GREENSBORO -- It was supposed to finally be N.C. A&T's time to shine on homecoming. Instead, it was a dark and miserable day at Aggie Stadium.
Morgan State beat the Aggies 41-3 in front of a sellout crowd Saturday afternoon to deny A&T a victory on homecoming for the fifth straight year.
The Aggies -- facing the nation's second-ranked defense in Morgan State -- had one of its more miserable offensive performances in recent memory.
A&T (2-5 overall, 0-3 MEAC) managed 23 yards passing and went 0-for-16 on third down conversions.
With numbers like those, coach Lee Fobbs kept it as simple as possible in the postgame press conference.
"We're not very good &ellipses; just not a very good football team right now," he said quietly. "Give credit where credit is due -- they kicked our fannies."
The Bears (3-3, 1-1) lived up to their hype on the defensive side of the ball, but the offense that had been threatening all day broke through in the third quarter.
Morgan State's James Meade capped the opening drive of the second half with a 32-yard field goal to push the lead to 13-3, and two drives later, the big plays began to erupt.
Winfield Diggs, who also caught a TD in the first quarter, hauled in a 19-yard scoring strike with 4:35 in the third.
The Bears broke off long touchdown runs on both of their next drives to transform the close halftime contest into a rout.
Three touchdowns in just over 4 minutes sent hoards of spectators towards the exits, and left the Aggies asking, what went wrong?
"It all boils down to mistakes," A&T linebacker Brandon Long said. "We were in the ballgame, but we came out the second half a little flat. The (big) plays they got came from mistakes. Missed assignments, missed tackles -- we just have to go back to the drawing board."
The drawing board needs to be wiped completely clean, according to Fobbs.
"Defense played well. They dug in there and they fought. It's just the basic fundamentals: blocking, tackling and running."
For a half, the game went as scripted. The Bears' defensive reputation was well documented, but the Aggies entered as the MEAC's second-best defensive unit. Neither team entered Saturday scaring anyone offensively, as the teams occupied the conference's cellar in total offense per game. The Aggies will maintain that distinction after gaining 139 total yards.
The Bears blocked A&T's punt on the opening series to set up a Meade field goal, and a blown assignment in the secondary allowed Diggs to walk into the end zone after catching a ball in the flat to make it 10-0.
Morgan State had first-and-goal opportunities three times in the first half, but the Aggies kept the ball out of the end zone each time.
A&T finally found a chink in what had been nearly impenetrable armor of the Bears' defense when quarterback Carlton Fears took a draw 43 yards to the Bears' 17 with under a minute left in the half.
Eric Houston kicked a 32-yarder with 18 seconds remaining to make it a one-possession game, but it all collapsed in the second half.
"Twenty-three yards passing ain't going to get it &ellipses; it ain't going to get it anywhere," Fobbs said. "It's all about execution, and you have to do the things you're assigned to do."
But Fobbs, like any devoted leader, welcomed all the blame
"Players have to make plays, but that has nothing to do with it," he said. "We coach them ... I coach them. I'm solely responsible for my football team, and I don't put the blame on anyone else."
Morgan St. 10 0 24 7 -- 41
N.C. A&T 0 3 0 0 -- 3
Morg--FG Meade 18
Morg--Diggs 38 pass from Jackson (Meade kick)
A&T--FG Houston 32.
Morg--FG Meade 22
Morg--Diggs 19 pass from Glover (Meade kick)
Morg--Melton 52 run (Meade kick)
Morg--James 28 run (Meade kick), :00.
Morg--Hardemon 0 blocked punt return (Meade kick)
A--21,500.
Morgan State N.C. A&T
First downs 21 8
Rushes-yards 44-280 32-116
Passing 170 23
Comp-Att-Int 10-23-0 7-29-1
Return Yards 66 17
Punts-Avg. 4-33.8 10-32.0
Fumbles-Lost 2-2 1-1
Penalties-Yards 9-60 9-69
Time of Possession 33:24 26:36
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING--Morgan St., James 26-103, Melton 3-97, Lee 7-59, Etienne 1-17, Jackson 5-11, Cherenfant 1-1, Glover 1-(minus 8). N.C. A&T, Fears 5-52, Ferguson 19-41, Morgan 1-11, Ruffin 1-8, Miller 3-4, Parnell 1-1, Tomlin 2-(minus 1).
PASSING--Morgan St., Jackson 7-12-0-128, Melton 1-6-0-8, Glover 2-5-0-34. N. Carolina A&T, Fears 3-14-1-7, Morgan 3-8-0-14, Miller 1-6-0-2, Woodson 0-1-0-0.
RECEIVING--Morgan St., Wilson 4-41, Diggs 3-89, Baptiste 2-30, T.White 1-10. N. Carolina A&T, Tomlin 3-11, Dawson 1-15, Miles 1-0, Lowrance 1-(minus 1), Ferguson 1-(minus 2).
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