GAME CENTER vs. HOWARD
The
Howard Scouting Report
Howard has had some offensive troubles like N.C. A&T. The Bison has
scored just 14 points over the last three games, including a shutout
loss to Hampton. Floyd Haigler is the Bison’s starter at quarterback.
Haigler has thrown for 750 yards and four touchdowns on 42.5 percent
passing. Haigler threw the ball 44 times for 193 yards and a touchdown
in a win over Winston-Salem State. On the ground, the Bison is led by
Andra Williams who is averaging 4.0 yards per carry. But like most of
the Bison runners, he has yet to score a rushing touchdown. The Bison
has scored only one rushing touchdown all season. Defensively, inside
linebacker Ian Simon leads the Bison with 40 tackles. Keith Pough leads
the Bison in tackles for loss with 7 ½ tackles for loss. Defensive end
Wil Croner has 4 ½ tackles for loss.
Bison/Aggie connections
The biggest connection between the Bison and the Aggies is a
Stanfield connection. N.C. A&T starting defensive tackle Micah
Stanfield’s brother is a sophomore linebacker for Howard. Stanfield has
started six games for the Aggies this season and has 13 tackles. His
brother has played one game for the Bison. North Carolina A&T head coach
Alonzo Lee is from Washington, D.C., and attended Dunbar High School.
The Bison has two North Carolina natives on the team in Brandon Sherman
of Winston-Salem Parkland and Bradley Bush-Johnson who attended
Charlotte Independence, the same school Aggies senior linebacker Andre
Thornton attended.
What the forfeit means for the A&T
North Carolina A&T did indeed receive an overall and conference win
last week when Delaware State forfeited the game to complete an
obligation it had with the Big 10’s Michigan Wolverines. But the NCAA
does not recognize forfeits as wins, therefore a win will not be
recorded in any record keeping procedures concerning N.C. A&T through
the NCAA. This means the NCAA will not record a career-record win for
head coach Alonzo Lee. It considered a "No Contest" in the eyes of the
NCAA. The MEAC does recognize the win mainly for the sake of the
conference race. The Aggies now has more conference wins than they have
had in the last four years combined.
Third Down Defense
The Aggies have been remarkable defensively on third down. The
Aggies are good at getting offenses off the field by stopping them on
third down. The Aggies rank third in the nation, having halted drives on
third down by limiting opponents to 17 third down conversions in 77
tries. Therefore, teams have converted third downs 22.1 percent of the
time. The Aggies are on pace to have the best defensive showing in terms
of preventing third down conversion since the 1995 team limited teams to
just a 24 (33 of 135) percent third down conversion rate.