Preview Week 3: Florida A&M

Florida A&M University, SWAC (FCS)

Broadcast: Saturday 9/16 HBCUGo (link) 5 PM CST/6 PM EST

When We Last Saw FAMU

2023 Record: 1-1 (1-0 SWAC)

The Rattlers have split their opening two games of the season an opening weekend 28-10 win against SWAC rival Jackson State in Miami and a week 2 loss to the University of South Florida. That loss, a 38-24 battle in Tampa, was the first loss in ten games for Head Coach Willie Simmons. FAMU out gained the Bulls both in total yards and yards per play, but had major turnover issues (3 INT 3 fumbles lost) and were eaten up by USF’s pass rush (4 sacks allowed). The pass rush and turnovers, one of which occurred inside the USF 10 yard line, plus going 4/11 on 3rd downs proved too much to overcome, despite QB Jeremy Moussa throwing for 374 yards. The strength of this FAMU team is their vaunted Dark Cloud Defense features by preseason All-SWAC honorees at all three levels and is lead by MLB Isaiah Major and a strong defensive line group including DT Gentle Hunt and DE Anthony Dunn Jr. That trio of defenders have already accounted for 10 TFL and 6 sacks plus two QB hurries. They run primarily a four man front and can go 4-2 or 4-3 depending on what kind of offense they’re facing, but the 4-2-5 seems to be their base defense with a Nickel covering the slot. Because they’re so strong along the line, they dont have to bring a lot of pressure, and can rely primarily on a four man pass rush freeing up the 2nd and 3rd level defenders to make plays. The offense look balanced on aggregate, 52% of plays have been passing attempts+sacks, but they ran for 200+ yards on 38 attempts week 1 and only 44 yards on 23 attempts against USF. Moussa has a whole squad of capable pass catchers to throw to including a quality TE target Kamari Stephens, but the trio at the top are Jah’Marae Sheread, Nicholas Dixon, and Marcus Riley, who also has a return TD this season. This is an experienced and talented OL group, lead by multiple returning starters from 2022, averaging 6’4” 305 and blocking for two bruising RBs Jaquez Yant (6’2” 235, 19 attempts 94 yards 1 TD) and Terrell Jennings (6’1” 225 22 attempts 86 yards 2 TD). The play calling and offensive variation is notable and impressive, FAMU can line up under center and lean on teams, spread the field to create space for their athletes, bring in multiple backs or TEs plus a good group of WRs. They’re advanced schematically in terms of what UWF is likely to face the rest of the year, they’re gonna give you plenty of pre-snap movement to ID and isolate favorable matchups like higher level college and pro offenses tend to do these days. After two straight road games, UWF will be the first team hosted in Bragg Memorial Stadium for the 2023 season where the Rattlers haven’t lost in 15 games, the second longest active streak at the FCS level. FAMU has been extremely successful in recent years, finishing each of the last three seasons with 9 wins, and have not lost to a D2 school since 2016, two years before Coach Simmons took the reigns in Tallahassee.

Three Players to Know

Grad. Jeremy Moussa, QB 6’3” 225 WT

Stats: 2 games 36-65 524 yards 3 TD 3 INT 55.4% 8.1 YPA

The former Vanderbilt QB came into 2023 as the incumbent starter, after a debut season in Tallahassee in which he earned 2nd team All-SWAC. He was voted the preseason conference Offensive Player of the Year and preseason 1st Team All-SWAC ahead of the 2023 campaign. Moussa is off to a good start so far, through two weeks he is averaging 262 yards per game passing, up from 245 last year. He did throw three picks last weekend, but was playing up a division on the road and set a career personal best 374 passing yards.

Moussa is a talented passer and he’s in command of a pretty deep, diverse offensive playbook at the start of his second full season as starter. The Rattlers have a ton of talented offensive playmakers that Moussa can lean on, eight players have at least one reception of 17 yards or more, so look for him to continue to distribute the ball. UWF will need to keep the pressure on Moussa and hope to force him into more turnovers like last weekend.

Senior Isaiah Major, MLB 6’1” 230

Stats: 2 games 17 tackles (11 solo) 3.0 TFL 2.0 sacks

Major was one of my opposing players to watch at the LB group coming into the season and he has continued his strong play from a year ago. The 1st Team All-SWAC MIKE Linebacker had an 11 tackle game last week against the Bulls, sacking QB Byrum Brown twice. He can cover a lot of ground, rush the passer, and lay a lick on the ball carrier.

UWF Has had good success running the ball the last two weeks, averaging 5.1 yards per carry and 177.5 yards per game (excluding sacks) adding 5 scores, but they have not played against any defender like Major yet. Habitual tackle breaker CJ Wilson versus tackling machine Isaiah Major could be the most interesting battle of the evening.

