Nineteen years later, the Rattlers ended up on the opposite end of the spectrum losing 59-7. A first quarter filled with penalties and turnovers dug the Rattlers in to a hole they were unable to overcome. Three first quarter turnovers quickly gifted the Trojans 21 points.
Rattler turnovers and penalties allowed the Trojans to score quickly and often. Troy converted all eight of their red-zone opportunities as opposed to the Rattlers who would only convert one of their two opportunities.
“We didn’t play a clean game,” said Head Coach Willie Simmons. “Too many penalties too many self-inflicted wounds 4 turnovers, you’re not going to beat a good team when you play like that. That loss is on us as coaches. It is our job to get these guys fundamentally ready to play. We did a poor job this week obviously. So we’ll lick our wounds tonight and get back tomorrow and make our corrections. I still think we have a chance to be a really good football team, but we have to play better fundamentally.”
A missed 25-yard field goal from Yahia Aly with 10:35 left in the quarter would take away the Rattlers’ opportunity to get on the board early.
After a scoreless first quarter, the Rattlers would come out and score their first and only touchdown of the game with 10:59 remaining in the half. Bishop Bonnett scored on a short run for his first touchdown of the season.
The Rattlers would close the game with a total of 287 offensive yards compared to the Trojans 477 and 219 passing yards compared to the Trojans’ 185. The Trojans were able to outrun the Rattlers finishing the game with a total of 292 rushing yards compared to the Rattlers’ 68.
FAMU plans to focus on their fundamentals this upcoming week as they prepare to take on the Tigers of Jackson State University at home.
“It’s all about getting back to our 7 F’s,” Simmons said. “It’s about having faith. We just got beat. We got beat pretty soundly, so we have to continue to believe in the process and believe in what we’re doing. We have to play with great fundamentals. We have to clean up the mistakes. We made too many mistakes to win a football game of this caliber or in MEAC play. We’ve got to pick-up our tempo.”