The final seconds ticked off the clock at Rice-Totten Stadium, a place more accustomed to hosting losses than delivering them. As the small but jubilant crowd of Mississippi Valley State fans exited the stadium, the FAMU Rattlers could only stand in stunned silence, helmets in hand, staring into the cold rainy November night.
For the second consecutive year, the Delta Devils—a team that finished the season 2-10—had dealt FAMU a soul-crushing, program-defining loss. This time, it was a 35-31 defeat that encapsulated a season of immense promise gone desperately awry. The loss secured a losing record (5-7, 4-4 SWAC) for the Rattlers and cemented questions about the direction of the program under head coach James Colzie.
Just a year ago, Valley stunned the college football world by snapping FAMU’s iconic 23-game home winning streak in Tallahassee. That could have been written off as a fluke, a perfect storm of emotion in conference game. But this? This was different. This was systematic.
For the second time since 2018, FAMU has suffered back-to-back losses in SWAC play. And the most damning part? Both came at the hands of the conference’s perennial cellar-dweller.
“No excuses,” a visibly drained Colzie said postgame, his voice low. “We didn’t get it done. We didn’t make the plays when we had to, and they did. It’s that simple.”
The box score tells a story of bizarre, frustrating contradiction. The Rattlers actually won the statistical battle, piling up 455 total yards of offense. But the defense, a unit that was supposed to be this team's backbone, utterly unraveled. They surrendered 358 yards and four touchdowns through the air to MVSU’s passing attack, allowing the Delta Devils to amass 425 total yards and, more importantly, answer every FAMU score with one of their own.
It was a defensive performance that felt like a betrayal of the standard set in Tallahassee just a few seasons ago—a standard of relentless pressure and game-changing stops. On Saturday, there were none to be found.
The loss cemented FAMU's first losing season since 2019 and, most painfully, watch the SWAC championship game from home for another year. In a season that began with talk of contending for a conference title, the final chapter was written not in the pressurized air of a championship showdown, but in the quiet chill of the Mississippi Delta, against a one-win team playing with nothing to lose.
For a program of FAMU’s stature, with its resources, its tradition, and its passionate fanbase, losing to Valley once was a shock. Losing to them twice in a row, bookending a disappointing season, is more than a trend. It’s a five-alarm fire.
The questions that were whispered after the heartbreak against Bethune-Cookman two weeks ago will now be shouted. The Rattlers didn’t just fail to meet expectations this season; they tripped at the finish line and fell flat on their face. And the entire college football world was watching.
Its past time for Colzie and his puppet master Ray Matthews to leave. Neither of them should be allowed back on our campus.
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