Date: Sept. 27, 2014
Time: 1 p.m.
Facility: Greene Memorial Stadium
Series: A&T leads, 25-20-2
Media: WNAA, 90.1 FM; Play-by-play – Spencer Gwynn; Analyst – Billy Covington and Al Swann
Aggies Overview: North Carolina A&T heads to the nation’s capital to open the conference season against Howard University. The Aggies are 2-1 under head coach Rod Broadway in conference openers with the team’s only loss coming in a 21-18 defeat at home against Morgan State on Sept. 27, 2012. The last time the Aggies opened the conference season on the road, they came away with a 24-3 win over Morgan State in Baltimore on Oct. 1, 2011. The Aggies are 7-10-1 at Greene Memorial Stadium. A&T will face a tough challenge in the MEAC’s preseason offensive player of the year Greg McGhee, the Bison’s starting quarterback. A&T’s secondary looks up to the challenge. Their 10 interceptions lead the nation, and cornerback Donald Mattocks leads the country in picks per game (1.3). On the offensive end, the Aggies will be looking for the offensive diversity that allowed junior quarterback Kwashaun Quick to connect with 10 different receivers versus Chowan last week.
Howard Overview: McGhee has played three games against A&T in his career. He has thrown for 662 yards, four touchdowns and four interceptions on 59-for-116 (.509) passing in those games. This season McGhee has completed 48.3 percent of his passes for 614 yards and two touchdowns. Against Division II Morehouse he was 16-for-30 for 149 yards and two touchdowns. At the start of the season, the Bison also featured a superstar sophomore running back in Anthony Philyaw, but he has not played this season. Instead the running game has been put in the hands of McGhee, Aquanius Freeman, Terrance Tusan and William Parker. Each player has at least 25 carries this season with McGhee leading the way with 61. McGhee had 95 yards rushing and three touchdowns on 20 carries in the Bison’s 38-35 loss to Morgan State at MetLife Stadium last week. The Bison rank third in the conference in total offense and ninth in total defense.
News & Notes:
A&T scored a school record 42 points in one quarter, which was the second quarter against Chowan. The Aggies also scored a school-record 52 first-half points against the Hawks.
The Aggies had a few more records in their win over the Hawks. Donald Mattocks tied Alonza Barnett’s school record with three interceptions in one game. The Aggies also picked off a school record five passes.
The Aggies 59-0 win was the fourth-biggest shutout win in school history. Head coach Rod Broadway owns two of the Aggies’ biggest shutout wins after his 2012 team defeated West Virginia State 77-0.
A&T lost 35-28 in its last trip to Greene Memorial Stadium after giving up an 82-yard kickoff return, fumbling at the Bison’s 1-yard line and failing to score after having 1st-and-goal from the Bison 3 in overtime.
They said what?
“A&T coming to town is always exciting for the campus. The student population and the campus love when this type of team comes to town. Coach Broadway and his staff have the Aggies playing well. They are very explosive and they make big plays. The quarterback (Kwashaun Quick) has done a good job and of course the running back is outstanding. But they also do a good job on defense in terms of creating turnovers, and their special teams are outstanding. They are a tough matchup.”
Howard head coach Gary Harrell on playing A&T
“We are sort of in a similar position we were in three years ago when we went up there. We were 4-2 when we went up there at that time. We weren’t a very good football team. We thought we were fairly good, but we got up there and got embarrassed. Now we’re sitting here 3-1, taking a team up there that I know is a better football team, but we’ve got to play the best game we’ve played all year. That loss (three years ago) changed the course of our football season, so we’re going to go up there and play hard and hopefully we want put ourselves in a position that we put ourselves in the first year I was here because we only won one more game the rest of the year.”
A&T head coach Rod Broadway on the Aggies 35-28 overtime loss in 2011
COURTESY NORTH CAROLINA A&T STATE UNIVERSITY SPORTS INFORMATION
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