Wood: No Need to Panic After Rattlers Suffer Second Straight Loss

Devin Bowers

By St. Clair Murraine
Outlook Staff Writer

After the FAMU football team dropped it’s first game, coach Alex Wood was optimistic he’d see some improvements from the Rattlers last weekend against Samford University.

 
He did. But just for two quarters. On top of that, neither the offense or defense was especially productive as a unit.

 
But Wood insisted Sunday that there is no need to panic over whether the Rattlers, winners of just three games each of their last two seasons, could begin a turnaround this year.

 
“What are you going to panic about,” Wood said, following the Rattlers’ 58-21 loss in Birmingham, Ala. “That’s no concern at all. We are just going to keep coaching and keep playing.”

 
The Rattlers have now given up 109 points in two games, while scoring 24.

 
FAMU gave early indication that it might be more competitive against the Bulldogs, taking a 14-10 lead in the first quarter. But the Rattlers couldn’t score again until late in the fourth quarter when Devin Bowers broke out of the backfield for a 73-yard touchdown.

 
That turned out to be nothing more than a flourish, with Samford on top by 20 points. Bowers finished his afternoon performance with 10 carries for 146 yards.
Other than that, there wasn’t much else for FAMU fans to feel good about.

 
Wood wasn’t discouraged, though.

 
“We just have to keep doing what we are doing; learning how to play better and learning assignments,” he said. “Just keep playing. That’s all. The only way you get better is to keep working at it.”

 
The Bulldogs’ offense produced 752 yards, rewriting their previous best single-game performance that stood since 1987. FAMU’s 400-yard day might have otherwise been good for a win, but the defensive effort wasn’t there although the Rattlers got a 65-yard interception by Akil Blount early in the ballgame.

 
Starting quarterback Carson Royal had a much better day than he did a week earlier against USF, although he got help from Kenny Coleman for the second straight game. Royal completed 11 of 25 attempts for 143 yards. Coleman was 6 of 14 for 42 yards.

 
Neither quarterback threw a touchdown and Coleman was sacked once.

 
“Hopefully we can learn from each experience that we have; try to win and learn until we get better,” Wood said.

 
FAMU will have a short turnaround before its next game at South Carolina State on Thursday night. That gives them little time to tweak the inconsistency that Wood has seen for two consecutive weeks.

 
“It makes it more difficult,” he said. “We have to stay pretty simple with what we do. This is not brain surgery, but we do have to have some execution in terms of what we do in the offense, defense and special teams area.”

 
Not only that. Wood said he was concerned about fatigue, having just four days to prepare for South Carolina State.

 
“There is nothing we can do about it (because) we said yes to the schedule,” he said. “We will play the game and do the best we can.”