Florida A&M, which entered the 2024 season as the defending Black College national championship, is reduced to playing for pride after a 31-12 loss to Prairie View on Saturday night.
The loss all but eliminated the Rattlers (5-4, 3-2 SWAC) from SWAC East title contention after Jackson State, which is in first place in the division and beat FAMU earlier this season, ran its conference record to 6-0 following a 51-14 win over Mississippi Valley State.
“We had a group that had aspirations of playing in the postseason,” said first-year FAMU coach James Colzie. “We have to finish the way we’re supposed to. We have three games left.”
FAMU got off to an inauspicious start, falling behind 10-0 and then losing star quarterback Daniel Richardson to a concussion. Though backup FAMU quarterback Junior Muratovic completed 16 of 29 passing attempts for 150 yards and led the offense to a pair of scoring drives, it was not enough.
The Rattlers are left playing out the string with no hope of extending its season beyond the Nov. 29 season finale versus Alabama A&M. It is a position FAMU, which was beaten by a conference opponent other than Jackson State for the first time since it entered the SWAC, didn’t figure it would find itself in.
The hope now is to finish the regular season on a three-game winning streak to salvage pride and respectability.
“8-4 is a lot better than a lot of people thought we’d be,” said Colzie. “Some had us at 6 (wins) and finishing second or third in the conference. We have a lot of great seniors on this team who want to finish properly. Obviously, we have three games left. We want to have the opportunity to finish 8-4.”
