{"id":58666,"date":"2022-08-28T09:23:11","date_gmt":"2022-08-28T09:23:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/without-25-players-for-college-football-season-opener-florida-am-shows-character-and-resolve-in-loss-to-north-carolina\/"},"modified":"2022-08-28T09:23:11","modified_gmt":"2022-08-28T09:23:11","slug":"without-25-players-for-college-football-season-opener-florida-am-shows-character-and-resolve-in-loss-to-north-carolina","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/without-25-players-for-college-football-season-opener-florida-am-shows-character-and-resolve-in-loss-to-north-carolina\/","title":{"rendered":"Without 25 players for college football season opener, Florida A&#038;M shows &#8216;character and resolve&#8217; in loss to North Carolina"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<p>CHAPEL HILL, NC &#8212; Without 25 ineligible players, and playing with just seven available offensive linemen, Florida A&#038;M authored an impressive performance before succumbing to North Carolina, 56-24, on Saturday night.<\/p>\n<p>Quarterback Jeremy Moussa was 28-of-38 for 279 yards, 2 touchdowns and 1 interception and kept the Rattlers close in the first half before the depth and skill of the Tar Heels took over in the second.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I can&#8217;t speak enough to the character and resolve of this football team,&#8221; Rattlers coach Willie Simmons said.  &#8220;This is a special group of guys. We proved we belonged tonight. We opened some eyeballs. I am so honored and overwhelmed to be able to lead this group of men.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Drake Maye, named North Carolina&#8217;s starter earlier in the week by coach Mack Brown, was 29-of-37 for 294 yards and five touchdowns, spreading the ball around to a deep crop of Tar Heels receivers.  Ten different Tar Heels caught passes in the win, led by Josh Downs, who finished with nine receptions for 72 yards and two scores.<\/p>\n<p>Omarion Hampton kept the chains moving for North Carolina as Florida A&#038;M&#8217;s lack of depth began to show in the second half.  He finished with 14 carries for 101 yards and two touchdowns.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"inline editorial float-r\" data-behavior=\"article_related\">\n<p>2 Related<\/p>\n<\/aside>\n<p>Florida A&#038;M arrived with a reduced roster because of unresolved eligibility issues.  The list of those absent included linebacker Isaiah Land, who led the Football Championship Subdivision in sacks last year.<\/p>\n<p>In a statement released Friday, Simmons said the team initially decided not to play after learning Thursday night that the offensive linemen were deemed ineligible.  But after further discussion Friday, the team ultimately decided to go to North Carolina and play the season opener.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The players didn&#8217;t feel comfortable playing under those conditions and they are all understandably frustrated with many of our internal processes in the certification process, so they decided not to play,&#8221; Simmons&#8217; statement said.  &#8220;After a few more discussions with university leadership, including the president of the university, the players ultimately decided to play the game. I support these young men 100% in whatever they decide and I&#8217;m extremely proud of them for advocating for themselves! &#8220;<\/p>\n<p>All that said, the Rattlers were within 21-14 until Downs&#8217; 2-yard touchdown catch with 5 seconds left in the first half, and quickly responded to a 7-0 deficit in the first quarter with a 17-yard touchdown pass from Moussa to AJ Davis.<\/p>\n<p>Florida A&#038;M is scheduled to receive a $450,000 guarantee for playing the game, which is part of a celebration of Historically Black Colleges and Universities this week on the UNC campus.<\/p>\n<p>Maye is a redshirt freshman and the younger brother of former Tar Heels basketball standout Luke Maye.  He had a couple notable achievements in the win.  He&#8217;s the first North Carolina player to throw five touchdowns in a season opener and the first to connect for five touchdowns in a first career start.<\/p>\n<p><em>The Associated Press contributed to this report.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>    .<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>CHAPEL HILL, NC &#8212; Without 25 ineligible players, and playing with just seven available offensive linemen, Florida A&#038;M authored an impressive performance before succumbing to North Carolina, 56-24, on Saturday night. Quarterback Jeremy Moussa was 28-of-38 for 279 yards, 2 touchdowns and 1 interception and kept the Rattlers close in the first half before the &hellip;<\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more\"> <a class=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/without-25-players-for-college-football-season-opener-florida-am-shows-character-and-resolve-in-loss-to-north-carolina\/\"> <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Without 25 players for college football season opener, Florida A&#038;M shows &#8216;character and resolve&#8217; in loss to North Carolina<\/span> Read More &raquo;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true},"categories":[6],"tags":[1832,21277,46,4459],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":57363,"url":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/florida-am-college-football-expects-to-play-season-opener-at-north-carolina-despite-eligibility-issues\/","url_meta":{"origin":58666,"position":0},"title":"Florida A&#038;M college football expects to play season opener at North Carolina despite eligibility issues","date":"August 26, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Florida A&M's football season opener at North Carolina on Saturday is expected to be played despite reports that up to 20 Rattlers players may be ineligible or haven't cleared their paperwork to transfer.A FAMU spokesman confirmed to ESPN on Friday that the team expects to play.North Carolina coach Mack Brown\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Sports&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":57914,"url":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/florida-am-north-carolina-game-still-on-amid-famu-player-eligibility-issues\/","url_meta":{"origin":58666,"position":1},"title":"Florida A&#038;M-North Carolina game still on amid FAMU player eligibility issues","date":"August 27, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Florida A&M will be without 20 players due to NCAA eligibility issues for Saturday's season opener against North Carolina and would only have eight eligible offensive linemen for the game, The Athletic's Chris Vannini confirmed Friday. The news was first reported by ABC 27's Alison Posey. The Athletic also confirmed\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Sports&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":19794,"url":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/south-carolina-gamecocks-dont-need-new-qb-spencer-rattler-to-be-superman-says-coach-shane-beamer\/","url_meta":{"origin":58666,"position":2},"title":"South Carolina Gamecocks don&#8217;t need new QB Spencer Rattler to be Superman, says coach Shane Beamer","date":"July 20, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"ATLANTA -- Spencer Rattler became one of the most high-profile transfers of the offseason when he announced late last year that he was leaving Oklahoma for South Carolina, but Gamecocks coach Shane Beamer said Tuesday that he isn't worried about how the quarterback will handle the burden of expectations with\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Sports&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":53168,"url":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/unc-picks-starting-quarterback-for-opener-against-florida-am-wralsportsfan-com\/","url_meta":{"origin":58666,"position":3},"title":"UNC picks starting quarterback for opener against Florida A&#038;M :: WRALSportsFan.com","date":"August 22, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"By Brian Murphy, WRAL sports reporterChapel Hill, NC \u2014 North Carolina has picked its starting quarterback after a competition that lasted from the start of spring ball through the end of fall practice. Head coach Mack Brown announced Monday morning that freshman Drake Maye will be under center for the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Sports&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":65391,"url":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/final-carolina-35-georgia-state-14\/","url_meta":{"origin":58666,"position":4},"title":"FINAL: Carolina 35 &#8211; Georgia State 14","date":"September 4, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"\r \r \r \r The South Carolina football season is here and we are just moments away from kickoff against Georgia State. Kickoff between the two teams is set for 7:30 pm and will be broadcast on SEC Network + along with ESPN +. HOW TO WATCH\r \r It's a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Sports&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":61762,"url":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/florida-ams-ineligibility-fiasco-blamed-on-administrative-blunder\/","url_meta":{"origin":58666,"position":5},"title":"Florida A&#038;M&#8217;s ineligibility fiasco blamed on administrative blunder","date":"August 31, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Florida A&M Interim President Larry Robinson huddled with his football team for one hour Tuesday over what one attorney describes as the \u201cepic administrative blunder\u201d that has more than 20 players still scurrying to regain their athletic eligibility. Robinson emerged from the meeting promising that his HBCU institution would hire\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Sports&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/a2.espncdn.com\/combiner\/i?img=\/photo\/2022\/0828\/r1053964_1296x729_16-9.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58666"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=58666"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58666\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=58666"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=58666"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=58666"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}