GREENSBORO – There are a number of reasons to return to North Carolina A&T for homecoming. The festivities throughout the week are second to none. The ribs in the tailgate areas cover the fingers with barbecue-licking pleasure for the tongue. The parties are stupendous.

The opportunity to see old flames or to perhaps rekindle old flames can't be overlooked, and of course no homecoming is official without the halftime performance from the band.

The downside to Homecoming 2009 was that the alumni didn't get to see the Aggies offense a lot as Bethune-Cookman kept the ball a little more than 37 minutes on Saturday. The Wildcats' selfishness led to a disappointing 31-13 loss for the Aggies in front of a sellout crowd at Aggie Stadium. It was the Aggies sixth straight loss to the Wildcats.

“We just have to step up and play some good solid offense'' said N.C. A&T head coach Alonzo Lee. “You've got to get points. We would like to say we're going to shut everyone down and win championships on defense. But we've got to get to the point where if they score, then we have to back down field and answer their score with a score of our own.”

In a way, the Aggies actually had that scenario going their way. After an opening drive that saw the Wildcats drive 70 yards in seven plays to score on a 5-yard touchdown by Courtney Keith, the Aggies found a unique answer midway through the second quarter.

Bethune-Cookman punter booted a low line drive that took a high bounce at the N.C. A&T 4-yard line before heading toward Nesly Marcellon  at the 1. Marcellon, who was trying to avoid going into the end zone for an Aggies touchback, batted the ball back to the 4-yard line.

It landed in the arms of Aggies punt returner Quay Long. He returned it 96 yards for the longest punt return for touchdown in school history.

“We teach that on the other side,'' said Lee, who saw Aggies go into the locker room with a 7-7 tie. “We tell our guys it's not enough to just touch the ball. You need to go down and pick it up and hand it to the referee. It's not enough to touch it because it's still a live ball. It was a great heads up play on (Long's) part.”

But the Aggies had no more answers the rest of way. The Wildcats took a 17-7 lead early in the fourth quarter on a 27-yard touchdown by Fred McCaskill. The Wildcats drive was helped by a 15-yard roughing the passer penalty on a 3^rd-and-15 from the Wildcats 20-yard line.

After a 3-and-out by the Aggies, the Wildcats offense drove 80 yards on an Aggies defense that played tons of minutes. They eventually scored on a 28-yard touchdown by Maurice Francois to take a 24-7 lead.

I thought too many times we had guys peaking their noses in where it didn't belong in the option game,'' said Lee. “They gave us different looks on offense, and we didn't stay discipline.  It was kind of an up and down day for our defense as well.”

Bethune-Cookman head coach Alvin Wyatt attributed the success of his offense to watching film of Morgan State and not N.C. A&T. Wyatt and his staff watched footage from their games over the previous three years against the Bears, where Lee was the defensive coordinator.

“When we watched film on North Carolina A&T, we saw a defense with pretty much the same personnel as years before, but more inspired,'' said Wyatt. “We wanted to see what we have done in the past that works against (coach Lee's) defense because when we saw A&T on film we noticed it was pretty much the same defense he ran at Morgan State.”

Wyatt may not have watched film on the Aggies special teams because Justin Ferrell returned the ensuing kickoff 91 yards for a touchdown. Another costly penalty (holding) negated the return and any hopes the Aggies had for rallying.

“Maybe we're still growing,'' said Lee. “I don't know if we were ready for a game of this magnitude. We had a couple of really, really big penalties that hurt us. Against any team, when you have those kinds of blunders, it's hard to come out with a victory.”

The Aggies dropped to 5-4 overall and 3-3 in the MEAC. They will travel to Tallahassee, Fla., to face Florida A&M next week at 3 p.m.