MKRob Sports

The FAMU Rattlers may have kept their NCAA football playoff hopes alive Saturday with a spirited 42-7 rout of Bethune-Cookman in the 30th Florida Classic at the Florida Citrus Bowl Stadium.

A crowd of 59,418 fans witnessed the Rattlers (8-3, 6-2 in MEAC) storm to a 28-0 halftime bulge behind the running of Classic MVP Philip Sylvester and the excellent play of redshirt freshman quarterback Martin Ukpai, who made his first collegiate start in place of senior Curtis Pulley.

Sylvester ran for 21 yards on 19 carries, scoring on runs of five and 42 yards, while Ukpai rushed for 66 yards on 10 carries and one TD, on an 11-yard run.

Ukpai, a native of Plantation, Florida, went 8-for-11 passing for 151 yards and one TD, tossing a one-yard pass to Kevin Elliott.

The Rattlers took a 7-0 lead on Sylvester’s five-yard run with 6:53 left in the first period, but used a 21-point second quarter surge to put serious distance between themselves and the Wildcats.

Bethune-Cookman (5-6, 4-4 in MEAC) got on the board with 6:57 left in the game on a one-yard plunge by Androse Bell, but the Rattlers closed out the scoring on Eddie Rocker’s one-yard run with 3:18 left.

The Rattler Defense picked off three passes Saturday – a 76-yarder by Curtis Holcomb, a 21-yarder by Michael Creary and a seven-yard pick by Qier Hall – while holding B-CU to 83 yards rushing and 176 through the air.

FAMU improved to 20-10 in the 30 Florida Classic games and is now 48-16-1 overall in the 65 games played against Bethune-Cookman since 1925.

Martin Ukpai became the first redshirt freshman quarterback to start a FAMU game since Tony Ezell in 1988.