Rattlers depart Orange Blossom Classic with payback victory over Jackson State
Florida A&M has never missed an Orange Blossom Classic, the premier football event for Historically Black Colleges and Universities. Not from 1933 to 1978, and not since the event resumed after a 43-year hiatus in 2021.
But after turning down the Orange Blossom Classic’s three-year, $1.475 million offer in July, that will no longer be the case come 2024. So the Rattlers decided to go out with a bang Sunday afternoon at Hard Rock Stadium, cruising to a 28-10 victory over Jackson State for their first win in the event’s new era.
Without former head coach Deion Sanders, who is now at Colorado, Jackson State was unable to recreate its 59-3 Orange Blossom Classic victory over FAMU last year. In that game, the Tigers scored eight touchdowns thanks to 471 yards of total offense and finished the season with a Southwestern Athletic championship for the second consecutive year. But this time around, the Tigers weren’t nearly as successful and didn’t score until the 1:10 mark of the third quarter.
“They’ve been the Alabama of the HBCUs, so we had to calm them down a little bit this year,” FAMU wide receiver Marcus Riley said.
Rattlers quarterback Jeremy Moussa, named the Preseason Offensive Player of the Year, went 12 of 22 for 150 yards and two touchdowns. Wide receiver Jah’Marae Sheread led all pass-catchers with 90 yards on five receptions, and the Rattlers’ rushing attack excelled, averaging 5.2 yards per carry for 207 yards.
FAMU wasted no time in their quest for vengeance, as Riley returned the opening kickoff 96 yards down the right sideline to put the Rattlers in front.
“We like to put really fast guys on kick returns, and Marcus is arguably our fastest player,” FAMU head coach Willie Simmons said. “ … But we said we wanted to set the tone in the very beginning, and taking the opening kickoff [did that].”
A pair of Jackson State fumbles in the first quarter — one of which was recovered by the Rattlers — gave FAMU great field position, and it capitalized with two more touchdowns.
Wide receiver Trevonte Davis caught the first touchdown, an 18-yard throw that Moussa floated over the defense. On the Rattlers’ next possession, Sheread scored off a 5-yard screen pass.
Less than 10 minutes into the game, FAMU held a commanding 21-0 lead, which was extended to 28-0 at halftime. The Tigers had a better second half, with a 66-yard touchdown to start the fourth quarter, but it was too late.
“We got our butts kicked out there today,” first-year JSU coach T.C. Taylor said. “We came out flat in the first half. I got to do a better job of getting this football team ready to play, though.”
In the end, experience won out. The Rattlers brought back 15 starters from the previous season, while JSU went into rebuild mode after the departure of Sanders, adding more than 70 new players and several coaches.
As a result, FAMU emerged as the preseason favorites to win the SWAC East and with Sunday’s victory, it has a good chance.
Since 2021, the winner of the Orange Blossom Classic has gone on to win the division. And FAMU’s only roadblock to the SWAC East title has been JSU — its only conference loss the past two seasons.
But the event is about much more than the outcome. It’s a football game steeped in HBCU tradition.
“It reminds us of the struggles of where we came from as a people, and it also reminds us as people the enjoyment we have, the fellowship with each other during times like this,” Joel Williams, a member of Groove Phi Groove, Social Fellowship Inc., said.
The Orange Blossom Classic originally began in 1933 when 2,000 fans packed a blacks-only ballpark in Jacksonville to watch FAMU beat Howard University 9-0. The event soon became a staple among HBCUs and was held annually until 1978.
It resumed in 2021 with JSU and FAMU squaring off at Hard Rock Stadium. The Tigers won that game 7-6 before blowing out the Rattlers the following year. But this season, FAMU flipped the script.