Alabama A&M Holds Off Alabama State 31-28 to Win the Magic City Classic

For four straight years, the Magic City Classic belonged to Alabama State. On Saturday at Legion Field, Alabama A&M took it back, and it needed every bit of a frantic fourth quarter to do it.

Alabama A&M beat Alabama State 31-28 in the 85th Magic City Classic on Oct. 31, ending a four-game losing streak in the rivalry. Cornelious Brown IV threw two touchdown passes and ran for another, and sophomore running back Kolton Nero broke a 61-yard run that set up his own go-ahead touchdown with 3:47 left. Jareese Howard ran for three touchdowns for Alabama State, the last with 3:01 to play, but the Bulldogs' defense stopped the Hornets on downs with 1:15 left to seal it.

The 85th Magic City Classic arrived with the roles reversed from recent years. Alabama State had won the last four meetings, including a 56-13 rout in 2025, and Alabama A&M had not beaten its rival since a 42-28 win in the fall of 2021. This time the Bulldogs came to Legion Field as the hotter team: 6-2 overall, 3-1 in the SWAC, No. 1 in the BCF HBCU poll and averaging 40.1 points per game. Alabama State was 4-3 and 2-2 in league play after a 21-15 win over Arkansas-Pine Bluff on Oct. 17 that followed one-score losses to Bethune-Cookman and Florida A&M. Both teams were coming off an open week.

Brown sets the tone

Alabama A&M did not waste its first real chance. Cornelious Brown IV led a 12-play, 94-yard march that chewed 5:15 off the first-quarter clock and ended with a 6-yard touchdown pass to Jaylan Bean with 5:07 left in the opening period. It was the kind of patient, mistake-free drive that has defined the Bulldogs' best football this fall.

The second score came early in the second quarter. Brown capped an 11-play, 88-yard possession with an 8-yard strike to Imari Conley, and the Bulldogs led 14-0 with 14:56 left before halftime. Two drives, 182 yards and two touchdowns from a quarterback who came into the afternoon with 2,158 passing yards and 21 touchdown throws.

Alabama State's first answer was a mistake. Aaron Frye's pass was picked off by Nacari Johnson, who returned it 40 yards to the Alabama State 3 and gave Alabama A&M a chance to blow the game open. The Hornets' defense would not let it happen. Facing fourth and goal from the 2 with 10:26 left in the half, the Bulldogs handed it off and got nothing, as T. Henry and T. Parson stood up the run for a turnover on downs.

A 98-yard reply

That stop gave Eddie Robinson Jr.'s team its first jolt of life, and the Hornets made it count. Starting at their own 2, they put together a 14-play, 98-yard drive that took 6:26 off the clock. Jareese Howard finished it with a 17-yard touchdown run with 4:00 left in the half, and Andrew Abu-Akel's extra point made it 14-7.

Alabama State had a chance to cut even deeper before the break, but Abu-Akel's 41-yard field goal try was blocked with two seconds left and returned 37 yards by the Bulldogs. The teams went to the locker room separated by a touchdown.

The second-half swing

The Hornets' first possession of the third quarter was nearly as costly as the interception. Howard fumbled and Andre Tibbs recovered for Alabama A&M with 14:12 left in the third. The Bulldogs turned it into an eight-play, 50-yard drive and a 29-yard David Faulk field goal at 11:09, pushing the lead to 17-7.

Howard keeps answering

Alabama State answered that field goal with its best drive of the second half. Frye's 32-yard completion to Randall King moved the ball to the Alabama A&M 7, and Jamarie Hostzclaw finished the 10-play march with a 4-yard touchdown run with 6:22 left in the third quarter. Just like that, it was 17-14.

Brown restored the cushion early in the fourth quarter, keeping it himself from 3 yards out with 13:54 left for a 24-14 lead. Howard answered again. His second touchdown run of the afternoon pulled the Hornets within 24-21 with more than 10 minutes to play, and the Classic was suddenly a one-possession game.

Nero's run

Neither team scored on its next possession, and the Bulldogs took over at their own 35 with 4:31 left. On the first snap, Nero burst up the middle and did not stop until he was pushed out of bounds at the Alabama State 4. Nero finished the job himself on the next play, a 4-yard run with 3:47 left, and Faulk's kick made it 31-21.

Alabama State still was not done. The Hornets answered with a touchdown drive of their own, and Howard scored his third touchdown of the day with 3:01 left. Abu-Akel's extra point made it 31-28.

Alabama A&M could not run out the clock on the ensuing possession. Nero carried twice to set up third and 4, a holding penalty wiped out his next run and pushed the Bulldogs back to their own 21, and Brown's 2-yard keeper on third and 14 forced a punt. A 25-yard return gave Alabama State the ball at the Alabama A&M 43 with 1:37 left and a chance to tie or win it.

The Hornets, out of timeouts, reached the 37 but could get no further. On fourth and 8 from the 41, Frye's pass fell incomplete with 1:15 to play, and the Bulldogs ran out the clock.

By the numbers

Brown finished 22 of 35 for 216 yards and two touchdowns without an interception, and he added 60 rushing yards and a score on eight carries. Bean caught five passes for 64 yards and the opening touchdown, and Conley had six catches for 59 yards and a score. Nero needed only six carries to pile up 81 yards. Freshman running back Byron Perrilliat did the steadier work, carrying 13 times for 68 yards and giving the Bulldogs a complement to Nero's big plays. Linebacker DJ Barber led the Bulldogs with 13 tackles, and the takeaways by Johnson and Tibbs handed the offense two extra possessions.

For Alabama State, Frye completed 14 of 21 passes for 158 yards with one interception and led the Hornets on the ground with 90 yards on 18 carries. Howard turned 12 carries into 46 yards and three touchdowns, and King caught five passes for 88 yards. The Hornets will look back at the turnovers and at the blocked field goal before halftime, which took three points off the board in a game they lost by three.

What it means

For Alabama A&M, this is the kind of win that changes how a season is remembered. The Bulldogs move to 7-2 and 4-1 in the SWAC, they beat their biggest rival for the first time since a 42-28 win in the fall of 2021, and they did it as the No. 1 team in the BCF HBCU poll with the whole state watching. Sam Shade's team has now won three straight. Alabama A&M plays at Prairie View A&M on Nov. 7.

Alabama State falls to 4-4 and 2-3 in the SWAC. The Hornets have now lost three league games by a combined 10 points, after one-score defeats against Bethune-Cookman and Florida A&M earlier this month. Eddie Robinson Jr.'s team showed it could hang with the league's hottest offense, and it had the ball in Alabama A&M territory with a chance to win in the final two minutes. But the Hornets keep coming up a play short, and the margin for error in the SWAC race is now very thin.

The official box score is on ESPN (opens in a new tab).

Sources: ESPN box score and play-by-play, Alabama A&M Athletics, Alabama State Athletics. More college football coverage on Undrafted.

Photos: Alabama State Athletics (file photo).