2018 Florida A&M Rattlers football team

2018 Florida A&M Rattlers football
2018 Florida A&M Rattlers football
Conference	Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference
Record	6–5 (5–2 MEAC)
Head coach	Willie Simmons (1st season);
Offensive coordinator	Alex Jackson (1st season)
Defensive coordinator	Ralph Street (1st season)
Home stadium	Bragg Memorial Stadium; (Capacity: 25,500)
	Seasons ← 2017 2019 →

2018 Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference football standings
v t e
Team	W		L	W		L
No. 12 North Carolina A&T $	6	–	1	9	–	2
Bethune–Cookman	5	–	2	7	–	5
Florida A&M	5	–	2	6	–	5
South Carolina State	4	–	3	5	–	6
Howard	4	–	3	4	–	6
North Carolina Central	3	–	4	5	–	6
Morgan State	3	–	4	4	–	7
Norfolk State	2	–	5	4	–	7
Delaware State	2	–	5	3	–	8
Savannah State	1	–	6	2	–	8

$ – Conference champion Rankings from STATS Poll

The 2018 Florida A&M Rattlers football team represented Florida A&M University in the 2018 NCAA Division I FCS football season. The Rattlers were led by first-year head coach Willie Simmons. They played their home games at Bragg Memorial Stadium. They were a member of the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference. They finished the season 6–5, 5–2 in MEAC play to finish in a tie for second place.

Previous season

The Rattlers finished the 2017 season 3–8, 2–6 in MEAC play to finish in a three-way tie for eighth place.

On November 20, head coach Alex Wood resigned.^[1] He finished at Florida A&M with a three-year record of 8–25.

Preseason

MEAC preseason poll

In a vote of the MEAC head coaches and sports information directors, the Rattlers were picked to finish in fifth place.^[2]

Predicted finish	Team
1	North Carolina A&T
2	Howard
3	North Carolina Central
4	Bethune–Cookman
5	Florida A&M
6	Norfolk State
7	South Carolina State
8	Savannah State
9	Morgan State
10	Delaware State

Preseason All-MEAC Teams

The Rattlers had ten players selected to the preseason all-MEAC teams.^[3]

Offense

2nd team

Devin Bowers – RB

Loubens Polinice – OL

3rd team

Ryan Stanley – QB

Obinna Nwankwo – OL

Khalil Harris – OL

Defense

2nd team

Antonio Miller – DL

Jabireel Hazly – LB

Olrando McKinley – DB

Terry Jefferson – DB

Special teams

2nd team

Chris Fabboul – P

Schedule

Date	Time	Opponent	Site	TV	Result	Attendance
September 1	5:00 p.m.	Fort Valley State*	Bragg Memorial Stadium Tallahassee, FL (Jake Gaither Classic)	ESPN3	W 41–7	20,262
September 8	7:00 p.m.	at Troy*	Veterans Memorial Stadium Troy, AL	ESPN+	L 7–59	25,767
September 15	5:00 p.m.	Jackson State*	Bragg Memorial Stadium Tallahassee, FL	ESPN3	L 16–18	17,643
September 22	4:00 p.m.	Savannah State	Bragg Memorial Stadium Tallahassee, FL	ESPN3	W 31–13	16,644
September 29	4:00 p.m.	at North Carolina Central	O'Kelly–Riddick Stadium Durham, NC	ESPN3	W 55–14	8,451
October 6	4:00 p.m.	Norfolk State	Bragg Memorial Stadium Tallahassee, FL	ESPN3	W 17–0	26,045
October 13	1:00 p.m.	at No. 10 North Carolina A&T	BB&T Stadium Greensboro, NC	ESPN3	W 22–21	15,418
October 27	4:00 p.m.	Morgan State	Bragg Memorial Stadium Tallahassee, FL	ESPN3	W 38–3	14,037
November 3	1:00 p.m.	at Howard	William H. Greene Stadium Washington, D.C.		L 23–31	6,858
November 10	4:00 p.m.	South Carolina State	Bragg Memorial Stadium Tallahassee, FL	ESPN3	L 21–44	12,608
November 17	2:00 p.m.	vs. Bethune–Cookman	Camping World Stadium Orlando, FL (Florida Classic)	ESPN Classic	L 19–33	52,142
*Non-conference game Homecoming Rankings from STATS Poll released prior to the game All times are in Eastern time

