For in state FVSU/ASU Fountain city classic…usually this game has always determined the SIAC champ

The 59,418 fans that showed up at the Florida Citrus Bowl Saturday for the 30th anniversary Florida Classic clash between Florida A&M and Bethune-Cookman came hoping to see 60 minutes of football that lived up to the milestone moment.

Only one side wound up having much to cheer about, though.

Riding the play of freshman quarterback and first-time starter Martin Ukpai, the Rattlers didn’t miss a beat playing without injured starter Curtis Pulley as they plowed over the Wildcats 42-6.

The win was the Rattlers’ second straight blowout Classic win, following a 58-35 victory last season.

It also kept alive FAMU’s hopes of getting an at-large bid to the Division I-AA tournament. Those aspirations had taken big hit after a 25-0 loss to struggling Hampton last week.

But whether the Rattlers’ get a postseason invite or not, the season will go down as a successful one for second-yard coach Joe Taylor, who is now 17-6 since taking over the program in 2008.

Meanwhile, the loss handed Bethune-Cookman veteran coach Alvin Wyatt his first losing season since 2007, when the Wildcats finished 5-6. It’s just the third losing season of his 13-year tenure in Daytona.

Ukpai did damage from both the air and ground. He finished the day completing 8-of-11 passes for 151 yards and a touchdown. He also added an 11-yard touchdown run. Ukpai got help from junior running back Phillip Sylvester, who carried 19 times for 121 yards and two scores.

Bethune-Cookman never really got much offensive traction Saturday and was done in by many of the same turnover and penalty mistakes that plagued it during and 0-4 start to 2009.

FAMU’s defense held Bethune under 30 yards rushing through three quarters and intercepted Wildcat quarterbacks Mathew Johnson and Maurice Francois three times.

After dominating the first half, FAMU continued to push the Wildcats around at the start of the third quarter.

The Rattlers needed just two plays on its first passion of the period, going up 35-0 via a 42-yard touchdown scamper by Phillip Sylvester with 12:03 that quickly stifled any hopes of a Bethune comeback.

Bethune did finally get on the scoreboard with 6:57 left in the game via a 1-yard touchdown run by Androse Bell, but it was way too late.

FAMU led 28-0 at halftime and pretty much had its way in the opening 30 minutes…

Both teams started the game by trading punts, but the FAMU got things going on its second drive of the afternoon.

Starting on the B-CU 43-yardline, the Rattlers used a 20-yard pass from Ukpai to Jarvis Funderburk and a 15-yard run by Ukpai to set a 1st-and-goal on the Wildcats’ 5. Sylvester scored on the next play to make it 7-0 with 6:53 left in the first quarter.

Bethune went three-and-out on the next series, which became a first half theme. FAMU took over and pounded out an eight-play, 69-yard drive capped by a 2-yard Mykel Benson touchdown plunge to make it 14-0.

FAMU grew that lead to three scores following the Wildcats’ fourth straight three-and-out series of the half. This time Ukpai made the drive with his feet, escaping for a 10-yard run early in the drive and then dancing through the middle of the Wildcats defense for an 11-yard score with 5:49 left in the second quarter.

Bethune’s made its first real progress of the game on the ensuing drive. The Wildcats picked up their first two first downs of the afternoon and were successful on a 4th-and-19 inside the FAMU 35-yardline with under a minute to play.

But misfortune quickly returned. Wildcats’ quarterback Matthew Johnson was intercepted on the next play by cornerback Curtis Holcomb on the 2-yardline.Holcomb returned it 74 yards and set up a 1-yard touchdown pass from Ukpai to Kevin Elliott with 24 seconds left. .

AAMU beat ASU 27 – 7
The 68th annual Magic City Classic was hardly a classic at all.

It was a clinic.

Alabama A&M scored in the first 18 seconds and spent the next 59:42 alternately chewing up yardage on offense and pinning down Alabama State University for a 21-7 win at Legion Field on Saturday before an announced crowd of 55,322.

“We just came out and played the way we can and our offense clicked as well,” said A&M junior linebacker Afu Okosun, named the game’s defensive MVP after leading a Bulldogs’ defense that held the SWAC’s second-best team in total offense to a season-low 180 yards.

“We were big on shutting down the run and that starts with the defensive line. We just came in and did what we do all year and that’s make plays up front.”

The win was A&M’s fifth straight over ASU and bumped the Bulldogs to a 35-30-3 advantage in the Classic. More importantly, it put A&M (5-3 overall) in a first-place tie in the SWAC’s East Division with Jackson State at 2-2. ASU dropped to 1-4 in the Southwestern Athletic Conference East division and 4-4 overall.

“I thought we could be in first place alone after today,” said A&M coach Anthony Jones. “We didn’t play as we could have, but in all, it was a complete win.”

The complete plan for the complete win started with mixing things up on both sides of the ball. Freshman quarterback Deaunte Mason was named the starter 12 days ago by Jones, but whether he would start vs. the Bulldogs’ arch-rival was kept a secret until a few hours before the game.

And on the first play from scrimmage, Mason and wide receiver Thomas Harris bloodied the nose of ASU’s defense with a 57-yard touchdown pass that caught the Hornets back on their heels.

“It was a special play put in for this game,” said Harris, who finished with seven catches for 157 yards. “They came in with a Cover 2 scheme and I ran a post-corner route. The safety had to make a decision where to cover and when he did, I was open.”

