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| COURTESY: FLORIDA A&M UNIVERSITY ATHLETICS |
Absent from the schedule is Hampton University Pirates who have moved on to the Big South Conference in their exit from the Mid-Eastern Athletics Conference (MEAC). The Rattlers will not play the Delaware State Hornets in 2018, who has welcomed first-time head coach and alum Rod Milstead.
The Rattlers will open the season with Fort Valley State Wildcats in the 2nd Annual Jake Gaither Classic/FAMU Hall of Fame Football Reunion on Labor Day Weekend, on Sat. Sept. 1 at Bragg Memorial Stadium. FAMU retained the #3 position in FCS home attendance for 2017 with an attendance mark of 19,048, trailing only FCS powerhouses James Madison (21,724) and Montana (23,535).
Fort Valley State and FAMU played before a capacity crowd in the 2011 season opener with the Division II Wildcats finishing the game leading the Rattlers in almost every significant statistical category. The final score -- FAMU 28-22.
On Sat. Sept. 8, the Rattlers travel to Division I FBS Troy University for its first road contest of the season. Lead by head coach Neal Brown, the sixth-youngest head coach in the FBS, Troy football has gone through a renaissance over the past three years. The wins have been plentiful for Brown’s Trojans with 22 victories over a 27-game period dating back to the end of his first season in 2015. Troy set the school’s FBS record for wins in back-to-back seasons as the Trojans won 10 games in 2016 and then followed with 11 victories in 2017, including the upset of the season in college football as Troy knocked off No. 22 LSU in Death Valley.
FAMU welcomes the Jackson State University Tigers on Sat., Sept. 15 to Bragg Memorial Stadium. With 25,500 seats, Bragg may be too small for the huge crowd expected to come see the best of the SWAC -- the JSU Sonic Boom of the South Marching Band vs. the FAMU Marching 100. With the Celebration of the Rattlers 1978 1-AA (FCS) National Championship and 1978 National Black College Championship, Bragg Stadium will be lit with the magnificent sounds and showmanship of the Boom and the Marching 100.
Florida A&M knocked off Jackson State 15-10 in the 1978 NCAA 1-AA National Championship Playoffs. The Rattlers, coached by Rudy Hubbard won the first FCS (1-AA) National Championship defeating University of Massachusetts 35-28 in the Pioneer Bowl in a blinding snowstorm at Memorial Stadium, Wichita Falls, Texas on Dec. 17, 1978.
Jackson State won the last outing with the Rattlers on a game winning 49 yard Hail Mary pass from quarterback LaMoniez Ivy to wide receiver DeSean McKenzie with one second left on the game clock for a Tigers 22-17 win. A Mississippi Veterans Memorial Stadium crowd of 39,217 watched as the Rattlers took at 17-16 lead over JSU with 46 seconds left in the game.
Week 4, Sept. 22 the Rattlers remain at home for the first MEAC contest of the season as they host the Savannah State Tigers for a celebration of FAMU's 1998 Black College Football National Championship. The 11-2 Rattlers, coached by College Football Hall of Famer William "Billy" Joe made it to the 1998 NCAA FCS Quarterfinals defeating Troy 27-17 and falling to Western Illinois 24-21 as the Gulf Coast Offense sputtered. This will be Savannah State final season at the FCS level as the Tigers move down to Division II after this season as a member of the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SIAC).
Week 5 is payback Saturday as the FAMU Rattlers travel to Durham to face the North Carolina Central Eagles for a Sept. 29, 4 p.m. MEAC contest. If the Rattlers have any chance of making it to the 2018 Celebration Bowl in Atlanta on Dec. 15, this is a must win situation for FAMU. The Eagles have been one of the most consistent programs in the MEAC for the past four years and the road to the championship requires two victories in North Carolina. The Eagles also welcome a new interim head football coach in former Eagle defensive coordinator Granville Eastman.
The Rattlers welcomes FAMU'ly for Homecoming 2018 and the Norfolk State University Spartans on Oct. 6. This is also an important MEAC conference game as the Rattlers build steam for contention of a spot in the 2018 Celebration Bowl. The Spartans are not your typical homecoming cupcake and conference games are always difficult in the MEAC. This will be a well-fought contest.
