Rattlers drop season opener 51-3 to USF Bulls

The FAMU Rattlers opened the Coach Alex Wood with a gutsy effort in their 51-3 loss to the University of South Florida at Raymond James Stadium on 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.

Wood felt 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.