Saturday's crowd of 27,756 was the largest at Price Stadium since the inaugural game was played there in 1997. Before Saturday's total, the crowd of 26,970 that watched the Spartans defeat Virginia State 33-7 in the Labor Day Classic on Sept. 1 was the second-largest.
Norfolk State is sixth nationally in Division I-AA with an average attendance of 19,920. Ahead of NSU: Montana, Delaware, Appalachian State, Youngstown State and Southern University. North Carolina A&T is the closest MEAC school at No. 11, averaging 12,803 fans.
Not so specialDaryl Jones described Saturday's victory against Hampton as "extra special," but one area where the Spartans weren't clicking was special teams. Particularly abysmal was NSU's coverage on punts and kickoffs, which almost cost the Spartans the game.
Among the blunders:
Maury grad James Butts recovered an onside kick that allowed Hampton to attempt a field goal in the final seconds.
Before that, Hampton scored its final touchdown after a 28-yard punt by Brian Jackson allowed the Pirates to start the drive at the NSU 41.
After Jones' second touchdown put the Spartans ahead 20-10 in the fourth quarter, Dennis McPhearson returned the following kickoff 48 yards to the NSU 20. That led to a Hampton field goal.
"Our special teams stunk," NSU coach Pete Adrian said. "Our kickoff coverage was horrendous. Our kickoff returns weren't very good. We made some crucial mistakes that could have cost us the ballgame.
"But the nice thing about our football team is nobody complains. They just say, 'Let's go to work.'"
One game at a time
Spartans fans might be riding high with dreams of a playoff bid after knocking off Hampton and preseason favorite South Carolina State, but Adrian and the NSU players refuse to entertain the notion.
"If you're focusing on something like playoffs, that's basically distracting you," senior linebacker Maguell Davis said. "I'd rather keep playing hard and we'll look back - and then I think we'll be pretty happy with the results."
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