The Florida A&M football team is in Jackson, Mississippi, ready to take on the Jackson State Tigers.
Coming into this heated SWAC rivalry game, the Jackson State Tigers sit at 4-2, while the Rattlers are coming into this game at 3-2.
In addition to being among the top two teams in the SWAC East, both teams are coming off of a bye.
There are a lot of implications for this game, and the biggest one is potentially locking up the SWAC East to compete in the SWAC championship.
The last time FAMU traveled to Jackson State was during the 2014-2015 season, where the Tigers won 22-17.
In 2023, the Rattlers took down Jackson State in the Orange Blossom Classic, beating them 28-10.
Head Coach James Colzie III spoke about the messages he gave his team throughout this week as they prepare for Jackson State.
“Take care of the football,” Colzie said. “We got to be able to run the ball, got to be able to stop the run, and being able to control what we can control.”
Ball security and taking care of the ball, especially during road goals has been a glaring problem for the Rattlers as the season progresses.
FAMU Quarterback Daniel Richardson has three interceptions on the season, all three while on the road. Richardson echoed Colzie’s sentiments.
“Protecting the ball on the road,” Richardson said. “Especially in an environment like that, they’ll have their home crowd. We just have to protect the ball and limit mistakes.”
Richardson spoke about the Rattlers being battle-tested and believes in FAMU being a championship-caliber team again this year.
“We have played in Miami,” Richardson said. “We have played in Troy. We have played in environments like this. At the end of the day, we are a championship-level team. We have played in stadiums. At the end of the day, Jackson State has a great fan base, but we are going to block everything out.”
The Rattlers have a tall task defensively, with the Tigers averaging 35.5 points per game, which is first in the SWAC.
Despite Jackson State being ranked number one offensively in the conference, linebacker Nay’Ron Jenkins is excited about this matchup on the road and likes their chances against this high-powered offense.
“We know they have a couple of big-play threats at wide receiver, but they mostly want to run the ball,” Jenkins said. “They want to run the ball, so we have to stop the run, make them one-dimensional, and make them throw the ball. We like our chances once we stop the run.”
Kick-off is Saturday, Oct. 19th, at 3:30 p.m. Fans can watch the game on ESPNU.