Against a Longtime Nemesis, Missed Opportunities Hurt Bison

Photo: Howard University Head Football Coach Carey Bailey

Hampton University 31, Howard University 24

By Matthew Stanmyre, Special to The Washington Post

Howard's football players, sweaty and battered, sat in clumps inside the school's musty auxiliary gymnasium yesterday as sun poured in through the windows above. It had been nearly 40 minutes since the Bison lost to Hampton, 31-24, at Greene Stadium, but first-year coach Carey Bailey wasn't ready to dismiss the game.

"I had a lot of things that were fresh in my mind," Bailey said.

Bailey and the Bison had plenty to mull. There was the missed tackle early in the fourth quarter that allowed the Pirates to take the lead for good. A few minutes later, another blown tackle enabled the Pirates to expand their lead with a 78-yard scoring pass. Even after Howard battled back to get within a touchdown, a missed assignment on the ensuing onside kick helped Hampton escape with its 11th straight victory against the Bison, a streak dating from 1996.

"We had four or five critical errors that took place that we have to eliminate," said Bailey, who made his head coaching debut in what was both teams' season opener. "It's not so much to have an error, but when it's a critical error, that's when it usually costs you points."

Howard learned the familiar lesson Saturday against Hampton, the three-time Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference champion. When Bailey took over in February and reviewed game film from the 2006 season, he concluded that the Bison -- though usually competitive -- were often undone by untimely errors, a trend he sought to alleviate in preseason camp.

That continued yesterday. The Bison gained 405 yards of total offense in pushing the defending conference champion to its limit, but couldn't close the deal.

"They're going to be a good football team," said Hampton Coach Joe Taylor, who has won 192 games in 25 years. "There's no question that it's a team that knows what it's trying to get done, and that's a sign of good coaching."

Howard tied the score at 10 with nine seconds left in the third quarter, when quarterback Brian Johnson found wideout Jarahn Williams for a one-yard touchdown pass. But the Bison unraveled on Hampton's next two possessions -- they blew an assignment on a screen pass that went for a score, and then missed a tackle that led to a touchdown that put Hampton ahead 24-10 with 8:14 left.

Howard stayed close, getting within 31-24 with 1:45 left on a touchdown pass from Johnson to Arlandus Hood, but the error on the ensuing onside kick foiled the Bison's upset bid.

Johnson was 21 of 37 for 244 yards and two touchdowns, and Hampton's T.J. Mitchell, a West Virginia transfer, was 19 of 36 for 310 yards and three scores.

"We played hard, but we didn't always play smart," said Bailey, who was the defensive line coach at Minnesota last season. "We'll go back and try and fix some things."