Florida A&M football is coming home.
On Saturday, Sept. 13, the Rattlers (0-2) will host the Albany State Golden Rams (2-0) on Ken Riley Field at Bragg Memorial Stadium, kicking off FAMU’s five-game home schedule this season.
“Excited to get back home and play our home opener,” FAMU head coach James Colzie III told local media in his game week press conference on Monday, Sept. 8.
FAMU versus Albany State will have a primetime kickoff on Saturday at 7 p.m. in Tallahassee.
The Southwestern Athletic Conference’s new television network will stream the game. Fans can also listen to the game on 96.1 JAMZ.
Saturday could be the shot in the arm that FAMU football needs as it’s opened the season with deflating losses to Howard in Week 1 (10-9), then Football Bowl Subdivision team Florida Atlantic in Week 2 (56-14).
Meanwhile, Albany State, head coached by former FAMU star quarterback Quinn Gray, enters the Week 3 game unblemished off a 51-7 defeat over Shaw University in Week 1 and then beat Kentucky State 49-21 in Week 2.
The Golden Rams are an NCAA Division II team in the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference.
“It’s great for us. Getting a chance to play at home and sleep in your own bed are all positives,” Colzie said of the Rattlers playing at Bragg.
“But we’ve got to understand that we’re probably coming into a hostile environment ourselves because of the first two weeks not being what a lot of people expect from us. At the end of the day, we want to make sure the guys continue to get supported.”
Bragg Memorial Stadium is synonymous with recent successful seasons of FAMU football.
From 2019 to 2024, the Rattlers won 23 consecutive home games.
During that span, FAMU had three straight nine-win seasons from 2019-2022 (2020 season cancelled/COVID), a Football Championship Subdivision playoff appearance in 2021, and culminated with a SWAC title and Black College National Championship in 2023.
FAMU hosted the 2023 SWAC Championship game, which ended in a 35-14 win over the Prairie View A&M Panthers for the Rattlers to capture the trophy. It was FAMU’s first time hosting a postseason football game since the 1998 Division I-AA (now FCS) first round when the Rattlers beat the Troy State Trojans 27-17 to advance.
Last November saw the Rattlers lose their first home game in half a decade to a 24-21 defeat from the Mississippi Valley State Delta Devils.
Colzie, in his second year as FAMU’s head coach, knows the importance of winning at home. He initially joined the Rattlers staff as an assistant in 2022 under former head coach Willie Simmons, who made winning at home a standard for FAMU football.
Albany State is just the first step of the Rattlers’ home slate.
FAMU has a stiff schedule at Bragg for the 2025 season, which will include Alabama State (Sept. 27), North Carolina Central (Oct. 11), Alcorn State (Oct. 18/Homecoming), and the defending Black College Football National Champions Jackson State (Nov. 1).
“One of the main goals we talked about was if [we] win all of [our] home games, you put yourself in a very, very good situation to get yourself ready for the postseason and play or win a SWAC Championship,” Colzie said. “If you look at our home schedule, you win at home against some of the teams that you’re playing, you put yourself in a great situation.”
Expect a large turnout at Bragg this Saturday versus Albany State. The Rattlers ranked ninth in the FCS attendance last season, attracting over 17,000 fans per game in 2024.
Rattler fans will fill the 19,633-seat stadium between ‘Bullet’ Bob Hayes Lane and Perry Street to beleaguer Albany State as FAMU chases its first victory of the 2025 season.
“Expecting a hostile crowd that we normally get and making it extremely uncomfortable for an Albany State football team coming in,” Colzie said.
Additionally, Colzie wants to see improvements by FAMU’s offense, led by quarterback RJ Johnson III, and a defense that played well versus Howard but struggled versus FAU.
“We’ve got to get confidence, get a rhythm on the offensive side, and play with reckless abandon on the defensive side,” he said. “Why not do that in front of our home crowd?”
Florida A&M (0-2) vs. Albany State (2-0)
Gerald Thomas, III is a multi-time award-winning journalist for his coverage of the Florida A&M Rattlers at the Tallahassee Democrat.
Follow his award-winning coverage on RattlerNews.com and contact him via email at GDThomas@Tallahassee.com or on the app formerly known as Twitter @3peatgee.
This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: FAMU football wants to renew Bragg Memorial Stadium’s magic in home opener vs Albany State
Reporting by Gerald Thomas III, Tallahassee Democrat / Tallahassee Democrat
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
