EAST GREENSBORO – The North Carolina A&T Aggies football team used a stellar defensive performance to keep their hopes of an undefeated Big South Conference season intact on Saturday with a 20-10 win over Charleston Southern at Truist Stadium. Down the road in Buies Creek, Gardner-Webb kept its hopes of an undefeated Big South Conference season alive with a 42-35 win over Campbell.
But someone's hopes and dreams of an undefeated conference season will end next week, along with their desire to win the Big South Conference. Gardner-Webb and the Aggies will play a winner-take-all game at Gardner-Webb next week at noon, where the winner will not only win the conference but earn the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA Division I-FCS playoffs.
"Gardner-Webb is a really good football team. But we are going to continue to do what we do. I think it is all about work ethic. We have to outwork Gardner-Webb. It is that simple. We have to be on our P's and Q's and be detailed oriented."
A&T (7-3, 4-0 Big South) did not need to win on Saturday to have a chance to remain in the conference title and NCAA playoff hunt. But having to grind out a win with an injured starting quarterback spoke volumes about how accustomed the Aggies have come to fighting off adversity to win.
Saturday marked their seventh straight win, the longest of the Washington era. Playing in their home finale on Senior Day, the Aggies also improved to 6-0 at home in 2022.
Redshirt freshman Alston Hooker got his first career start in place of a hobbled Jalen Fowler. Hooker had a nice 22-yard run during his time in the game. But he was also victim to some dropped passes, and the Aggies offense never found any positive offensive consistency in the first half.
The Buccaneers took advantage by opening the second quarter with a 13-play, 80-yard drive that took nearly six minutes off the clock and resulted in a 34-yard touchdown pass from Tony Bartalo to Nivon Holland for a 7-0 Bucs lead with 8:44 remaining in the first half.
But just minutes later, perhaps the game's biggest play occurred as Taymon Cooke returned a Sam Babbush kickoff 95 yards for a touchdown to tie the game. It was his first career kickoff return for a touchdown.
Fowler entered the game with 6:35 remaining in the second quarter, but the Aggies did have trouble moving the football as the Bucs played the Aggies to a 7-7 tie going into the half.
"They have given us a fight every time we have played them," Washington said. "We match up well together. What we do and how they do things are very comparable and very similar. I think that what they see in practice is what we see in practice. I thought those linebackers were fabulous, running through and knowing when to attack. They did some things that gave us some problems."
The Bucs had some serious problems with A&T's defense. The Aggies held the Bucs to 77 yards of offense in the second half, including eight yards rushing. Most of those yards came on a 10-play, 62-yard drive in the third quarter that resulted in the Bucs recapturing the lead on a 22-yard field goal by Babbush.
Offensively, the Aggies then turned to sensational sophomore running back Bhayshul Tuten to complement the defense's play with his runner and receiver talents. His 49-yard reception from Fowler set up a 2-yard touchdown run for Tuten to give the Aggies a 13-10 lead as the Aggies missed the extra point with 8:28 remaining in the third quarter.
After a 3-and-out from the Bucs, the Aggies put the finishing touches on the win. They put together an 11-play, 59-yard drive that ended with an 8-yard TD reception by Tuten. Tuten rushed for 106 yards and a touchdown on 22 carries, marking the ninth straight game Tuten has gone over 100 yards rushing. He also had 78 yards receiving and a touchdown to give him 184 all-purpose yards and two touchdowns on 26 touches.
His rushing performance on Saturday ties the Big South record for consecutive 100-yard games in a season. If he rushes for 100 yards next week at Gardner-Webb, he will own the consecutive 100-yard games in a season record. In addition, he will tie the conference record for consecutive 100-yard games regardless of the season. Liberty's Rashad Jennings had 10 consecutive 100-yard games over two different seasons.
If the Aggies win next week, they will have their sixth conference championship in eight seasons.
We are ready to get to work on Monday," said A&T linebacker Tyquan King, who led the Aggies with 11 tackles on Saturday. "We must have a win. We have to come up with a way to do that someway, somehow."
