2019 Florida A&M Rattlers football team

The 2019 Florida A&M Rattlers football team represented Florida A&M University in the 2019 NCAA Division I FCS football season. The Rattlers were led by second-year head coach Willie Simmons. They played their home games at Bragg Memorial Stadium and were a member of the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC). Florida A&M finished the year 9–2, 7–1 in MEAC play to finish with the best overall record in the MEAC and across all HBCU schools. However, in May 2019, Florida A&M was banned from 2019 postseason play,[1] so could not compete in the Celebration Bowl or for a MEAC championship.

2019 Florida A&M Rattlers football
Conference	Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference
Ranking
STATS	No. 24
FCS Coaches	No. 25
2019 record	9–2 (7–1 MEAC)
Head coach	Willie Simmons (2nd season)
Home stadium	Bragg Memorial Stadium (Capacity: 25,500)

2019 Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference football standings
	Conf							Overall
Team		W		L					W		L
No. 24 Florida A&M *		7	–	1					9	–	2
No. 20 North Carolina A&T +		6	–	2					9	–	3
South Carolina State +		6	–	2					8	–	3
Bethune–Cookman		5	–	3					7	–	4
Norfolk State		4	–	4					5	–	7
North Carolina Central		3	–	5					4	–	8
Howard		2	–	6					2	–	10
Morgan State		2	–	6					3	–	9
Delaware State		1	–	7					2	–	10
+ – Conference co-champions * Florida A&M ineligible for conference title due to NCAA sanctions Rankings from STATS Poll

Previous season

Main article: 2018 Florida A&M Rattlers football team

The Rattlers finished the 2018 season 6–5, 5–2 in MEAC play to finish in a tie for second place.

Preseason

MEAC poll

In the MEAC preseason poll released on July 26, 2019, the Rattlers were predicted to finish in third place.[2]

Predicted finish	Team	Votes (1st place)
1	North Carolina A&T	304 (12)
2	Bethune–Cookman	237 (1)
3	Florida A&M	204 (2)
4	Howard	166
5	North Carolina Central	161 (1)
6	South Carolina State	152
7	Norfolk State	119 (1)
8	Morgan State	87 (1)
9	Delaware State	46

Preseason All–MEAC teams

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

Second Team Offense Ryan Stanley – QB Deshawn Smith – RB Xavier Smith – WR Third Team Offense Bishop Bonnette – RB Chad Hunter – WR

First Team Defense Yahia Aly – K Chris Faddoul – P Second Team Defense Terry Jefferson – DB Third Team Defense Demontre Moore – DL Elijah Richardson – LB Herman Jackson, Jr. – DB

Schedule

Date	Time	Opponent	Rank	Site	TV	Result	Attendance
August 29	7:30 p.m.	at No. 17 (FBS) UCF*		Spectrum Stadium Orlando, FL	CBSSN	L 0–62	44,073
September 14	6:00 p.m.	Fort Valley State*		Bragg Memorial Stadium Tallahassee, FL	ESPN3	W 57–20	17,911
September 21	6:00 p.m.	Southern*		Bragg Memorial Stadium Tallahassee, FL	ESPN3	W 27–21	27,191
September 28	4:00 p.m.	at Norfolk State		William "Dick" Price Stadium Norfolk, VA	ESPN3	W 30–28	8,249
October 5	2:00 p.m.	North Carolina Central		Bragg Memorial Stadium Tallahassee, FL	ESPN3	W 28–21	25,679
October 12	2:00 p.m.	at South Carolina State		Oliver C. Dawson Stadium Orangeburg, SC	ESPN3	W 42–38	15,792
October 20	2:00 p.m.	No. 10 North Carolina A&T		Bragg Memorial Stadium Tallahassee, FL	ESPN3	W 34–31	1,051
October 26	3:00 p.m.	at Morgan State	No. 20	Hughes Stadium Baltimore, MD	ESPN3	W 24–12	2,786
November 2	4:00 p.m.	Delaware State	No. 17	Bragg Memorial Stadium Tallahassee, FL	ESPN3	W 52–30	7,412
November 16	4:00 p.m.	Howard	No. 12	Bragg Memorial Stadium Tallahassee, FL	ESPN3	W 39–7	8,979
November 23	3:30 p.m.	vs. Bethune–Cookman	No. 12	Camping World Stadium Orlando, FL (Florida Classic)	ESPNews	L 27–31	55,730
*Non-conference game Homecoming Rankings from STATS Poll released prior to the game All times are in Eastern time

