Complete Game Notes (PDF)    

THE GAME                                                                                                                                
Florida A&M University “Rattlers” vs. North Carolina Central University “Eagles”

THE KICKOFF                                                                                                                          
Saturday, November 12, 2011 – Kickoff at 2:00 p.m. 

THE SITE                                                                                                                                   
O’Kelly-Riddick Stadium (10,000 capacity/MondoTurf) - Durham, N.C.

2011 RECORDS                                                                                                                      
N.C. Central (2-7 overall, 1-5 MEAC); Florida A&M (6-3 overall, 4-2 MEAC)

MEDIA COVERAGE                                                                                                                
Radio: WEED 1390 AM (Rocky Mount, N.C.); WARR 1520 AM (Warrenton, N.C.); “GameCentral” at NCCUEaglePride.com. Starts at 12:30 p.m. (Chris Hooks, play-by-play; Joe Simmons, color analyst; Danielle Johnson-Webb, sideline)

Video: NCCUEaglePride.com features “GameCentral” by Stretch Internet ($8.95 per game). Starts at 1:45 p.m.
             Link: http://client.stretchinternet.com/client/nccu.portal#

QUICK HITS                                                                                                                             
•   North Carolina Central University will recognize 20 seniors during pre-game introductions as part of “Senior Day” celebration.
•   NCCU’s last chance for a home victory in 2011. The Eagles last win inside O’Kelly-Riddick Stadium was on Oct. 30, 2010.
•   NCCU will look to build upon last week’s 14-7 win at Delaware State, which ended a six-game losing skid.
•   Florida A&M has won five of its last six games, including three straight, and needs a win to stay in the hunt for the MEAC title. The Rattlers are currently tied for second in the conference with a 4-2 league record.
•   Saturday will mark Florida A&M’s first trip to NCCU in 55 years. The Rattlers last visit to Durham to play the Eagles was on Sept. 22, 1956. The gridiron contest will also be the first between NCCU and FAMU since Sept. 15, 1973.

THE SERIES                                                                                                                             
This will be the seventh meeting in the series between the NCCU Eagles and the FAMU Rattlers since the teams first played in 1939. FAMU leads the series against NCCU, 4-1-1. The Eagles lone win in the series was the last time the two squads met, a 9-3 victory on Sept. 15, 1973 in Atlanta.

9/15/1973 - NCCU 9, FAMU 3 (Atlanta, Ga.)
12/7/1957 - FAMU 14, NCCU 0 (Miami, Fla. / Orange Blossom Classic)
9/22/1956 - FAMU 25, NCCU 0 (Durham, N.C.)
12/1/1951 - FAMU 67, NCCU 6 (Miami, Fla. / Orange Blossom Classic)
11/9/1940 - NCCU 7, FAMU 7 (Durham, N.C.)
11/11/1939 - FAMU 20, NCCU 7 (Tallahassee, Fla.)

ABOUT FLORIDA A&M UNIVERSITY                                                                                 
Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University was founded as the State Normal College for Colored Students, and on October 3, 1887, it began classes with fifteen students and two instructors. Prominently located on the highest hill in Florida’s capital city of Tallahassee, Florida A&M University remains the only historically black university in the eleven member State University System of Florida. With a student enrollment of more than 13,000, FAMU offers 62 bachelor’s degrees, 39 master’s degrees, and 11 doctoral programs. Notable alumni include Althea Gibson, the first African-American to win a Wimbledon women’s single crown; Dr. LaSalle D. Leffall, Jr., a nationally-acclaimed cancer surgeon and the first African-American president of the American Cancer Society; Pam Oliver, FOX Sports reporter; and Robert “Bullet Bob” Hayes, an Olympic gold medalist. The Rattlers compete on the NCAA Division I (FCS) level as members of the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference.

THE COACHES                                                                                                                       
North Carolina Central: Henry Frazier III (Bowie State, 1993) is in his first season as head coach at NCCU. Prior to his arrival in Durham, N.C., Frazier spent seven seasons (2004-10) at the helm of the Prairie View A&M University Panthers football team. He took over a program that experienced the nation’s longest losing streak, dropping 80 straight contests from 1989-98, and transformed the Panthers into SWAC champions in 2009. Among his many coaching honors is the 2009 Eddie Robinson National FCS Coach of the Year award. Frazier also served as head coach at his alma mater, Bowie State University (1999-2003).

Florida A&M: Joe Taylor is the 15th head coach in the storied history of Florida A&M University football. In his inaugural campaign in 2008, Taylor led the Rattlers to a record-setting 9-3 finish – one of the best one-year turnarounds in the country (from 3-8 in 2007) – in the process tying Hall of Fame legend A.S. “Jake” Gaither’s school record for the most wins by a first-year head coach set in 1945. Taylor followed that smashing debut with an 8-3 finish in 2009, followed by another 8-3 mark in 2010. The Washington, D.C. native came to FAMU after 16 seasons at the helm of the Hampton (Va.) University football program, where he was the most successful coach in school history. During his tenure at Hampton, Taylor guided the Pirates to a scintillating 136-49-1 record, highlighted by four Black College Championships (1994, 1997, 2005, 2006), nine conference titles (CIAA: 1986, 1992, 1993, 1994; MEAC: 1997, 1998, 2004, 2005, 2006), a Heritage Bowl Championship (1999), plus 11 trips to the NCAA playoffs (Division II: 1986, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994; FCS/I-AA: 1997, 1998, 2004, 2005, 2006).

