Southern Lays Claim To Sheridan Poll Title
Heritage Bowl
As an incoming freshman, Eric Randall was touted as the player to lead Southern University to a national championship.
“This is it,” the senior said Friday after throwing two touchdowns to lead the Jaguars to a 30-25 victory over Florida A&M in the Heritage Bowl, a match of the top two teams in the Sheridan Poll for historically black universities. SU was No. 1.
“Our defense stepped up and our offense, too,” Randall said. “We knew we couldn’t fall apart.”
The Jaguars almost did, watching FAMU chop away at an early 17-0 lead and later into a 30-11 advantage.
“The team exceeded my expectations for this year,” Southern coach Pete Richardson said. “We have some football players of fine quality, but we don’t have any superstars.”
Randall’s first scoring pass covered 68 yards to Melvin Williams in the first quarter and his second, a 6-yarder to Fred Bailey with 43 seconds left in the third, gave the Jaguars (11-1) a 30-11 lead.
Mario Allen then rallied the Rattlers (9-3) for two final-period TDs, one a 66-yard pass to Robert Wilson, but a late pass interception allowed the Jaguars to run out the clock. xxxx Southern 30, Florida A&M 25 Florida A&M 0 11 0 14 - 25 Southern 10 7 13 0 - 30 SU-M.Williams 68 pass from Randall (Leach kick) SU-FG Leach 43 SU-M.Williams 5 run (Leach kick) FAMUSafety, Nichols kicked ball out of end zone following bad snap FAMUVidal 4 run (kick blocked) FAMUFG Stephens 31 SU-Gales 1 run (Leach kick) SU-Bailey 6 pass from Randall (run failed) FAMUWilson 66 pass from Allen (Stephens kick) FAMUAllen 2 run (Stephens kick) A-25,164. FAMU SU First downs 18 14 Rushes-yards 35-100 42-107 Passing 196 190 Return Yards 41 12 Comp-Att-Int 17-38-2 16-27-0 Punts 6-36 5-41 Fumbles-Lost 2-1 3-1 Penalties-Yards 7-54 4-44 Time of Possession 31:33 28:27 Individual statistics RUSHINGFlorida A&M, Vidal 19-81, Glover 5-28, Jackson 2-5, Allen 9-(minus 14). Southern, M.Williams 14-41, Gales 5-39, Randall 14-28, Griffin 4-18, Jones 4-15, Team 1-(minus 34). PASSINGFlorida A&M, Allen 17-38-2-196. Southern, Randall 16-25-0-190, M.Williams 0-1-0-0, D.Johnson 0-1-0-0. RECEIVINGFlorida A&M, Bell 6-67, Taylor 5-32, Jackson 2-11, Vidal 2-4, Wilson 1-66, Bland 1-16. Southern, M.Williams 5-72, Sparks 4-16, Bailey 3-72, Baker 2-9, Griffin 1-11, Gales 1-10.