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FAMU football coach James Colzie III wants to translate finishing games at Prairie View A&M
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- FAMU football coach James Colzie III wants to translate finishing games at Prairie View A&M
Florida A&M football's goal is to close out games.
Putting teams away has been the Rattlers ' key to success the last two weeks, resulting in a 24-6 win over Southern and, most recently, a 52-28 homecoming victory over Texas Southern .
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Both games were on FAMU's Ken Riley Field at Bragg Memorial Stadium.
FAMU head coach James Colzie III hopes that finishing games will translate on the road when the Rattlers (5-3, 3-1 in SWAC) visit the Prairie View A&M Panthers (4-5, 2-3 in SWAC) this Saturday at 3 p.m. Eastern Time.
ESPN Plus will televise the Week 11 Southwestern Athletic Conference game.
The last time FAMU played away, it ended in a 35-21 loss at Jackson State as the visiting Rattlers had costly turnovers that led to two Jackson State touchdowns within the game's final three minutes.
Colzie hopes there will be no repeats on this road trip to Prairie View, Texas.
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"That's one of our mantras ― we want to make sure we finish every game we play," Colzie said in his game-week press conference on Monday.
"When you go on the road, there are two things you got to be able to do ― run the football and you can't turn the ball over. If we're able to do those two things, I like our chances."
Prairie View A&M is fresh off a 17-16 road victory at Mississippi Valley State. All four of the Panthers' wins have been decided by one possession.
"It's going to be important to continue to see the kind of problems Prairie View will pose to us and put a gameplan together," Colzie said.
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FAMU football vs Prairie View A&M: Familiar opponents in familiar situations
FAMU and Prairie View A&M know each other well.
The teams met twice as the Rattlers hosted and beat Panthers both times 45-7 in FAMU's 2023 homecoming football game , then 35-14 for the SWAC Championship .
However, Colzie is aware of changes made to Prairie View A&M's head coach Bubba McDowell's staff.
Anthony Weeden is the Panthers' new offensive coordinator after serving in the same role at Campbell University. Prairie View A&M's scoring offense is seventh out of 12 in the SWAC, averaging 22.4 points in nine games.
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"They've made some changes at the coordinator position. But we know Coach McDowell has a system in place and a philosophy he has," Colzie said.
"So, we're looking at the games they played this year and the two games we played against them last year. We're excited to play them again. But if we don't, we could go there and come back as an upset football team because we didn't take care of our business."
A lot will have to happen in their favor for FAMU and Prairie View A&M to clinch spots in the SWAC Championship again.
The Rattlers are third in the SWAC East behind Jackson State and Alabama State. The Panthers are third in the SWAC West after Southern and Alcorn State .
The Florida A&M Rattlers leads Texas Southern in the 4th quarter, Saturday, Nov. 2, 2024.
FAMU and Prairie View A&M must win out and hope for losses from the frontrunners to position themselves to represent their divisions at Dec. 7's SWAC title game.
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"They need to win. We need to win," Colzie said. "The expectation from our football is that we're going to have to play well and do things the right way."
FAMU football coach James Colzie III wants to see full shutdown from his team
FAMU had its first 50-point output in five years last week.
The Rattlers' 52 points was the first time they've scored that much since they posted the same amount to the day, Nov. 2, in 2019.
Defensively, FAMU held Texas Southern to 164 total offensive yards.
However, the Rattlers allowed 275 kick return yards by Texas Southern.
So, Colzie is searching for a lights-out game on all facets when he leads his FAMU squad into Prairie View this Saturday.
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"We're a downright scary football team when our talent shows and we play disciplined football," Colzie said. "I'm always going to want more. My expectations are high for this team because I see these guys work every day."
Florida A&M at Prairie View A&M ― Week 11, SWAC
When: Saturday, Nov. 9 at 3 p.m. Eastern Time
Where: Panther Stadium; Prairie View, Texas
Broadcast: ESPN Plus, Rattlers mobile application
Tickets: Purchase Here
Gerald Thomas, III is a multi-time award-winning journalist for his coverage of the Florida A&M Rattlers at the Tallahassee Democrat.
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Follow his award-winning coverage on RattlerNews.com and contact him via email at GDThomas@Tallahassee.com or on the app formerly known as Twitter @3peatgee .
This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: What FAMU football coach James Colzie said of Prairie View A&M matchup