LAST WEEK                                                                                                                             
NCCU 14, Delaware State 7: Redshirt freshmen running backs Idreis Augustus and Andre Clarke led the North Carolina Central University offense and junior cornerback Malik Cromartie was the Eagles’ defensive hero as NCCU earned its first MEAC victory with a 14-7 win over Delaware State University on Saturday afternoon at Alumni Stadium in Dover, Del. Augustus reached the century mark on the ground for the second time in the last three games, amassing 161 rushing yards on 24 carries for an average of 6.7 yards per attempt. His 161 rushing yards is the most by an Eagle since Greg Pruitt, Jr., rushed for 220 yards against Livingstone on Oct. 22, 2005, in Durham, N.C. Clarke added 34 ground yards and scored both touchdowns for NCCU. Clarke bulled his way into the end zone with just 1:14 left in the first half to tie the score at 7-7, then powered in from a yard out with 4:07 remaining in the third quarter for the eventual game-winning score. Cromartie began his heroics by blocking a 38-yard field goal in the first quarter to keep the game scoreless. Then with DSU driving late in the second quarter, the junior intercepted a pass to the end zone to prevent a go-ahead touchdown, as the Eagles and Hornets were knotted at 7-7 at halftime. Cromartie’s second interception of the afternoon was also inside the Eagles’ 5-yard line to end a DSU scoring threat. He added a pass break-up and six solo tackles on the day. Junior safety Marc Lewis topped the NCCU defense with eight tackles and a pass deflection. Of the Eagles seven sacks of DSU quarterback Nick Elko, junior lineman Stephen Young had 2.5 sacks, while fellow junior lineman Xavier Proctor added 1.5 sacks. NCCU senior quarterback Michael Johnson completed 18 of 29 passes for 161 yards to move past Stadford Brown (2006-08) into fourth place on the Eagles’ all-time career passing yards list with 5,340 yards. When Johnson’s favorite target, Geovonie Irvine, left the game with an injury, junior Decona Roberts filled in admirably with a team-best six catches for 38 yards. As a team, NCCU amassed 366 yards of total offense, including 205 yards rushing. Delaware State accumulated 302 total yards, but scored only once in five trips inside the NCCU 35-yard line.

Florida A&M 26, North Carolina A&T 20: Kevin Elliott celebrated Senior Day with a pair of TDs as the Florida A&M Football team held on for a 26-20 win over North Carolina A&T at Bragg Memorial Stadium. FAMU (6-3, 4-2 MEAC) was paced by Eddie Rocker as he rushed for the century mark for the first time on the season with 107 yards on 12 carries with his longest rush being for 59 yards. Fleming finished the game completing 16-of-33 passes for 254 yards with two passing TDs. Brian Tyms and Elliott led the Rattler receivers.  Tyms led the receivers in receptions with five catches for 88 yards, while Elliott led the receivers in receiving yards with 96 yards on three catches. Devan Robert led the FAMU defense as he finished with a game-high 11 tackles with seven solos. Nicolas Hollinghead finished with seven tackles, with five of those being solos.

NCCU’S CROMARTIE, AUGUSTUS EARN WEEKLY MEAC AWARDS                      
North Carolina Central University junior Malik Cromartie and redshirt freshman Idreis Augustus earned weekly football awards from the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference on Monday in recognition for their performances during NCCU’s 14-7 win at Delaware State on Saturday (Nov. 5). Cromartie was chosen as the MEAC Defensive Player of the Week after preventing 17 potential points, while Augustus was named the MEAC Rookie of the Week for amassing the most yards by an Eagle in six years. Cromartie (Elizabethtown, N.C.) began his award-winning effort by blocking a 38-yard field goal in the first quarter to keep the game scoreless. Then with DSU driving late in the second quarter, the junior intercepted a pass to the end zone to prevent a go-ahead touchdown. Cromartie’s second interception of the afternoon was also inside the Eagles’ 5-yard line to end another DSU scoring threat. He added a pass break-up and six solo tackles on the day. Augustus (Springfield, Va.) reached the century mark on the ground for the second time in the last three games, amassing 161 rushing yards on 24 carries for an average of 6.7 yards per attempt. His 161 rushing yards is the most by an Eagle since Greg Pruitt, Jr., rushed for 220 yards against Livingstone on Oct. 22, 2005, in Durham, N.C.

LISTEN TO NCCU FOOTBALL VIA THE INTERNET                                                        
Every game of the 2011 North Carolina Central University Eagles football season will be broadcasted by the NCCU Sports Network. Play-by-play announcer Chris Hooks and NCCU Athletic Hall of Famer Joe Simmons will call all of the live action, starting with “Eagle Gameday” a half-hour prior to kickoff. To listen to the broadcast via the internet, visit the NCCU Athletics web site at www.NCCUEaglePride.com and click on “GameCentral.”

THREE EAGLES AMONG NCCU CAREER LEADERS                                                   
- NCCU senior quarterback Michael Johnson currently ranks fourth on NCCU’s all-time career passing list with 5,340 yards through the air. The Durham, N.C., native also ranks fifth with 43 career touchdown passes. Up next: Brad McAdams (1992-96) with 5,687 passing yards; and Gerald Fraylon (1981-84) with 45 TD passes.
- Junior receiver Geovonie Irvine ranks fifth in career receptions with 133 and 10th among NCCU’s career receiving yards leaders with 1,854 yards. Up next: Terrence McNeill (1983-86) with 135 receptions; Julian Martin (1966-69) with 1,881 receiving yards.
- Senior cornerback David Ingram ranks 10th among NCCU’s career passes defended leaders with 34. Up next: Hassan Smith (1999-2002) with 35.