That was only part of Jones’ plan.

“We knew we could only get away with it once,” said Jones. “We came at them with a new quarterback in a new set and that was a lot.”

But the change on offense was only half the equation. The defense also changed its look on the line and kept ASU off-balance.

“They did some different things and changed the look up front and we just struggled to run,” said ASU quarterback Anthony Speight, who accounted for 139 of ASU’s 180 total offense — 40 rushing on 14 carries and 99 passing, completing 10-of-24 with an interception. “It made it difficult to be as balanced as we wanted.”

A&M didn’t find balance either, but it didn’t matter as Mason, the game’s offensive MVP, was 21-of-32 for 273 yards and two touchdowns — the second a 22-yarder thrown off his back foot to Harris running parallel to the goal line at the 3, then breaking three tackles to score. The Bulldogs got their other TD in the third quarter on a 2-yard run by Ulysses Banks.

ASU’s only score was a 22-yard Speight to Nicholas Andrews TD in the second quarter that tied the score at 7-7.

“We just never got into any sort of a groove,” said ASU coach Reggie Barlow. “We didn’t run the ball well, didn’t protect the quarterback well … we never got into a groove.”

Much of that came from A&M’s decision to change things up and keep the Hornets off balance.

“We put a speed package in on offense and ran a hurry-up offense so they couldn’t figure out what our sets were,” said Harris. “We just wanted to come out hard and keep the momentum going. That first touchdown woke us up and we just kept with the momentum.”

The 68th annual Magic City Classic was hardly a classic at all.

It was a clinic.

Alabama A&M scored in the first 18 seconds and spent the next 59:42 alternately chewing up yardage on offense and pinning down Alabama State University for a 21-7 win at Legion Field on Saturday before an announced crowd of 55,322.

“We just came out and played the way we can and our offense clicked as well,” said A&M junior linebacker Afu Okosun, named the game’s defensive MVP after leading a Bulldogs’ defense that held the SWAC’s second-best team in total offense to a season-low 180 yards.

“We were big on shutting down the run and that starts with the defensive line. We just came in and did what we do all year and that’s make plays up front.”

The win was A&M’s fifth straight over ASU and bumped the Bulldogs to a 35-30-3 advantage in the Classic. More importantly, it put A&M (5-3 overall) in a first-place tie in the SWAC’s East Division with Jackson State at 2-2. ASU dropped to 1-4 in the Southwestern Athletic Conference East division and 4-4 overall.

“I thought we could be in first place alone after today,” said A&M coach Anthony Jones. “We didn’t play as we could have, but in all, it was a complete win.”

The complete plan for the complete win started with mixing things up on both sides of the ball. Freshman quarterback Deaunte Mason was named the starter 12 days ago by Jones, but whether he would start vs. the Bulldogs’ arch-rival was kept a secret until a few hours before the game.

And on the first play from scrimmage, Mason and wide receiver Thomas Harris bloodied the nose of ASU’s defense with a 57-yard touchdown pass that caught the Hornets back on their heels.

“It was a special play put in for this game,” said Harris, who finished with seven catches for 157 yards. “They came in with a Cover 2 scheme and I ran a post-corner route. The safety had to make a decision where to cover and when he did, I was open.”

That was only part of Jones’ plan.

“We knew we could only get away with it once,” said Jones. “We came at them with a new quarterback in a new set and that was a lot.”

But the change on offense was only half the equation. The defense also changed its look on the line and kept ASU off-balance.

“They did some different things and changed the look up front and we just struggled to run,” said ASU quarterback Anthony Speight, who accounted for 139 of ASU’s 180 total offense — 40 rushing on 14 carries and 99 passing, completing 10-of-24 with an interception. “It made it difficult to be as balanced as we wanted.”

A&M didn’t find balance either, but it didn’t matter as Mason, the game’s offensive MVP, was 21-of-32 for 273 yards and two touchdowns — the second a 22-yarder thrown off his back foot to Harris running parallel to the goal line at the 3, then breaking three tackles to score. The Bulldogs got their other TD in the third quarter on a 2-yard run by Ulysses Banks.

ASU’s only score was a 22-yard Speight to Nicholas Andrews TD in the second quarter that tied the score at 7-7.

“We just never got into any sort of a groove,” said ASU coach Reggie Barlow. “We didn’t run the ball well, didn’t protect the quarterback well … we never got into a groove.”

Much of that came from A&M’s decision to change things up and keep the Hornets off balance.

“We put a speed package in on offense and ran a hurry-up offense so they couldn’t figure out what our sets were,” said Harrisout hard and keep the momentum going. That first touchdown woke us up and we just kept with the momentum.”

OmegaBear ‘84

THE BAYOU CLASSIC is the Biggest, Most anticipated, Most distinguishable “SPORTING EVENT” in all of Black America.

The BC economic impact is 200 million!
http://www.gram.edu/economic_impact/?p=48

*Since 1991 the BC has been televised on network television! ~BC watch parties across the nation lol~
*An estimated 200,000 alumni, students, and fans flood the Big Easy for a Weekend full of School pride and tradition…

For your enjoyment:
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1077/is_1_59/ai_110361368/

“Unquestionably the most colorful manifestation in the annals of Black College Football