Box Score
GREENSBORO, October 21, 2006  -- By 7 p.m., on Saturday the disappointment of losing to Howard was already behind the Aggies. Before 7, Antoine Rutherford scored three touchdowns to lead the Bison to a 26-0 victory over the Aggies in front of a capacity Homecoming crowd (21,500) at Aggie Stadium.

But the Aggies have no time to think about what could have been. They face a tough Bethune-Cookman team on Thursday night in front of a nationally-televised audience on ESPNU in Daytona Beach, Fla. Making life even tougher for an Aggies team in search of their first win of the season is the fact the Wildcats will be coming off of a bye week.

“We knew what the schedule looked like before season started,’’ said redshirt freshman quarterback Wayne Campbell. “It’s not like the Thursday game comes as a surprise to us. We need to get over what happened today, and get the job done Thursday. It’s not about what’s fair and not fair, we just need to win.”

There was plenty of optimism coming into Saturday’s game with the Bison. The Bison came in with just one win on the season, which came at the expense of Division II Fort Valley State. But it took three plays for the Bison (2-5, 1-3 MEAC) to get on the scoreboard. After a 50-yard completion on a wide receiver option pass to Larry Duncan, Martin December caught a 26-yard pass from starting quarterback Brian Johnson for a 6-0 Howard lead with 13:44 remaining in the first quarter.        

On its next possession, Howard drove 54 yards for a 12-0 lead, capped by a one-yard plunge by Rutherford, who keyed the drive with an 18-yard run.

The Aggies had a great scoring chance midway through the second quarter. Backup quarterback Herbert Miller scrambled four times for 20 yards and a Howard personal foul helped move the ball to the Howard 15-yard line. But after a pair of incomplete passes, Brad Barnhouse missed a 31-yard field goal with 8:51 remaining.

Howard capitalized on the ensuing drive to go ahead 19-0 before the half. Reserve quarterback Floyd Haigler completed 5-of-7 passes for 51 yards, which set up another 1-yard TD run for Rutherford with 41 seconds left before halftime.

Even though scoreboard wasn’t looking favorable for the Aggies, the Homecoming crowd received some energy by the appearance of rapper and reality television star Flavor Flav. Flavor Flav, the legendary hype man and rapper for the rap group Public Enemy, served as an honorary drum major in the Aggies Blue and Gold Marching Machine.

When the Flavor of Love star stepped on the field and the Aggies returned, they started making strides toward a rally. N.C. A&T (0-7, 0-4) marched on another solid drive in the third quarter, going 53 yards to the Howard 14-yard line, but Wayne Campbell overthrew an open Spencer Spane in the end zone on 4^th and 1. The Aggies would get no closer than the Bison 30 the rest of the way.

Howard concluded the scoring with Rutherford’s third score, also a 1-yard run, which capped an 11-play, 74-yard drive with 13:02 remaining in the contest.

N.C. A&T was held to a season-low 138 yards of total offense, and 50 yards rushing. Howard rushed for 221 yards on 42 carries. Hagler completed 11-of-17 passes for 128 yards and Johnson completed 10-of-14 passes for 94 yards and a touchdown. Johnson added 76 yards rushing on 14 carries, while Rutherford finished with 49 yards rushing. Larry Duncan led all receivers with 125 yards on eight catches.

Campbell completed 10-of-28 passes for 88 yards and two interceptions. Andre Garth led the receivers with three catches for 33 yards. The shutout loss to Howard marks the first time the Bison has shutout the Aggies in back-to-back seasons. It also marked the first time in 31 years the Aggies have been shutout twice in a season.

The Aggies will play the Wildcats Thursday night at 7, before returning home to face Florida A&M at 4 p.m., on Nov. 4.