Bison Face Off With Rattlers In Key Early Showdown

Tallahassee, FL-September 15--A lot will be at stake when the Bison of Howard University take on the the Rattlers of Florida A&M University in a Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference game in Bragg Stadium at 6 pm.

            Howard (0-1, 0-1 in the MEAC) is coming off a 31-24 loss to Hampton University in last Saturday's season opener at Greene Stadium in Washington, DC.  In that game, the Bison played the defending champs strong but were hurt late by costly mistakes.

            "We made four crucial mistakes that cost us the game," lamented first-year head coach Carey Bailey of his head coaching debut.  "You just can't make those kind of mistakes and expect to win close ballgames against quality opponents."

            Mistakes aside, Howard left the game with a lot of positives:  The Bison rolled up 405 yards of total offense, controlled the clock for almost 34 minutes and did not turn the ball over.

            "We were disappointed with the loss, but we have some good things we can take with us into the Florida A&M game," said Bison quarterback Brian Johnson, who accounted for a personal-best 344 yards of total offense.  "This is a key game because you don't want to go down 0-2 in the conference this early in the season."

            FAMU (0-2, 0-1 in the MEAC) dropped a 20-7 home decision to Delaware State last Saturday in which it had problems on offense.  The Rattlers are in a similar situation as they were two years ago when they were 0-2 facing the Bison at home.

            "FAMU poses some problems for us," said Coach Bailey.  "They have a lot of team speed and they are playing at their place which can be a hostile environment.  But the most important factor is that they are a very, very hungry football team.  The big thing for us is that we build on last week's effort and eliminate mistakes.  If we do that, we will be in good shape."

GAME NOTES: Howard defeated FAMU, 28-24 in Tallahassee in 2002, marking the first time in 24 meetings (at that time) that the Bison have won in the state of Florida...14 Howard players are from the state of Florida, more than any other state...FAMU has dominated the series, 22-6, but has split with the Bison the past four contests.

NEXT UP: The Bison step outside of conference play next week when they travel to Ypsilati, MI to take on Eastern Michigan at 3 pm while FAMU gets a bye.