Page 10 - Florida Sentinel 11-26-21

HBCU News
Florida A&M Selected To Participate In 2021 FCS Playoffs
Deion Sanders, Jackson State Complete Perfect SWAC Season
Jackson State took care of business against rival Alcorn State in front of a crowd even bigger than homecoming.
Jackson State completed a perfect SWAC season under head coach Deion Sanders.
JSU used three touch- down passes by freshman sensation Shedeur Sanders and solid defense to beat rival Alcorn State 24- 10. An official total of 58, 892 fans packed into Mississippi Veterans Memorial Stadium to witness the game.
Alcorn State got on the board late in the second quarter with a 32-yard field goal by Noah Kiani to take a 3-0 lead. JSU responded with a three-yard passing touchdown to Keith Corbin with eight seconds remaining in the second quarter to take a 7-3 lead into halftime. It would add to that lead with a 41-yard field goal by Bailey Raborn with 8:19 left in the third quarter.
Alcorn State quickly re- sponded with a 50-yard touchdown pass from Felix
Harper to cap a three-play, 75-yard drive that took less than a minute.
Shedeur Sanders and JSU would answer with a 31- yard touchdown pass to Shane Hooks to break the tie and give JSU a 17-10 lead. Sanders would connect with Corbin for his second touchdown of the day, a two- yarder, to put the game out of reach with 3:23 remaining.
Jackson State improved to 46-29-1 all-time against its in-state rival with the win. Al-
corn State’s loss means that Prairie View A&M will repre- sent the SWAC West in the championship game against Jackson State. Alcorn State had an outside chance at making the title game, but it needed to win Saturday.
Deion Sanders and Jackson State will have a week off before taking on Prairie View at the SWAC Football Championship Game on Dec. 4. The game will be played at Mississippi Veterans Memorial Stadium.
TALLAHASSEE, FL – Florida A&M football cele- brated after winning the Florida Classic and contin- ued to celebrate today after being announced one of the 24 teams in the 2021 FCS Playoffs as they look to win their second National Cham- pionship (1978).
The Rattlers will travel to Hammond, Louisiana, to play the Southeastern Louisiana Lions for the first time in school history.
The game is scheduled for this Saturday, November 27,at6p.m.,CSTon ESPN+. The winner will travel to face third-seeded James Madison at 1 p. m., CST on Saturday, December 4, in Harrisonburg, Virginia.
This will be the eighth time the Rattlers will make a playoff appearance, with the last one being in 2001. Florida A&M is the first team in the league to participate in the playoffs since Jackson State made the field in 1997.
Buy Tickets
Contact the Southeastern Athletics Ticket Office for
ticket information at (985) 549-5466. Southeastern will continue offering mobile ticketing as the primary source for securing tickets for the 2021-22 season. All tick- ets will be available via e-mail or text in a PDF format for fans to download on their phone or print at home. Tick- ets can also be downloaded to Apple Wallet.
About the SWAC
The Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) is con- sidered one of the premier HBCU conferences in the country and currently ranks among the elite in the nation in terms of HBCU alumni playing with professional sports teams.
Follow the SWAC
For complete coverage of the Southwestern Athletic Conference, please follow the SWAC on social media at @TheSWAC (Twitter), @TheSWAC (Facebook), and @TheSWAC (Instagram) or visit the official home of the Southwestern Athletic Con- ference at www.swac.org.
Deion Sanders, head coach of Jackson State football team and son, Shedeur Sanders, the team’s quarterback.
Florida A&M Blows Out Bethune- Cookman In Florida Classic
Florida A&M ended a decade of frustration by blowing out Bethune-Cook- man.
Florida A&M thinks it is in the FCS Playoffs. But it knows that — at long last — it got the better of rival, Bethune-Cookman.
FAMU thoroughly dis- posed of Bethune-Cookman, 46-21 in Orlando at the Florida Blue Classic inside Camping Grounds Stadium on Saturday, November 20, 2021. The win ended a nine- game losing streak for the state school from Tallahas- see.
Bethune-Cookman struck first with an 82-yard touchdown pass from Devin Black to Darrell Powell on its first offensive play of the game. FAMU took a 13-7 lead after a 47- yard touchdown pass from Rasean McKay to Xavier Smith and a short run by Jalen McCloud.
The two teams managed to keep each other out of the end zone in the second quar-
ter, but disaster struck for B- CU shortly after halftime. FAMU put up 30 points in 15 minutes, effectively put- ting the game out of reach.
The Rattlers rushed for 276 yards and three scores. Leading the way was Bishop Bonnett who rushed for 128 yards on 19 carries.
Devin Black completed 10 of 13 pass attempts for 231 yards and three scores for the Wildcats. They finish the season 2-9, their worst record in more than a decade.
The game was played in front of a crowd of 54,198 fans.
Florida A&M ends the season 9-2 overall, matching its 2019 record. It finished second in the SWAC East, behind Jackson State, which handed FAMU its only loss by one point in the season opener.
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