The FAMU Rattlers seeks its ninth straight win on Saturday afternoon as the Rattlers play host to Howard in a Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) game. Kickoff is set for 4 p.m. from Bragg Memorial Stadium.
The Rattlers (8-1 overall, 6-0 MEAC) were off last week, but had the opportunity to watch the scoreboard as No. 25 North Carolina A&T State and Bethune-Cookman fell to Morgan State and Delaware State, respectively. While FAMU is ineligible to win the conference crown, the Rattlers are still on pace to finish conference play with a perfect record. The Rattlers will look to keep the offense in high gear as FAMU averages nearly 402 yards per game.
Howard (1-9, 1-5) enters the matchup on a six-game losing streak as the Bison will look to make it two straight over FAMU. Howard comes into the game off a 62-21 loss last week at South Carolina State. The Bison trailed, 20-0, after one period and 34-7 at the half. The Bulldogs put the game away with 21 points in the third quarter and took a 55-14 advantage into the final quarter. The Bison are averaging 16.7 points and 282.9 yards per game, while allowing opponents 47.0 points and 473.9 yards per game.
“Our mindset going into this week is the same it’s been every week and that’s to be where our feet are, which means we control what we can control” Florida A&M head coach Willie Simmons said. “We have another team coming into town, that on paper, hasn’t performed particularly well, but that’s not for us to concern ourselves with. We have a philosophy here where we get everyone’s best shot and so we have to prepare to be our best come 4:00 p.m. on Saturday.
“That’s how we’ve prepared when it comes to our film study, practices, weight lifting, class attendance, study table and everything it takes to be successful and developing those habits that we will need to be successful on Saturday. It’s about developing those habits throughout the week. We tell the team all the time, ‘we are going to play the game on Saturday, but we are going to win the game Sunday through Friday with how we prepare and if we do that, Saturday will take care of itself.’ That’s always been our mindset and I think that is why this team has been able to perform the way it has this season. We focus more on us, than we do the opponent coming in and we will keep that mindset this week.”