B-CU's biggest Classics

Lloyd "Tank" Johnson has never missed a Florida Classic. Each game in recent years has required more and more planning and resolve for the former Bethune-Cookman athletics director and defensive coordinator, who has been undergoing dialysis treatments for several years.

But this year's game, perhaps the most important for B-CU in the long history of its rivalry with Florida A&M, is not to be missed.

"I can't do no climbing, but I make it to the elevator and fight through the crowd," said Johnson, 77, who created the neutral-site Classic with the late FAMU athletics director Hansel Tookes in 1978. "I can't see myself not going, walking into that ballpark, seeing 70,000 people having a good time, watching those two bands."


Videographer: MaryJaneProductions

Small details carry Bethune-Cookman to big results heading into Florida Classic

On a collision course
Bethune-Cookman and Florida A&M enter the Florida Classic on Saturday with a combined 17-3 record, the seventh time the teams have had three or fewer losses at the time they played since 1967. The Rattlers have won all of those games. Results of the previous six:

Year - Combined record - Outcome
2000 - 17-3 - FAMU 31, B-CU 28
1998 - 17-2 - FAMU 50, B-CU 14
1978 - 15-3-2 - FAMU 27, B-CU 17
1977 - 16-3 - FAMU 14, B-CU 7
1975 - 16-2 - FAMU 17, B-CU 7
1967 - 11-2 - FAMU 30, B-CU 6

Bethune-Cookman vs. Florida A&M
When: 2:30 p.m. Saturday.
Where: Citrus Bowl, Orlando.
TV: ESPN Classic.
Internet Video: ESPN3.com
Records: B-CU is 10-0, 7-0 in the MEAC; FAMU is 7-3, 6-1.

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Videographer: ramband09 (B-CU -- Florida Classic Half-Time 2009)