Photo Courtesy: Yahoo Sports
The Florida A&M Rattlers faced off against the Southern Jaguars at the A.W Mumford Stadium on Saturday.
Coach Willie Simmons spoke about what information he had delivered to his players before facing off against a talented team in an away game.
“Well, typically in big games… and high-level games, it’s more so teams that beat themselves more so than the other team beating them…so we got to make sure that we’re doing everything to give ourselves the best possible chances and not giving those guys more opportunities to score and to get us off the field,” Simmons said.
The Jaguars started the game fast, advancing the ball down the field on their second possession with many good runs. They finished the sequence with a touchdown by CJ Russell off a 1-yard run. The Rattlers couldn’t get much going early, leaving the first quarter trailing with a score of 6-0.
The Rattlers’ offense snapped right back into gear in the second quarter, with an 11-play drive resulting in 75 yards and a 1-yard run by Jaquez Yant for a touchdown. Southern would not go down easily, though, as later in the quarter, they scored again off a 72-yard bomb completed to Chandler Whitfield.
With only 2 minutes remaining in the half, FAMU was able to push the ball down the field due to back-to-back pass interference calls on Southern. With only six seconds remaining in the half, Jeremy Moussa found Koby Gross in the endzone with a 3-yard pass. This allowed the Rattlers to hold the lead going into the half with a score of 16-12.
The Rattlers began the second half with the ball but couldn’t do much throughout the remainder of the quarter. In the three possessions of the period, they only managed to collect only 47 yards. The Jaguars were also struggling on offense, only collecting 20 yards throughout the period.
Southern opened the fourth, pushing the ball down the field after a facemask call on Isaiah Major and a 35-yard pass completed to Ed Magee, leaving the Jaguars on the FAMU 8-yard-line. They then forced the ball to CJ Russell four times, where he scored on the last attempt in a 1-yard run, putting the Jaguars up 19-16.
Moussa got the offense going in the last quarter of the game, connecting with Nicholas Dixon, Marcus Riley, and Koby Gross on the following drive. The offense gained 58 yards during the drive but ended up being stopped at the Southern 17. Cameron Gillis knocked down the 44-yard field goal to tie up the game 19-19, with 7:21 remaining.
The Rattler defense shut down the Jaguars on the next possession with a quick three and out, forcing a punt. Jeremy Moussa took advantage of the opportunity, moving the ball up the field with great speed. Moussa threw only five passes for 65 yards and was able to connect with Jamari Gassett for the 12-yard catch in the end zone, which was the deciding factor of the game and allowed the Rattlers to come out with a 26-19 win.
The win pushes FAMU to 5-1, giving the team their 11th straight SWAC win. Moussa had a fantastic performance, going 31-53 on the outing, resulting in 325 yards and two touchdowns, leading him to win SWAC Player of the Week for the second time this year.
The Rattlers’ next game is against Texas Southern on October 21, where they hope to extend their conference win streak. The game begins at 8:00 at the Shell Energy Stadium and will be streamed on ESPN+.