BATON ROUGE — Florida A&M head coach Willie Simmons gathered his players near the 50-yard line at the end of the third quarter at A.W. Mumford Stadium. The Rattlers, which trailed for nearly the entire first half of Saturday’s game, were clinging to a 23–17 lead against Southern.
Moments away from the fourth quarter starting, Southern fans danced, swayed side to side and shook their blue and yellow pompoms to the music over the jumbotron as if they were on Bourbon Street on a Saturday night. The raucous atmosphere—between the music from the scoreboard or FAMU’s “Marching 100” and Southern’s Human Jukebox exchanging R&B hits and old-school melodies—it was what Simmons had prepared his players for all week.
“Southern will be fiery and excited ... That’s what makes the SWAC the conference everyone wants to be a part of because of these types of games,” Simmons said during the weekly coaches press conference.
Starting the fourth quarter, the Jaguars were looking to tie or perhaps take the lead in the game with a touchdown. After scoring 17 points in the first half, SU was shutout in the third quarter.
Coming off a game-winning field goal to defeat Alcorn State a week ago, the Jaguars hoped to keep their chances of making an appearance in the SWAC Championship game alive. To do so, the Jaguars needed to defeat FAMU, earn wins over Jackson State and Grambling in the Bayou Classic, plus earn some help from other teams.
From the Rattlers’ 45, the Jaguars’ hope of staying in the conference title hunt became slimmer when the ball was snapped over the head of Jaguars punter Martell Fontenot, forcing him to make a mad dash down the field before picking up an illegal touching penalty for kicking the ball out of bounds.
That special teams miscue coupled with Jags struggle to execute on offense in the second half played in favor of Rattlers. FAMU took over from Southern’s 3-yard-line with 13:26 to play. For a moment, Southern still had a chance after the Jags came up with three consecutive goal line stops defensively. But, on a fourth down and the Rattlers needing one yard to score, the SU recorded back-to-back offside penalties before FAMU running back Jaylen McCloud pushed his way into the end zone, giving the Rattlers a 29–17 advantage and the additional cushion in the victory.
“It was a good win and it’s always tough to win on the road,” Simmons said in press conference after the game. “Mumford Stadium is one of the toughest stadiums in the SWAC. “First half we. Went toe-to-toe, and at halftime, the defensive staff did a great job of making adjustments to shut them [Jaguars] out in the second half.”
FAMU (7–2, 5–1) entered Saturday’s game with defensive end Isaiah Land leading the FCS in sacks (averaging 1.5 per game), a defensive unit that ranks in the top 30 in FCS in 13 defensive categories. The Rattlers’ defense held the Jaguars to 61 yards of offense in the second half, held SU’s rushing attack (12th in FCS) to 90 yards and recorded their seventh time of holding an opposing offense to under 300 yards.
Along with the defense, FAMU’s featured its lethal rushing attack behind the legs of Bishop Bonnett—who gashed the Jags defense for 106 yards on 16 carries—and Terrell Jennings, who finished with 15 yards on six carries. However, FAMU’s running game was not the only offensive source in the Rattlers earning their sixth consecutive victory.
Quarterback Rasean McKay finished with 231 yards and two touchdowns against a Jaguars’ defense plagued by injuries. On the other end of McKay’s completions were the RAC Boys 2.0—a phrase coined from the initial RAC (receiving yards after catch) Boyz from the days when Jacquay Nunnally, Cainon Lamb, Cedric Mitchell and Demetris Bendross gave fits to opposing secondaries under then Rattlers coach Billy Joe’s Gulf Coast Offense.
Jah’Marae Sheread (86 yards), Xavier Smith (77), Chad Hunter (37) made up the core of the Rattlers 227 receiving yards and 99 yards after the catch. David Manigo finished with 14 yards, while Kamari Young recorded 13 and a touchdown.
“It was a great team win, and we did what needed to do to improve our record,” Simmons said.
Ahead of Saturday’s game, Simmons told reporters that his team was meshing together at the perfect moment. From the running game taking form, to getting players back healthy and the team finding its identity.
“It took us a little time to do that but we are hitting our stride,” Simmons said ahead of the game.
As November football continues to unfold for the Rattlers, it will give Simmons and his players more chances to separate themselves from the pack in the SWAC. Over the last six weeks, sitting second behind Jackson State (8–1, 6–0) in the SWAC East division race, the Rattlers have not given up on their goal to compete for a conference title.
When we came into the conference, we dubbed it the FCS SEC, one thing you know about the SEC, there are no weeks off,” Simmons said. “The same can be said about this [SWAC] conference, we’ve had tough games in every conference game.
“We’ve kind of been in the playoff mindset for the past five weeks. To go to championships and play, you have to play well in November. This is what everyone remembers.”
The Rattlers have two more games—against Arkansas Pine Bluff and Bethune Cookman—to finish the journey with hopes of finding a way to earn a spot in the SWAC Championship game.
