MIAMI, Fla - Jackson State's defense made big plays when in needed to Sunday afternoon in the Orange Bottom Classic against Florida A&M at Hard Rock Stadium.
But there was no play bigger than the fourth-down sack by senior linebacker James Houston, which preserved a 7-6 victory for the Tigers.
On the fourth-and-ten play from the JSU38, FAMU quarterback Junior Maratovic tried to escape the pocket before he ended up sacked by Houston.
After a scoreless first quarter, JSU scored a touchdown after 10 plays. The 69-yard drive consisted of several passes from Shedeur Sanders to Josh Lanier including 9-yard and 14-yard completions. He also connected with Trevonte Rucker for a 32-yard completion to put themselves in scoring position. Sanders capped off the drive with a 1-yard rush to the endzone, taking an early 7-3 lead over FAMU.
"We enjoyed ourselves today," head coach
Deion Sanders said. "We played great defensively, offensively, we are really sporadic we got to do better inside the 40s. We will fix it and we will clean it up, but overall it was a great win. I'm a perfectionist, and it's gone be hard to sleep tonight, but I rather sleep with a dub than sleep with an L."
Freshman quarterback
Shedeur Sanders was solid in his debut, completing 18 of his 24 passes for 221 yards with completions to seven different receivers.
Senior
Peytton Pickett carried the load in the backfield rushing for 62 yards on 15 carries, including a 25-yarder.
Senior
Josh Lanier grabbed six receptions for 61 yards with a 19-yard reception. True freshman
Trevonte Rucker recorded three receptions for 83 yards.
Senior linebacker Aubrey Miller had a game high nine tackles and recorded one sack. Freshman defensive back Cam'ron Silmon recorded seven tackles with a sack. Sophomore safety
Shilo Sanders finished with seven tackles, including one tackle for loss.
The Tigers return to the gridiron Saturday, September 11 at 6 p.m. in the Southern Heritage Classic from Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium as they take on Tennessee State. The contest will be available on ESPN3.
For all of the latest Jackson State football news, fans can follow the official JSU football Twitter account (@GoJSUTigersFB), Instagram account (@gojsutigersfb) and Facebook account (Jackson State Football).
