CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Some wins don’t just change a season. They can change a program’s memory. This weekend, HBCU Gameday’s Brick x Brick with JCSU Football — the “HBCU Hard Knocks” that lives in the tight shots, raw audio, and real emotion most broadcasts never catch — premieres one of the most powerful episodes of the entire series.
It’s titled “Déjà Vu.” And it earns the name.
Déjà Vu isn’t a theme — it’s a moment
Back in 2023, Johnson C. Smith arrived in Fayetteville staring up at a familiar giant. Fayetteville State was the defending CIAA champion. JCSU was the rising program fighting through its first real winning season in a decade.
The game ended with a gut-punch: 4th-and-long, chance to tie — and it slipped away.
In 2025, JCSU returned to Luther “Nick” Geralds Stadium, and the script tried to repeat itself. Late. Tight. Tension everywhere. And once again, the Golden Bulls found themselves facing 4th-and-long with the game hanging in the balance.
Only this time, they didn’t flinch.
A rivalry that hits different
“Anytime you can get a win over Fayetteville State… It’s a big deal,” the episode opens, setting the tone for what this matchup means inside the walls of JCSU football.
Because for head coach Maurice Flowers, Fayetteville State wasn’t just another opponent — it was the one hurdle that still stood in the way.
As the HBCU Go broadcast voice notes in the episode, Flowers had built a winner in Charlotte, but he “has never beaten Fayetteville State.”
And when the team buses pulled up, the episode immediately shows what “another opportunity” really looks like in the CIAA.
The behind-the-scenes detail you don’t get on TV
Brick x Brick doesn’t just show you the game. It shows you the edges of it — the parts that live in the shadows of the stadium.
In “Déjà Vu,” the Golden Bulls’ pregame walk-through in Fayetteville showed exactly what they’re working with: the visitor setup, the makeshift feel, the kind of small disrespect that can either distract you or lock you in.
Coach Flowers makes the message plain:
Nothing gets them off focus.
“We ain’t here for a locker room… we’re here for what happens on this field,” he tells his team.
And then the episode shows them turning that mindset into momentum — pregame energy, sideline intensity, and the kind of togetherness you can’t fake.
Three quarters of control… and then the storm
On paper, JCSU controlled the night, taking a 10–0 lead into halftime, wearing Fayetteville State down with long, physical drives, and setting the tone defensively with discipline and swagger.
But “Déjà Vu” doesn’t let you stay comfortable. It builds the tension the way the players felt it — because the CIAA doesn’t hand you clean wins.
A muffed punt swings momentum. Fayetteville State lands a score. The sideline energy flips. Then comes the eerily familiar late-game gut punch: a 52-yard touchdown strike that puts JCSU down 14–10 with time slipping away.
And that’s where the episode earns its title.
Because everyone remembers what happened the last time.
“Last year they lost to Fayetteville State,” the broadcast says. “They said they’re mentally tougher this year… well, we’re going to find out how mentally tough they are.”
4th-and-long… and the program answers
The final drive plays like a test of everything JCSU football has built “brick x brick” over the past few seasons.
No panic. No folding. Just survival.
The episode catches it in real time: the sideline commands, the urgency, the belief. And when that 4th-and-long arrives again — the exact kind of moment that once ended the story — JCSU finds a way to keep it alive.
Seconds later, the finish hits like release: Bobby T. Smith powers into the end zone in the final moments, a walk-off touchdown that flips heartbreak into redemption.
“Wow. What a way to finish it,” the call says, as the sideline erupts and the weight finally lifts.
“It’s okay for a man to cry.”
The most unforgettable part of “Déjà Vu” isn’t the touchdown.
It’s what happens after.
During the post-game speech, Coach Flowers breaks down into tears as he tells his team what this game really meant — not just for the standings, but for life.
“Hey… it’s okay for a man to cry,” he says, before turning the win into a lesson about obstacles, mistakes, pressure, and sticking together even when things go sideways.
He tells them they didn’t play perfect. They had turnovers, penalties, and adversity — and still finished.
“That’s life,” he says. “I’m proud of it.”
That’s Brick x Brick. That’s the “HBCU Hard Knocks” difference. It’s not just a recap. It’s a window into what a program becomes when the moment returns — and the foundation doesn’t crack.
When to watch
“Déjà Vu” premieres Sunday at 1:00 p.m. ET on the HBCU Gameday YouTube channel, taking viewers inside JCSU football’s most emotional win of the season — a rivalry, a flashback, and a 4th-and-long moment that finally ends the right way.