By: Florida A&M Sports Information
TAMPA, Fla. (Sept. 5) – The Florida A&M Rattlers opened the Coach Alex Wood Era here Saturday with a gutsy effort in their 51-3 loss to the University of South Florida at Raymond James Stadium Saturday night.
While the final score might give the impression of a runaway win for the homestanding Bulls (1-0), FAMU showed some mettle on defense, keeping the Bulls at bay most of the first half before fatigue finally set in.
Head coach Alex Wood feels the game provided an evaluation of several aspects of his team. “Obviously we’ve got a lot of work to do. We’ve got to go back and evaluate where that work needs to be. Offense was one of those areas. We knew coming in what some of our shortcomings were, but until we played we didn’t know exactly where they were,” Wood said.
Offensively, the Rattlers struggled despite matching the Bulls for total plays (72), as they finished with 182 total yards, 170 through the air, while USF piled up 550 yards in offense.
Junior quarterback Kenneth Coleman came on in the second half in relief of starter Carson Royal, who suffered from body cramps, hitting 14 of 29 passes for 135 yards, while finishing as FAMU’s top rusher with 23 yards on eight carries.
Brandon Norwood led FAMU with seven catches for 51 yards, followed by Devondrick Nealy, who had four grabs for 56 yards.
Nealy had an all-purpose night, with two kickoff returns for 53 yards and two punt runbacks for 19 yards.
FAMU’s linebacking duo of Akil Blount (11) and Kashawn Butler (7) led the FAMU defense in tackles. Blount took positives from tonight’s defeat and looks to reload for next week. “As the leaders on this team, we’ve got to get our younger guys to concentrate on the next game. We want to make a much better showing, so we need to go back and focus on what we are supposed to do. From there, the rest of the game will take care of itself,” Blount said.
At the start, the game quickly turned into a battle of field position, as the Rattlers couldn’t get out of their half. Emili Nadelman’s 22-yard field goal gave USF a 3-0 lead after the first quarter.
Momentum clearly swung the Bulls way in the second period, as they scored two touchdowns via the Quinto Flowers to D’Errie Johnson connection, the first a 22-yard strike with 7:24 left in the half, and the second, a 45-yarder with 1:16 before the half.
The Bulls came out determined to put distance between themselves and FAMU to start the second half, taking the opening kickoff and driving 66 yards in just three plays in 56 seconds, boosting their lead to 23-0.
FAMU, which had just 23 yards of total offense at the break to 273 for USF, changed quarterbacks in the third period, going with junior Kenny Coleman.
But without any passing game and a ground attack that was stymied by the USF front six, the Rattlers struggled to move the ball, having to punt it away for the ninth time.
USF went 71 yards in five plays on their next possession, with reserve QB Steven Bench capping the drive with a 62-yard scoring pass to Elkanah Dillon for a 30-0 lead.
The Rattlers second possession saw them pick up four first downs, aided by a 29-yard catch and carry by halfbackDevondrick Nealy moved FAMU into the red zone, where Colby Blanton nailed a 21-yard fielder to make it a 30-3 count with 4:35 left in the third.
Turnovers and favorable field position aided the Bulls in their second half blitz, as they scored 21 late points.
WHAT’S NEXT: FAMU has an afternoon (2:00 Central) bout with Samford University in Birmingham, Ala. on Saturday, Sept. 12.
Attendance: 30,434.
