Prairie View A&M Wins Inaugural Big Cat Cup With 30-19 Victory at East Texas A&M

For a quarter, the first Big Cat Cup belonged to East Texas A&M. Then Prairie View A&M scored the next 24 points, survived an 18-second scare in the fourth quarter and took the new trophy home.

The Panthers beat East Texas A&M 30-19 on Saturday night, Oct. 24, at Ernest Hawkins Field at Memorial Stadium in Commerce, winning the inaugural Big Cat Cup, presented by AT&T, in the Lions' Hall of Fame game. Chase Bingmon ran for two touchdowns, including a 52-yard dagger after the Lions had pulled within five, and Tevin Carter threw two scores to Rodny Ojo.

Prairie View A&M improved to 4-5 with its second straight win. East Texas A&M fell to 2-6 and lost at home for the first time this season in front of 2,685 fans.

A slow start for the Panthers

The opening quarter went the Lions' way. Ozlo Rigby hit a 27-yard field goal at 8:00, then added a 26-yarder with three seconds left in the period for a 6-0 lead. East Texas A&M was moving the ball, but it was settling for three, and that would matter later.

Prairie View A&M answered early in the second quarter. Bingmon punched in a 2-yard run at 12:25 to put the Panthers in front 7-6, and Ethan Eddins added the extra point. The Lions held from there until the final minute of the half, when Carter found Ojo for a 9-yard touchdown with 39 seconds left. That made it 14-6 at the break.

The 24-point run

The Panthers kept the momentum to open the second half. Eddins drilled a 45-yard field goal at 12:17 of the third quarter for a 17-6 lead. Eddins was coming off a week in which a game-winning 37-yard kick beat Alcorn State 41-38 on Homecoming and earned SWAC Specialist of the Week honors.

The third quarter ended without another point, but Prairie View A&M struck four seconds into the fourth. Carter and Ojo connected again, this time from 6 yards out, at 14:56. The extra point made it 24-6, and the Panthers had scored 24 unanswered points.

Eighteen seconds of chaos

East Texas A&M did not go away quietly. Reese Mooney, making a first career start for the Lions, led a drive that ended with an 11-yard touchdown pass to Micah Simpson at 9:57. Rigby's kick made it 24-13.

Then the Lions recovered the ensuing kickoff at the Prairie View A&M 24. Mooney did not waste the gift. On the very next play, Mooney hit Andrez Lewis for a 24-yard touchdown at 9:39. In 18 seconds of game clock, a 24-6 game had become 24-19.

That was the turning point, and it swung right back. The two-point try failed, keeping it a five-point game instead of a three-point game. And on the next Prairie View A&M possession, Bingmon broke loose for a 52-yard touchdown run at 8:47. The Lions' comeback hopes had lasted 52 seconds of game time. Bingmon's run was the final score of the night.

The players who decided it

Chase Bingmon. Nine carries, 77 yards and two touchdowns. The first gave the Panthers their first lead, and the last ended the game as a contest. Not bad for a back who did not need a heavy workload to tilt the night.

Tevin Carter. The Prairie View A&M quarterback was efficient and careful. Carter completed 19 of 25 passes for 237 yards and two touchdowns without an interception, and the Panthers converted 7 of their 12 third downs.

Rodny Ojo. Four catches, 67 yards and two touchdowns. Both of Ojo's scores came at key moments, one just before halftime and one to open the fourth quarter.

Reese Mooney. In a first career start as a Lion, Mooney completed 31 of 52 passes for 333 yards and two touchdowns with no interceptions. It was the kind of debut that gives East Texas A&M something to build on, even in a loss.

Micah Simpson. The redshirt junior from nearby Greenville caught 10 passes for 90 yards and a touchdown. It was the second 10-catch game of the season for Simpson, who also had 10 catches for 168 yards in the opener at Mercer.

Orion Kupu. The only returning defensive starter for the Lions this season led the team with 12 tackles, including two tackles for loss and a sack. Kupu was named a Dixie Turman State Farm Agency Student-Athlete of the Week by the school two days later. Anthony Gray also had a sack and forced a fumble that Salehe Koonookah-Williams recovered.

The stats that matter

45. Rushing yards for East Texas A&M on 26 carries. Quay Middlebrooks led the Lions with 36 yards on 10 carries. With no ground game, East Texas A&M had to throw 52 times.

118. Rushing yards for Prairie View A&M on 33 carries, with 77 of them coming from Bingmon.

25 to 20. First downs, in favor of the Lions. East Texas A&M also outgained the Panthers 378 to 355 and ran 78 plays to 58. It did not matter, because the Lions settled for field goals early and the Panthers did not.

0. Interceptions thrown by either quarterback. Each team lost one fumble.

7 for 49. East Texas A&M's penalty total, compared with 4 for 28 for Prairie View A&M.

What it means

For Prairie View A&M, this is the kind of win that can steady a season. The Panthers opened with a 49-30 loss at Tarleton State, beat Texas Southern 52-14, then lost to Baylor 44-3 and Stephen F. Austin 31-10. A 21-14 win over Grambling State at the State Fair Classic in Dallas was followed by a 28-27 loss at Mississippi Valley State and a 28-14 home loss to Southern. Now, after the Alcorn State thriller, the Panthers have won two in a row for the first time this fall.

It is also the second straight win over East Texas A&M. The Panthers won 34-27 at home in 2024, the first meeting between the programs since 1977. This was the sixth meeting overall and the first ever played in Commerce.

Prairie View A&M is off on Oct. 31, then hosts Alabama A&M at Panther Stadium on Saturday, Nov. 7, at 2 p.m.

For East Texas A&M, the frustration is that the Lions did enough to win in some areas and still lost by 11. Two first-quarter drives ended in short field goals instead of touchdowns, and the late comeback ran out of room. The Lions were 2-0 at home this season, with wins over Northwestern State and UTRGV, and a win would have been their first 3-0 home start since 2022.

There was no time to dwell on it. Next on the schedule for East Texas A&M was a home game against Southeastern Louisiana on Saturday, Oct. 31, billed as the Haunt at the Hawk. The Southeastern Louisiana Lions were coming off a 45-24 loss at Stephen F. Austin, so both teams had a loss to answer.

East Texas A&M has the full recap (opens in a new tab), and the numbers are in the official box score (opens in a new tab).

The last word

New trophies need a story, and the first Big Cat Cup got a good one. East Texas A&M grabbed the early lead, Prairie View A&M took control, and the Lions scored twice in 18 seconds to make it interesting.

In the end, the difference was one long run. Bingmon's 52-yarder answered the Lions' best punch right away, and that is how the Panthers will remember the first chapter of this trophy.

Sources: East Texas A&M Athletics and Prairie View A&M Athletics recap, previews, schedules and box score. More college football coverage on Undrafted.

Photos: East Texas A&M University Athletics.