Source: Schedule

Game summaries

Fort Valley State

	1	2	3	4	Total
Wildcats	0	7	0	0	7
Rattlers	7	13	13	8	41

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
10–1	2011	FAMU, 28–22

at Troy

	1	2	3	4	Total
Rattlers	0	7	0	0	7
Trojans	21	17	14	7	59

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
2–3	2002	TROY, 24–37

Jackson State

	1	2	3	4	Total
Tigers	0	6	9	3	18
Rattlers	7	0	9	0	16

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
7–9–2	2014	JSU, 22–17

Savannah State

	1	2	3	4	Total
Tigers	7	0	0	6	13
Rattlers	0	3	14	14	31

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
9–1	2017	FAMU, 20–14

at North Carolina Central

	1	2	3	4	Total
Rattlers	24	17	7	7	55
Eagles	7	0	7	0	14

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
7–4–1	2017	NCCU, 21–14

Norfolk State

	1	2	3	4	Total
Spartans	0	0	0	0	0
Rattlers	0	3	0	14	17

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
13–3	2017	NSU, 35–28

at North Carolina A&T

	1	2	3	4	Total
Rattlers	0	6	7	9	22
No. 10 Aggies	14	7	0	0	21

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
44–19–3	2017	NCAT, 31–20

Morgan State

	1	2	3	4	Total
Bears	0	0	0	3	3
Rattlers	14	17	7	0	38

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
22–8	2017	FAMU, 34–31

at Howard

	1	2	3	4	Total
Rattlers	10	7	0	6	23
Bison	21	0	7	3	31

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
27–10	2017	HOW, 37–26

South Carolina State

	1	2	3	4	Total
Bulldogs	10	14	6	14	44
Rattlers	0	14	7	0	21

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
30–25–2	2016	SCSU, 48–14

vs Bethune–Cookman

	1	2	3	4	Total
Wildcats	0	7	12	14	33
Rattlers	3	10	6	0	19

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
49–22–1	2017	BCU, 29–24

Coaching staff

2018 Florida A&M Rattlers coaching staff

Head Coach

Head Coach – Willie Simmons
Assistant head coach – Billy Rolle

Offensive Coaches

Offensive Coordinator/Offensive Line – Alex Jackson
Tight Ends/Special Teams/Associate Head Coach – James Spady
Wide Receivers – Jelani Barassa
Running backs – Clifford Henry
Graduate assistant – Mateo Kambui

Defensive Coaches

Defensive Coordinator/Defensive line – Ralph Street
Defensive backs – Kenneth Gilstrap
Defensive backs – Brandon Sharp

Source:^[4] Last updated 7/13/18

References

^ "FAMU head coach Alex Wood resigns, O-line coach Edwin Pata takes over as interim". www.tallahassee.com. Tallahassee Democrat/USA Today. November 20, 2017. Retrieved June 13, 2018.
^ "North Carolina A&T State Picked To Win 2018 MEAC Championship". Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference. July 27, 2018.
^ "NCAT's Raynard, NCCU's Reynolds Headline 2018 All-MEAC Preseason Football Team". Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference. July 25, 2018.
^ "2018 Florida A&M Football Roster". Florida A&M Athletics. Retrieved July 13, 2018.

[1] "FAMU head coach Alex Wood resigns, O-line coach Edwin Pata takes over as interim". www.tallahassee.com. Tallahassee Democrat/USA Today. November 20, 2017. Retrieved June 13, 2018.

[2] "North Carolina A&T State Picked To Win 2018 MEAC Championship". Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference. July 27, 2018.

[3] "NCAT's Raynard, NCCU's Reynolds Headline 2018 All-MEAC Preseason Football Team". Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference. July 25, 2018.

[4] "2018 Florida A&M Football Roster". Florida A&M Athletics. Retrieved July 13, 2018.

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

v t e Florida A&M Rattlers football
Venues	Sampson-Bragg Field (1942–1946) Bragg Stadium (1947–1956) Doak Campbell Stadium (1974–1980; entire 1980 season) Bragg Memorial Stadium (1957–1979, 1981–present)
Bowls & rivalries	2023 Celebration Bowl Bethune–Cookman: Florida Classic Jackson State: Orange Blossom Classic
Culture & lore	"Rattler Orange and Green" Marching 100
People	Head coaches NFL draftees
Seasons	1907 1908 1909 1910–1919 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024
National championship seasons in bold