Southern Runs Over Florida A&M 42-14 as Trey Holly Rushes for 204 Yards

Florida A&M was favored by nearly a touchdown. Southern spent Halloween afternoon in Tallahassee making that number look like a typo.

The Southern Jaguars ran for 311 yards, never turned the ball over and took a 42-14 Southwestern Athletic Conference win over Florida A&M at Bragg Memorial Stadium on Saturday. Trey Holly did the heaviest lifting, carrying 25 times for 204 yards and two touchdowns, and a 98-yard interception return by Michael Williams II turned a competitive second quarter into a rout before halftime.

Southern improved to 4-5 overall and 2-3 in the SWAC. Florida A&M dropped to 2-7 and 1-4, and the Rattlers have now lost back-to-back home games after a 31-28 homecoming loss to Arkansas-Pine Bluff a week earlier.

Holly sets the tone

Southern's plan was not complicated, and Florida A&M never found a way to stop it. The Jaguars opened with an eight-play, 62-yard drive that chewed up 5:15, and Holly finished it from a yard out with 7:01 left in the first quarter. Christopher McKenna added the extra point, and Southern led 7-0.

The second drive looked a lot like the first. Southern went 68 yards in eight plays and another 5:39 of clock, and Champ Davis ran it in from 10 yards out with 22 seconds left in the quarter. At 14-0, Florida A&M had barely touched the ball, and the Rattlers' offense had spent most of the opening 15 minutes watching from the sideline.

That was the theme all day. Southern held the ball for 36:48. Florida A&M had it for 23:12. When one team owns the clock by more than 13 minutes, the other team's quarterback is going to feel rushed even when nobody is chasing.

A flicker, then a flood

Florida A&M did respond. Freshman quarterback Armond Parker took the Rattlers 73 yards in five plays and just 1:31, hitting Jayquan Reid for a 23-yard touchdown with 12:07 left in the half. Gabriel Caison's kick made it 14-7, and for a couple of minutes, the home crowd had a game again.

Southern took it right back. On the first snap of the next possession, Holly found a crease and outran everyone for a 65-yard touchdown. The Jaguars' answer took 21 seconds off the clock, and it was 21-7.

Then the Rattlers' afternoon got away from them. Southern added a short-field score when Christian Johnson found Aiden Valdez for a 10-yard touchdown, capping a four-play, 31-yard drive with 7:12 left in the half. Nathan Zimmer handled the extra point, and it was 28-7.

The turning point: 98 yards the other way

If there was still a path back for Florida A&M, it ran through its next possession. Parker moved the Rattlers deep into Southern territory and had a chance to cut the lead to two scores before the break.

Instead, Williams stepped in front of a Parker throw near the goal line and returned it 98 yards for a touchdown with 4:53 left in the second quarter. That play was a 14-point swing in about 15 seconds of real time. A drive that could have made it 28-14 ended with the Rattlers trailing 35-7, and the air left Bragg Memorial Stadium in a hurry.

Florida A&M deserves credit for not quitting. Parker led an 11-play, 69-yard drive before halftime and found Corey Petty for a 14-yard touchdown, and the Rattlers went to the locker room down 35-14. But the damage was done. Southern had scored 35 points in a single half, and the pick-six had taken away the one real chance Florida A&M had to make it interesting.

A quiet second half, and one more statement

The third quarter was scoreless, which suited Southern just fine. Every minute that ran off the clock was a minute Florida A&M could not use, and the Jaguars kept handing the ball to Holly and Davis and letting the clock work.

The Rattlers had chances to chip into the lead, but they went 0 for 3 on fourth down and could not finish drives. Southern's defense bent at times but never broke after halftime.

Southern put the final punctuation on it late. Holding a 35-14 lead, the Jaguars went 78 yards in five plays, and Davis scored a second touchdown of the day on a 1-yard run with 1:56 remaining. That made it 42-14, and it was the kind of drive a team runs when it wants everybody watching to know exactly how the game was won.

The stars

Holly was the best player on the field, and it was not close. The preseason All-SWAC running back averaged 8.2 yards per carry, broke a long of 67 yards and scored twice. A week after Holly carried 35 times in a 24-21 loss at Texas Southern, Southern did not need that kind of volume. It needed explosiveness, and Holly supplied it.

Davis was the perfect complement, carrying 13 times for 62 yards and two touchdowns, including both of the short scoring runs that bookended the game. Mike Franklin added 24 yards on seven carries, and Macario Dade Jr. chipped in 20.

Johnson barely had to throw, but every throw counted. Southern's quarterback completed 7 of 9 passes for 112 yards and a touchdown without an interception. Six different Jaguars caught a pass, with Cam Jefferson and Daejawn Smith each turning one catch into 32 yards.

For Florida A&M, Petty was again the most dangerous weapon. Petty caught seven passes for 118 yards and a touchdown, a week after posting 85 receiving yards and a score against UAPB. Armand Burris added four catches for 60 yards. Parker finished 18 of 31 for 263 yards with two touchdowns and two interceptions, and added 27 rushing yards on 11 carries.

Defensively, Southern's Ckelby Givens recorded a sack, and cornerback Landon Carter led the Jaguars with six tackles. Paul Gatley had Florida A&M's lone sack, and Andre Powell Jr. led the Rattlers with seven tackles.

The numbers that matter

Southern outgained Florida A&M 423 to 366, which is a closer margin than the scoreboard suggests. The difference was in how the yards were earned and what happened at the end of drives.

Rushing yards: Southern 311, Florida A&M 87. Third downs: Southern 11 of 15, Florida A&M 4 of 12. Turnovers: Southern 0, Florida A&M 2. Fourth downs: Florida A&M 0 of 3. Time of possession: Southern 36:48, Florida A&M 23:12.

That third-down number is the one that jumps off the page. Southern converted 73 percent of its third downs, which meant its drives kept going and Florida A&M's offense kept sitting. Both teams picked up 20 first downs and both were flagged heavily, Southern 10 times for 79 yards and Florida A&M eight times for 77. But one team protected the ball and the other gave up a 14-point swing on a single throw. The full numbers are in the box score (opens in a new tab).

What it means

Southern came to Tallahassee calling this a pivotal SWAC game in its pregame preview (opens in a new tab), and the Jaguars played like a team that understood the stakes. At 2-3 in league play, Southern is still chasing in the West, but this was its most complete performance of the season, and it came on the road against a team that had been favored to win.

The schedule does not get easier. Southern's next game is a home date with Bethune-Cookman on Nov. 7, followed by Alcorn State on Nov. 14 and Grambling State on Nov. 28. If Holly keeps running like this and the defense keeps the ball out of the other team's hands, Southern can make that stretch interesting.

For Florida A&M, the first season under coach Quinn Gray Sr. has turned into a grind. Parker continues to show real promise as a freshman passer, and Petty gives the Rattlers a legitimate playmaker. But a team that ran for 87 yards and lost the time of possession battle by more than 13 minutes is going to struggle to beat anyone in this league, and the Rattlers have now lost two straight at home.

The last word

Southern did not need anything fancy. It ran the ball 52 times, protected it on every snap and let its best player go to work. Holly's 204 yards will get the headlines, and they should, but Williams' 98-yard return is the play that broke Florida A&M.

The Rattlers had the crowd, a touchdown on the board and a drive headed toward the end zone. Then the ball went the other way, and so did the game.

Sources: ESPN box score and play-by-play, Southern University Athletics. More college football coverage on Undrafted.

Photos: Kalen Williams, Kitten Media (file photo).