GREENSBORO (November 19, 2016) – No matter what happens going forward, the North Carolina A&T Aggies football program will finish with their third consecutive season of nine or more wins, their second straight 7-win season in the conference and their second straight season of finishing nationally ranked.
But as a somber Aggies head coach Rod Broadway sat talking to the media following the Aggies 42-21 loss to North Carolina Central Saturday afternoon at O'Kelly-Riddick Stadium, the veteran coach understands the college football business well enough to know the impact of the Aggies latest defeat to NCCU.
“It's not always about what your record is, as much as it is about who you lose to,” said Broadway. “To be sitting here with three straight losses to your archrival is tough to handle. People tend to forget you went 9-2 when you lose to your archrival like this. That's the world we live in. But give Central credit, they played their butts off and did an outstanding job.”
The win gives NCCU (9-2, 8-0 MEAC) the outright MEAC title, their first since 1973. It also earns the Eagles an Air Force Reserve Celebration Bowl invitation as the MEAC representative. Meanwhile, N.C. A&T (9-2, 7-1 MEAC) will have to wait until Sunday morning to see if their season will be furthered. The NCAA FCS Selection Show will air on ESPNU 11 a.m., Sunday. The Aggies are hoping for an at-large bid into the field of 24 after earning an FBS win over Kent State and having their only two losses come at the hands of FBS Tulsa and nationally-ranked NCCU.
“We didn't look like ourselves today. I thought we were prepared. I thought we were ready, but we just made too many mistakes today,” said Broadway. “That team today had on our uniforms, but they were not who we have been all year.”
NCCU rushed for 270 yards which is the most rushing yards surrendered during the six-season Broadway era. The Eagles also had two 100-yard rushers in quarterback Malcolm Bell (131 yards 16 carries, two touchdowns) and running back Dorrel McClain (109 yards, 14 carries, three touchdowns). Going into the game there had only been seven 100-yard rushers in the previous 67 games against the Aggies.
On the offensive side, N.C. A&T played without starting quarterback Lamar Raynard for the second straight game. Fifth-year quarterback Oluwafemi Bamiro, who led the Aggies to the FBS win over Kent State on Sept. 10 in relief and who won his start last week at Delaware State, had his struggles on Saturday. Bamiro completed only 12 of his 33 pass attempts and one touchdown pass and two interceptions.
“I will say this about our quarterback situation, our guy (Raynard) was getting so much better over his past three or four games before he went out. But I don't think he accounts for 42 points,” said Broadway. “There probably would have been a different flow to the game with our starter in there, and it is hard for a backup to come in and play in a game of this magnitude. But with all that said, today was just one of those days. It was just one of those days.”
The Eagles also did a decent job on All-American running back Tarik Cohen who rushed for 82 yards and a touchdown on 23 carries. He came into the game averaging 8.7 yards per carry. Broadway said he thought a few big pass plays would eventually come to free up Cohen from the eight and nine-man fronts NCCU showed N.C. A&T most of the afternoon. But other than an 86-yard catch and run TD reception to freshman Elijah Bell in the third quarter, those big plays never came.
Instead the big plays went to the Eagles. It started with a 30-yard punt return by LaVontis Smith that gave the Eagles a first down at the Aggies 38-yard line toward the end of the first quarter. The Eagles took advantage by scoring in five plays on a 15-yard touchdown reception by McClain. The Eagles second score came thanks in part to a 29-yard completion to Smith and a 41-yard touchdown by Malcolm Bell to give NCCU a 14-0 halftime lead.
Things didn't get any better as an interception led to a 24-yard touchdown catch by Khalil Stinson to give the Eagles a 21-0 lead. Elijah Bell's TD reception gave the Aggies hope at 21-7, but another Aggies INT led to another NCCU touchdown as Bell rushed for a 25-yard TD as the Eagles led 28-7 going into the fourth quarter.
“I feel for our seniors,” said Elijah Bell. “It hurts me to lose once to Central. To know our seniors have lost three straight times … I wish we could have made the outcome different.”
