CIAA Football: Winston-Salem State 62, Livingstone 7

Salisbury, North Carolina -- Livingstone knew it was operating with a small margin-for-error against 13th-ranked Winston-Salem State on Saturday. It just didn’t know how small.

“They’re not world-beaters,” coach Elvin James insisted after the Blue Bears flatlined and fell 62-7 at Alumni Stadium. “They weren’t the kind of team I thought would come in here and dominate us. But when you give a team ammunition to shoot at you — and you keep doing it — they’re gonna score.”

The visiting Rams (7-0, 6-0 CIAA) threw a cascade of offense at LC, reached the end zone nine times and clinched the league’s Southern Division championship, assuring themselves a berth in the Nov. 12 title game.

“That’s what we set out to do,” said second-year WSSU coach Connell Maynor. “Last year we went 8-2 and didn’t make it to the championship game, so we came in with a chip on our shoulders. Our expectations are high — win every game.”

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FAMU runs past Savannah State Tigers, 47-7

Savannah, Georgia -- Al-Terek McBurse came out of high school as one of the top running backs in Florida and signed with Purdue. But after two years as a Boilermaker, McBurse decided to transfer to Florida A&M to be closer to home. On Saturday, McBurse made the move pay off — running wild as the Rattlers dominated host Savannah State in a 47-7 MEAC victory.

The 5-foot-11, 205-pound junior seemed to impose his will on the Tigers — piling up a career-high 218 yards on just 14 carries. He scored on touchdown runs of 5, 60 and 31 yards in front of 4,356 fans at T.A. Wright Stadium.

“I was raised by my grandmother and I just wanted to be closer to her,” McBurse said “And I was able to make the change without having to sit out a year. I’ve had better games in high school, but this is my best in college.

“I’ve got to credit my offensive line, fullback and receivers for allowing me to get to the second level,” McBurse said. “From there, I was able to ...

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McBurse scores 3 TDs as Rattlers blast the SSU Tigers

SAVANNAH, Ga. — Florida A&M had its hiccups throughout the night, but Saturday was a victory the Rattlers football team needed. Through it all, the offense showed a new-found spark in running back Al-Terek McBurse, who anchored a 47-7 victory over Savannah State on Saturday night at T.A. Wright Stadium.

McBurse, a transfer from Purdue, ran every play as if he wouldn't be denied, and in the process turned out to be the impact FAMU needed out of the backfield. By halftime, he had four carries for 114 yards. That included his biggest run of 60 yards for his second score.

McBurse finished the night with 218 yards, becoming the first FAMU running back since Philip Sylvester to go over 200 yards in a game. Sylvester rushed for 222 yards against Howard in 2007. McBurse also had two other touchdown runs of 5 and 31 yards.

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Old Ties

Although FAMU played SSU for only the fourth time, their ties go back almost a century. Six years before their first meeting in 1927, Ted Wright for whom the Tigers' stadium is named, was a coach at FAMU.

Wright coached two seasons at SSU, starting in 1947. That was 20 years after the first meeting between the two teams, which FAMU won 18-0.

They wouldn't meet again until 77 years later when the Rattlers again beat the Tigers, 50-14.



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Albany State: Beast of the east -- the Dirty Blue is back

Albany, Georgia -- Octavious Staton was open -- wide open -- and he made the catch, turned and waltzed into the right corner of the end zone all alone. He was in! Absolutely in! And so is Albany State.

Well, maybe not absolutely, but the Rams stood up Saturday night, lifted their season above their shoulders and tossed it right back on the tracks: Here comes the Golden Ram Express.

That's what Saturday's 25-15 victory against Morehouse means. It means the Rams can win the SIAC East if they win their last three games. It means the door is now open to the postseason.

It means the Rams control their destiny, just like they controlled Morehouse for most of the night. They had control of nothing until they won Saturday.

"There just was no tomorrow,'' ASU coach Mike White said. "It would have killed our season.''

