North Carolina A&T will need to fix its offense ahead of its anticipated matchup with HBCU national champion North Carolina Central on Saturday.
In the Aggies’ 35-6 loss to UAB last Thursday, the offense was only able to muster 163 total yards and 16 net passing yards between quarterbacks Eli Brickhandler and Kevin White.
“The passing game was nowhere where we needed it to be in order to win football games,” said first-year head coach Vincent Brown. “You can’t win games throwing for 16 yards.”
Brown said the eight total passing attempts against the Blazers were intentional as the Aggies wanted to emphasize its ground attack, which tallied 147 for the game.
“We felt like we could run the football, and we went in with a mindset (that) we’re going to run the football,” Brown said. “But never in our wildest dreams did we think coming out of the game that we would only attempt eight passes during the course of the game. We are working on fixing those issues to make sure we’re more balanced in our approach.”
The Aggies will require that extra firepower versus an NC Central team that boasts Davius Richard, one of the best quarterbacks in the FCS. Richard completed 15-of-22 passes for 236 yards and three touchdowns. He also rushed for 42 yards on five attempts and a TD and was named MEAC Offensive Player of the Week for his performance.
“College football is offensive-driven to produce points,” said Brown. “We have to get better there. We have to go back to the drawing board and put our players in the best position to excel in that area.”
