TALLAHASSEE, Fla. —
Albany State football came up just short in a hard-fought battle on the road, falling 33-25 to Florida A&M Saturday evening at Bragg Memorial Stadium. With the loss, the Golden Rams drop to 2-1 on the season, while the Rattlers improve to 1-2 and extend their all-time series advantage to 14-3.
The Golden Rams opened strong, building a 14-3 lead midway through the second quarter behind rushing touchdowns from
Tiant Wyche and
Aljhanod Thomas. However, the momentum shifted after halftime as Florida A&M exploded for 16 points in the third quarter, highlighted by a 71-yard touchdown strike from RJ Johnson III to Kenari Wilcher. Despite an Albany State rally late in the fourth quarter, capped by
Isaiah Knowles' 25-yard touchdown pass to
Jamill Williams and a successful two-point conversion from
Javion Jackson, the Rattlers' ability to control possession—holding the ball nearly 10 minutes more—proved decisive.
Albany State posted 321 yards of total offense, paced by Knowles' 201 passing yards and Thomas' 52 rushing yards. Williams led all Golden Ram receivers with 74 yards and a touchdown, while
Deven Foster anchored the defense with a game-high 11 tackles. On the other side, FAMU's Johnson III threw for 272 yards and two scores, and Thad Franklin powered the ground game with 76 yards and two touchdowns.
The Golden Rams will regroup during their bye week before returning home to face Allen University on Saturday, September 27, at the Albany State Coliseum.
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ABOUT ALBANY STATE ATHLETICS
Albany State University is a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division II-level intercollegiate athletic program. The university currently fields teams in 11 sports: women's volleyball, women's tennis, women's cross country, men's and women's basketball, softball, men's and women's track and field, women's soccer, baseball, and football with all teams compete in the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SIAC), except women's soccer, which participates in the Peach Belt Conference.
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ABOUT THE SOUTHERN INTERCOLLEGIATE ATHLETIC CONFERENCE (SIAC)
The SIAC is a NCAA athletic conference consisting primarily of historically black colleges and universities with headquarters in downtown Atlanta, Georgia. The SIAC includes 15 member institutions (Albany State University, Allen University, Benedict College, Central State University, Clark Atlanta University, Edward Waters University, Fort Valley State University, Kentucky State University, Lane College, LeMoyne-Owen College, Miles College, Morehouse College, Savannah State University, Spring Hill College, and Tuskegee University), which are located within a contiguous seven-state footprint (Alabama, Georgia, Florida, Kentucky, South Carolina, Tennessee and Ohio). The SIAC sponsors nine men's and seven women's sports and is a proud member of the NCAA Division II. For more information, visit
www.thesiac.com.