Soph. Anthony Dunn Jr., DE 6’4” 250

Stats: 2 games 16 tackles (8 solo) 4.5 TFL 2.5 sacks 1 hurry

In the preseason I highlighted former FAMU Defensive End Kamari Stephens as a player to watch, not realizing he had transferred to Jacksonville State. In steps Anthony Dunn Jr as the featured pass rusher for the Dark Cloud Defense. With prototype size and a 4 sack freshman year under his belt, he seems poised to takeover as the main playmaker of the front four in 2023.

Dunn is an imposing pass rusher with good burst and good length, who is going to have to be a major focus for the Argonauts’ offensive line. UWF has allowed some pressure on Peewee through the first two games, officially with two sacks and two hurries on 52 drop backs, but he has had to escape the pocket or throw under duress a few more times than the numbers indicate. UWF will face some more talented pass rushers through the year, so this will be a litmus test for the OL going into conference play.

Matchup of the Week

UWF Offensive Line vs FAMU Defensive Line

Any time you’re playing a division up/division down game in college football, the biggest differences are always going to be on the line of scrimmage, with the larger programs inherently attracting a bigger more athletic class of athlete at those size premium positions. On top of that inherent size/athleticism disproportion, this just a really good Defensive Line unit with a great blend of size and athleticism plus experience. Their top four DL, NT Gentle Hunt (22), DT Stanley Mentor (23), DE Dre Jones (13), and FANG (DE) Anthony Dunn Jr. (6) have appeared in 64 games for FAMU and have a combined 40 TFL and 22 sacks, including 10 and 4 respectively through 2 games this season. In my estimation, UWF is still trying to figure out the right side of the Offensive Line. While Left Tackle Jacob Bruce, Left Guard Oake Stipe, and Center Nash Nelson seem to have entrenched themselves, Right Guard Colton Beasley, Right Tackle Nymonta Doucure, and NW Missouri State transfer Right Tackle Ben Freeman still appear to be in a three way competition to get the best five on the field. Freeman has come in as a sub early in both games, playing RT and bumping Chop in from Tackle to Right Guard. From my rewatch of the first two games Beasley has allowed two sacks, the only two allowed by the Argos so far, and a couple more pressures to boot. I’ll be watching closely as the Argos bookend Tackles battle it out with Dunn and Jones and to see if FAMU’s interior DL attempts to go after the RG spot.

Prediction

This is such a cool game and one I was immediately excited about when it was announced as someone who grew up in Florida. FAMU is the top FCS team in the state of Florida right now, and has a strong history of success at that level. West Florida has come on hot in its short D2 history, so it is going to be very interesting to see where the Argos stack up against against the team that is probably right above them in the state of Florida college football hierarchy. That being said, divisional differences can be difficult to overcome, and this FAMU squad is not a 2021 McNeese State type of FCS opponent, they’re a nationally ranked, highly skilled, and well coached, proven winner looking to extend a streak of three straight 9 win seasons. This is a team with Celebration Bowl Championship aspirations, looking to take the top spot in the SWAC for the first time since joining in 2021. UWF has a lot of talent of their own and I think has the athletes to run with FAMU on both sides of the ball, so ultimately this is going to come down to who controls the lines of scrimmage. The Argos are experienced on both lines, so are the Rattlers. The Argos have good size on both lines, so do the Rattlers. The big difference is that FAMU has been tested twice already, against a quality conference foe and an FBS opponent. I laid out above the case for the most important matchup being UWF OL vs FAMU DL, but it could easily have been the other way around. Coach Melo’s new look DL unit has had a bit of a breakout in weeks 1 and 2, but are about to face the best OL unit they are likely to see unless they make a deep playoff run. The individual OL talent is high, they’ve got experience playing along side each other (three starters and multiple contributors return from last year), and they’re pretty good both run blocking and pass pro. John McMullen and Byron Puryear have been great in pass rush (7 sacks 1 hurry 1 forced fumble) and will be critical on Saturday in keeping Jeremy Moussa off balance. The Rattlers did allow 4 sacks last week against USF, so hopefully the powerful-so-far Argo pass rush can take advantage too. Another key battle is going to be UWF’s secondary and their ability to stymie the Rattler’s pass catchers. Last week the Argos had a little trouble, especially in the first half, containing a smaller-more elusive slot WR with McKendree’s Yogi Flager going for 8 catches for 87 yards. FAMU has a couple of those types of players, Sharead (9 catches-133 yards1 TD) and Marcus Riley (6-84-0), both of whom can really fly. It’s a tough pick, but I think the Rattlers’ quality and home field advantage secure them a hard earned win over West Florida 35-24. The strength and continuity along both lines for Coach Simmons’ team proves to be the difference, allowing the Rattlers to control the ball when it matters most.