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Grambling crushes Concordia

GRAMBLING, Louisiana — Grambling piled 16 points onto the scoreboard in the final 2:45 of the second quarter Saturday to provide a comfortable 30-0 lead by halftime. The Tigers (2-4, 1-3) added another two touchdowns after the break to claim the eventual 44-0 victory against visiting nonconference Concordia (4-3, 1-1).

"The kids have worked their behinds off — the ball just hasn't bounced for us," coach Doug Williams said. "Today the ball bounced our way a little bit."

Both teams started slowly until Grambling broke out of somewhat of a funk with a first-quarter screen pass from sophomore quarterback Frank Rivers to Mario Louis. The senior receiver broke tackles and took off downfield for an explosive 70-yard score.  Running back Dawrence Roberts capped a 71-yard drive two possessions later with a 1-yard touchdown for a 14-0 lead.

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Lane Dragons falls at homecoming to Tuskegee

Jackson, Tennessee -- Things went wrong all day for Lane College, and just about everything went right for Tuskegee. That added up to a 41-17 win for the Golden Tigers at Lane's homecoming.

"We just didn't have anything going right for us today," said Lane head coach Derrick Burroughs. "It's hard to find anything positive when you play like we did today. "They just kicked our butts on both sides of the ball."

Tuskegee head coach Willie Slater said his team is still a work in progress, but there was plenty to build on in the win. "We did a lot of good things, especially offensively," Slater said. "We're getting better in some areas, and our ground game is one of them."

The Tigers moved the ball at will at times in the first half against the Dragons, compiling 122 rushing yards on 25 carries while the defense held Lane to 38 yards before halftime. Most of Tuskegee's yards came in the second quarter.



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Georgetown defeats Howard, 21-3, to win Mayor’s Cup

Washington, D.C. -- For most of Saturday’s matchup between Howard and Georgetown, the District’s two Football Championship Subdivision teams, neither the Bison nor Hoyas generated much offense. Too many off-target passes, false-start penalties and missed field goals made for short stints for the offenses and little rest for the defenses.

But heading into the fourth quarter of the third Mayor’s Cup game, Howard’s defense began to wear down and Georgetown capitalized. The Hoyas scored two touchdowns in the final 10 minutes to win, 21-3, at Greene Stadium.

The victory capped a successful five-game stretch of away games for the Hoyas (5-2), who have won more games this season than in any of Coach Kevin Kelly’s six seasons at Georgetown.



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Tennessee State's big offense beats Tennessee Tech

COOKEVILLE, Tennessee — Tennessee State’s newfound explosive offense helped the Tigers score early and often on the way to a 42-40 upset over No. 19 Tennessee Tech. The win came on the heels of TSU’s 55-3 trouncing of Southeast Missouri last week.

It marked the first time TSU (3-4, 2-2) has won back-to-back OVC games since beating Southeast Missouri and Eastern Kentucky in 2009.

“It feels great to win two in a row and I’ve got about six hours to enjoy it and then I’m on to the next one,” said TSU redshirt freshman quarterback Mike German, who completed 19 of 29 passes for 232 yards with two TD passes and one TD run. “We were good on offense, but we’ve got to finish. We’ve got to keep it up longer and put teams away.”

Even after taking a 42-20 lead in the third quarter after Dante’ Thomas ran in his second TD, TSU wasn’t able to put Tech away until the final 15 seconds. Tech (4-2, 3-1) scored 20 points in the final 18:14.

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TTU FOOTBALL: Tech rally falls short

COOKEVILLE -- It went down to just one yard Saturday night. As the Tennessee Tech football team kicked the onside kick to get the ball back with about 15 seconds remaining, the officials ruled that the kick did not go the required distance, while the replay did.

But in the end, Tennessee State knocked off the No. 19 Golden Eagles 42-40, buoyed by four costly turnovers for Tech (4-2, 3-1 Ohio Valley Conference).

"It was just a disappointing loss for us," said Tech coach Watson Brown. "We got outplayed. They did the things they did last week (against Southeast Missouri) better. We have to play better. We can't turn the ball over. We can't have the penalties we had (11 for 80 yards). We have to play better defense. You can't win games when you can't stop people. You just can't outscore people every week."



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