Spring football schedule brings Rattlers-Wildcats rivalry back to Tallahassee
By St. Clair Murraine
Outlook staff writer
Providing that there is no coronavirus disruption of a spring football schedule recently announced by the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference, the long-running rivalry game between FAMU and Bethune-Cookman University will return to its roots.
The makeup of the schedule puts FAMU and B-CU in the Southern Division along with North Carolina A&T, North Carolina Central and South Carolina State. The Northern Division is made up of Coppin State, Delaware State, Howard, Morgan State, Norfolk State and the University of Maryland Eastern Shore.
The Rattlers and Wildcats will play in Tallahassee on April 10 for the first time since 1975 to culminated two meetings on the spring football schedule. The first game between the two teams is scheduled for March 6 in Daytona.
Photo courtesy Vaughn Wilson
Bethune and FAMU met for the first time in Tallahassee in 1925. They continued meeting at alternating sites in Tallahassee and Daytona at venues that included Daytona International Speedway and Doak Campbell Stadium on FSU’s campus.
The annual rivalry eventually became known as the Florida Classic and was held in Orlando during its early years before moving to Tampa. It returned to Orlando in 1997.
Both schools will continue the rivalry game when they leave the MEAC next spring to join the SWAC. FAMU leads the all-time series 49-24-1.
The only other team that FAMU will face twice this spring is South Carolina State on Feb. 20 to start the season in Orangeburg, S.C, and March 13 in Tallahassee. FAMU also will play North Carolina Central on March 20 at home, followed by a March 27 date with North Carolina A&T in Greensboro, N.C.
The MEAC shutdown playing sports this past spring, following the lead of several other conferences due to the coronavirus. The MEAC decided on divisional play for the resumption of football in an effort to minimize both travel time and reduce travel expenses by eliminating the need for air travel.
“The mental and physical health and safety of our student-athletes, coaches, staff and fans must be at the forefront,” MEAC Commissioner Dennis E. Thomas said in a press release. “With that in mind, creative and innovative scheduling was required to accomplish our goals. Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, we had to restrict travel to regional competition. Hopefully, the type of schedule is for spring 2021 only.”
Each team in the Southern Division team will play two divisional opponents twice, and two divisional opponents once. Each Northern Division team will face each other twice.
Winners from each division will meet on April 17 for the conference championship.
FAMU finished the 2019 season with an overall record of 9-2 and 7-1 in the MEAC. The Rattlers were named the Black College Sports Network national champions after finishing last season ranked No. 24 in the STATS FCS Top 25 and No. 25 in the FCS Coaches Poll.
