Saturday, October 28, 2017

Game preview: Rivals Alabama A&M and Alabama State meet in Magic City Classic

BIRMINGHAM, Alabama -- You've heard the old adage that you can "throw the records out the window" when it comes to rivalry games.

But that seems to ring true when it comes to the annual matchup between rivals Alabama A&M and Alabama State in the Magic City Classic.

This year's Classic--kicking off Saturday at 2:30 p.m. at Legion Field in Birmingham--finds two teams with very different records lining up across from each other on the field, but the history of the 76-year-old game provides plenty of evidence that the game will be a close one.



The Alabama A&M Bulldogs come into the game with the top defense in the Southwestern Athletic Conference, and they lead the East division with a 3-1 conference record. After starting the season with three tough out-of-conference losses to UAB, Vanderbilt and South Alabama, A&M has had impressive double-digit wins.

Alabama State lost five straight games to begin the season and fired head coach Brian Jenkins, but interim coach Donald Hill-Eley led the Hornets to its first win of the season two weeks ago, 23-16 over Texas Southern.

The recent outcomes of the Magic City Classic have belied any team records, however, and last years's come-from-behind 42-41 win by Alabama A&M in overtime was an instant classic.

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