The Rattlers cannot afford to look ahead to the biggest game of the year on Oct. 13 in Greensboro with defending Black College Football National Champion and 2017 Celebration Bowl Champion, North Carolina A&T State University. No need to hype this game as the Aggies will show the Rattlers how much improvement they have made under new FAMU Coach Willie Simmons.
North Carolina A&T will be without legendary coach Rod Broadway who has retired, but that should not matter. His replacement is Broadway's former defensive coordinator Sam Washington, who has built the most consistent defense in FCS in the Grambling State Tigers and A&T Aggies who's rapid rise to powerhouse status including wins over FBS Charlotte and Kent State.
FAMU earns a much needed Bye Week on Oct. 20 to regroup for the big push forward.
The Rattlers theme for the Oct. 27 home game with Morgan State Bears is Breast Cancer Awareness. The Bears from Baltimore welcomes a new interim head coach in Ernest T. Jones, formerly the associate head coach and defensive coordinator at Morgan State. Jones previously served as the head football coach at Alcorn State in 2008.
On Sat. Nov. 3, FAMU is scheduled to face the much improved Howard University Bison in Washington, D.C. The Bison finished 2017 with a record of 7-4 under first year head football coach Mike London Sr. London delivered a signature FBS win for the Bison defeating UNLV 43-40, with freshman star quarterback Caylin Newton, brother of Carolina Panthers three time all-pro quarterback Cam Newton. Coach London has made a big impact on the MEAC in a very short period of time. London has proven he can coach, but more importantly he has aggressively upgraded the talent level of Bison football with recruits like Newton.
Nov. 10 is Senior Day on the Hill with the Rattlers playing a Oliver "Buddy" Pough coached team for the final time. South Carolina State University Bulldogs will make their presence felt at Bragg Memorial Stadium as Coach Buddy Pough ends a 16th year career at his alma mater. Pough has a shot to become the all-time winningest coach in South Carolina State history. Pough only trail legendary Coach Willie Jeffries for the most wins at SCSU. Coach Pough current career record is 120-64, 94-33 MEAC.
For the Bandheads, the FAMU Marching 100 and the SCSU Marching 101 has a rich history that is intertwined by Rattler brothers Lindsey B. Sarjeant, Arranger and Music Department Chairman and Director of Jazz Studies at Florida A&M University, and the late Ronald J. Sarjeant, retired director of bands and arranger of the Garnet and Blue at SCSU, and former director of bands/arranger at Tuskegee University. The two gifted prodigies of the late Dr. William P. Foster are difference makers today in the lives of thousands of young men and women that have studied music under their guidance. The battle between the two bands should continue to be epic in 2018.
The Florida Blue Florida Classic is scheduled for Sat. Nov. 17, 2 p.m. at Camping World Stadium, Orlando, Florida between rivals Florida A&M and the Bethune-Cookman Wildcats. Coach Simmons and the Rattlers will be ready to strike and start a new legacy of dominating B-CU. The Wildcats have a streak going and has beaten the Rattlers for the past 7 seasons. Last year, the Rattlers fell 29-24 before 47,819 fans ending the season with a 3-8 record. The Rattlers and Wildcats record attendance for this neutral site annual rivalry is 73,358. Since the game inception in 1973, over 1.8 million fans have attended this annual FCS battle for Florida supremacy.
The undefeated Rattlers (0-0) has a fresh start in 2018. Three goals stand tall before the Rattlers and are within reach with hard work and Rattler Nation fan support -- NCAA FCS National Playoffs, 2018 Celebration Bowl and #1 in FCS home attendance for 2018. The Marching 100 should have a great season too with the world stage awaiting the legendary band, as an invitation to perform at the 2019 Rose Bowl Parade has been accepted by Florida A&M University.
Florida A&M University will share two home game dates with Florida State University for Sept. 22 (Savannah State) and Oct. 27 (Morgan State). Hotel rooms may be in short supply so book early.
The schedule is subject to change as ESPN and the MEAC have not announced its Thursday Night schedule of HBCU televised games. Be a part of the Rattler back to dominance renaissance. Buy your reserved season tickets now at: FAMU Athletics Football Tickets. Go Rattlers!
FLORIDA A&M UNIVERSITY 2018 FOOTBALL SCHEDULE (Print Copy)
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* Conference Games
Note: Schedule subject to change. Game time to be announced at later date.
2018 Investing in Champions Annual Giving Campaign
Note: Schedule subject to change. Game time to be announced at later date.
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