[4][5]

Game summaries

at UCF

	1	2	3	4	Total
Rattlers	0	0	0	0	0
No. 17 (FBS) Knights	17	31	7	7	62

See also: 2019 UCF Knights football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
1–0	1987	W, 19–14

Fort Valley State

	1	2	3	4	Total
Wildcats	0	0	6	14	20
Rattlers	14	26	7	10	57

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
11–1	2018	W, 41–7

Southern

	1	2	3	4	Total
Jaguars	0	7	7	7	21
Rattlers	17	0	2	8	27

See also: 2019 Southern Jaguars football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
35–25–1	2012	L, 14–21

at Norfolk State

	1	2	3	4	Total
Rattlers	7	10	6	7	30
Spartans	7	7	7	7	28

See also: 2019 Norfolk State Spartans football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
14–3	2018	W, 17–0

North Carolina Central

	1	2	3	4	Total
Eagles	0	7	7	7	21
Rattlers	7	7	0	14	28

See also: 2019 North Carolina Central Eagles football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
8–4–1	2018	W, 55–14

at South Carolina State

	1	2	3	4	Total
Rattlers	7	7	14	14	42
Bulldogs	0	14	3	21	38

See also: 2019 South Carolina State Bulldogs football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
30–26–2	2018	L, 21–44

North Carolina A&T

	1	2	3	4	OT	Total
No. 10 Aggies	7	7	3	11	3	31
Rattlers	14	7	0	7	6	34

See also: 2019 North Carolina A&T Aggies football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
45–19–3	2018	W, 22–21

at Morgan State

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 20 Rattlers	7	17	0	0	24
Bears	7	3	0	2	12

See also: 2019 Morgan State Bears football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
23–8	2018	W, 38–3

Delaware State

	1	2	3	4	Total
Hornets	0	3	20	7	30
No. 17 Rattlers	14	17	14	7	52

See also: 2019 Delaware State Hornets football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
25–9	2016	W, 41–27

Howard

	1	2	3	4	Total
Bison	0	0	0	7	7
No. 12 Rattlers	3	14	22	0	39

See also: 2019 Howard Bison football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
27–11	2018	L, 23–31

vs. Bethune–Cookman

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 12 Rattlers	7	6	7	7	27
Wildcats	7	14	0	10	31

See also: 2019 Bethune–Cookman Wildcats football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
49–23–1	2018	L, 19–33

Ranking movements

Ranking movements
Legend: ██ Increase in ranking. ██ Decrease in ranking.
NR = Not ranked. RV = Received votes. т = Tied with team above or below. ( ) = First place votes.

	Week
Poll	Pre	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	Final
STATS FCS	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	RV	20	17	16	12	12	20	24
Coaches	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	RV	23	17	15T	14	13	21	25

References

1. "NCAA Hits FAMU Athletics With Penalties Over Ineligible Student Athletes". wfsu.org. May 22, 2019. Retrieved December 21, 2019.
2. "MEAC Announces 2019 Football Predicted Order of Finish". meacsports.com. Retrieved August 7, 2019.
3. "MEAC Announces 2019 Preseason Football All-MEAC Awards". meacsports.com. Retrieved August 7, 2019.
4. "2019 Florida A&M Football Schedule". FBSchedules.com. Retrieved July 25, 2019.
5. "Football - Schedule - FAMUAthletics.com - The Official Athletics Site of Florida A&M University". www.famuathletics.com. Retrieved July 25, 2019.