (Loobert Denelus). It was the second consecutive year Berry and Denelus won that award.

The win in the SIAC Championship game secured consecutive 11-0 seasons and put Benedict in rare space alongside other historic HBCU football teams that have not only won consecutive conference championships, but unbeaten seasons.

The Tigers hosted the second-round of the Division-II playoffs for the second consecutive season and held a 19-14 halftime lead over Lenoir-Rhyne University. Unfortunately, Benedict was outscored 21-6 in the second half bringing an end to the Chennis Berry era. Berry would be hired as the next head coach at South Carolina State and the successor to legendary coach, Buddy Pough, a month later.

Benedict’s historic run will live as one of the greatest turnarounds as they went from 1-9 in 2019, prior to Coach Berry’s arrival to consecutive national championship seasons.  

Congratulations to Coach Chennis Berry and Benedict College, the 2023 Black College Sports Network Non-DI HBCU Football National Champions.

1. Benedict (11-1, 756)

2. Virginia Union (10-2, 747)

3. Fort Valley State (8-2, 690)

4. Virginia State (8-2, 612)

5. Florida Memorial (6-4, 611)

6. Miles (7-3, 579)

7. Fayetteville State (8-3, 520)

8. Tuskegee (7-4, 518)

9. Edward Waters (6-4, 517)

10. Johnson C. Smith (7-4, 503)

2023 - Benedict College

2022 - Benedict College

2021 - Bowie State University

2020 - No rankings due to pandemic

2019 - Bowie State University

2018 - Bowie State University

The BCSN Rankings are a computer-based algorithm that takes into account items such as, record, strength of schedule, opponent strength of schedule, site of competition, and margin of victory. Total maximum points is 1,000. The Computer Power Rankings are released after four weeks of play so that enough data may be collected. The Black College Sports Network released its first Computer Power Rankings in 2018.

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