Those three components were missing Saturday night as Hampton defeated the Aggies 24-14 on an ESPNU telecast from Aggie Stadium. The Aggies dropped to 0-6 on ESPNU telecast. Senior Jarrell Herring led the Aggies with 12 tackles.

 “Hampton has a pretty good defense,'' said N.C. A&T head coach Alonzo Lee. “We just have to get more consistent in catching the football. People are trying to crowd our run game, so we have to catch the ball on the outside when it's there. We have to make big plays when they are there.”

None of the 129 plays the Aggies (2-1, 1-1 MEAC) ran over the first two games were complemented with a turnover. The Aggies reversed that trend on Saturday with three turnovers. The third turnover was an interception thrown by freshman quarterback Lewis Kindle that led to a Brandon Roundtree 5-yard interception return for a touchdown.

Roundtree's return gave the Pirates a 24-7 lead with 12:27 remaining in the game. Kindle spelled senior starter Carlton Fears in the fourth quarter after Fears threw for 110 yards, a touchdown and an interception on 8-for-16 passing. The drive in which Kindle threw the interception was his first time seeing action this season.  

Lee said the two had competed in practice all week for the starting job against the Pirates. The two will do the same in the days leading up to the game against Coastal Carolina on Sept. 26. Lee warned that people shouldn't focus on an Aggies quarterback controversy. All of the Aggie starting positions are up for grabs each week, according to Lee.

“We weren't moving the ball,'' said Lee about his quarterback switch. “Carlton has been doing some good things, but we felt, even in the last two weeks we could have been more productive. We wanted to give Carlton a true opportunity because that's our senior, that's one of our leaders. He's still a good solid leader for us, but when you're not moving the ball, you have to give your young guys an opportunity.”

The Aggies had success moving the ball early. Their first drive ended at the Hampton 27-yard line on a fumble, while their second possession stopped at the Hampton 24 on a turnover on downs. The Aggies had another excellent scoring opportunity to start the second half.

Hampton (2-1, 1-0) turned the ball over on its first possession of the third quarter as Tyre Glasper and Jamison Hedgepeth stripped the football from Hampton quarterback Herbert Bynes. Jamal Wardlaw recovered at the Pirates 31. But on the first play of the Aggies drive, Roundtree stepped in front of Fears' pass to secure the first of his two interceptions on the day.

“We have been moving the ball, but we're still stalling,'' said Lee. “That's kind of been our M.O. the last couple of weeks. It is part of the reason we made the change (at quarterback). We've moved the ball against everybody, but we have to be able to finish people off.”

The Aggies offense did slow down in the second half. Before N.C. A&T sophomore running Mike Mayhew closed out the scoring in the game with a 59-yard touchdown run with 3:41 remaining; the Aggies had just minus-13 yards rushing in the second half. 

Meanwhile, Hampton seemed to have a knack for scoring on big plays. After Aggies receiver Terrence Whitaker scored on a 29-yard touchdown from Fears in the second quarter, the Pirates answered with a 62-yard touchdown pass from Bynes to Damon McDaniel. Bynes found McDaniel again on a 23-yard pass and run for a touchdown to give the Pirates a 14-7 lead at the half.

Bynes was 11-for-20 in the game for 208 yards and two touchdowns. McDaniel had five catches for 104 yards while LaMarcus Coker rushed for 112 yards on 24 carries. Mayhew ended the night with 77 yards and a touchdown on 11 carries as the Aggies lost to the Pirates for the sixth straight time.

“I'm still excited about our football team,'' said Lee. “We're only going to get better. I'm not down at all. We lost to a football team that's going to win a lot of games. We're going to go back and regroup, and we're going to win a lot of games.”