FCS team of the week: Morgan State rises up
(STATS) - If Morgan State goes without another win the rest of the season, some fans, alumni, even team members, would probably be accepting of it.
That's how surprising and thrilling the Bears' 16-13 victory at fourth-ranked North Carolina A&T was Saturday. Interim coach Ernest Jones collected his first career win guiding the STATS FCS Team of the Week.
It was hard to even envision the upset given Morgan State had lost eight straight games since last season and N.C. A&T, coming off a bye week, had won 15 in a row - the longest streak in the FCS. The Aggies also were going for a school-record 12th straight home win.
But the Bears put together one of the more impressive defensive performances in program history, limiting N.C. A&T's potent offense to 208 yards and intercepting 2017 MEAC offensive player of the year Lamar Raynard twice. Senior Alex Raya, who entered the game only 7 of 23 on field goal attempts in his career, kicked three of them in the second half from 40, a career-high 51 and 36 yards - the final one breaking a 13-13 tie as time expired.
"I thought Morgan and their staff did a fantastic job preparing for us," N.C. A&T coach Sam Washington said. "They knew exactly how they were going to attack us. It was very subtle, but it was enough. The quarterback killed us, and they held our offense to 13 points. That surprised me. If you told me early in the week they would hold our offense to 13 points, I would have said, 'No way.'"
In the defensive struggle, quarterback DeAndre Harris scored Morgan State's only touchdown on a 10-yard run in the second quarter. On the game-winning drive, he completed two passes for 47 yards and helped lead the Bears from their 26 to the N.C. A&T 19 before Raya's kick.
On defense, linebacker Damare' Whitaker's 13 tackles were more than twice as many as any other player in the game.