Florida A&M Rattlers

From Tallahassee to the national stage

Florida A&M first fielded a football team in 1907 in Tallahassee, Florida. Across the twentieth century the Rattlers became a byword for sustained success under Alonzo “Jake” Gaither, whose teams between 1945 and 1969 went 203–36–4 and won multiple Black college national championships. Decades later, the programme wrote itself into NCAA history by winning the inaugural Division I‑AA (now FCS) national championship on 16 December 1978, beating Massachusetts 35–28 under Rudy Hubbard. That title remains the only FCS championship won by a historically Black college or university, and it is still the reference point whenever FAMU measures itself.

The Rattlers’ conference life has evolved with the sport. After early years as an independent and a long run in the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, FAMU spent 1979 to 2020 in the Mid‑Eastern Athletic Conference before formally joining the Southwestern Athletic Conference on 1 July 2021. The move re‑centred traditional HBCU rivalries, put more games within the southeastern footprint, and set up an annual path to the SWAC title game and the Celebration Bowl.

The seasons that built the modern identity

FAMU’s football identity is anchored by landmark seasons. The 1978 group, led by Hubbard, not only captured the first I‑AA title but also proved that an HBCU could win an NCAA national championship on the field. The achievement has been celebrated in halls of fame and retrospectives ever since, and Hubbard’s legacy continues to be marked—he entered the College Football Hall of Fame in 2021 and was selected for the Black College Football Hall of Fame’s Class of 2026.

The twenty‑first century brought new punctuation marks. After years of MEAC contention, the shift to the SWAC produced a crescendo in 2023. FAMU won the SWAC Championship Game on 2 December 2023 in Tallahassee, beating Prairie View A&M 35–14, then edged Howard 30–26 in the Celebration Bowl at Mercedes‑Benz Stadium in Atlanta on 16 December 2023. The latter sealed an HBCU national title and a 12–1 finish. Those wins recalibrated expectations, on and off the field.

A conference switch, a coaching carousel, and a reset

The success of 2023 was followed by significant change. On 1 January 2024, Willie Simmons—head coach from 2018 through the 2023 title run—left to be Duke’s running backs coach. Florida A&M elevated assistant James Colzie III to head coach on 27 January 2024, and the Rattlers’ first season of the post‑Simmons era finished 7–5 in 2024, as recorded by the SWAC’s official schedule results.

The next pivot was structural. In early 2026, FAMU’s Board of Trustees approved the hiring of Quinn Fordham Gray Sr.—a former Rattlers quarterback who had just led Albany State to a 12–2 Division II season in 2025—as the university’s 20th head football coach. Gray and his staff anointed redshirt senior quarterback Isaiah Knowles as starter on 6 August 2026, reuniting a coach‑quarterback pairing that had flourished at Albany State. FAMU opened the 2026 slate at Ken Riley Field at Bragg Memorial Stadium on 29 August 2026 with a 20–7 win over Gray’s former team, Albany State, before losing the Orange Blossom Classic to South Carolina State 31–13 at Hard Rock Stadium on 6 September 2026. Multiple outlets and the Rattlers’ own box score list the team at 1–1 as of 7 September 2026, with a Thursday trip to Miami to face the Hurricanes next on the card.

What matters in the record book

Three pillars define how Florida A&M is judged. First, that 1978 NCAA championship—a singular achievement among HBCUs at the FCS level. Second, the accumulation of HBCU national titles across eras, most recently in 2023, when FAMU’s defence and late‑game playmaking carried them past Howard. Third, the ability to translate tradition into current relevance after moving to the SWAC in 2021. The 2023 SWAC Championship and Celebration Bowl victories demonstrably did that, pulling the programme into the mainstream December conversation reserved for title‑winners and setting a benchmark that the Gray era now chases.

Right now: the 2026 picture, dated and specific

The new head coach’s first fortnight has already supplied a snapshot of style. Against Albany State on 29 August 2026, FAMU’s defence registered double‑digit sacks in a 20–7 win in Tallahassee; Gray and Knowles, who arrived together from Albany State, leaned on familiarity to manage the game late. Eight days later, on 6 September 2026, the Rattlers travelled to Miami Gardens for the Orange Blossom Classic, where South Carolina State won 31–13. The official box score logged FAMU’s points by quarter (3–3–7–0), a useful counterpoint to the defensive surge the week before. CBS Sports’ composite has them at 1–1 on 7 September 2026 and lists 10 further regular‑season dates to come, including a 19 September home game with Tennessee State and the Florida Classic against Bethune‑Cookman at Orlando’s Camping World Stadium on 21 November.

Two other markers frame the calendar. First, the programme’s now‑annual Orange Blossom Classic—revived in 2021—was fixed for a 3:00 p.m. ET kick‑off on Sunday, 6 September 2026 at Hard Rock Stadium. Second, the Florida Classic remains the weekend that defines the fanbase’s autumn travel: the official event site not only promotes the football game but also programmes pre‑game FanFest and a halftime “show within a show” featuring the Marching 100 and Bethune‑Cookman’s Marching Wildcats.

How it plays live: the football and the theatre

A Florida A&M home date is a sports event set to a soundtrack. The setting is Ken Riley Field at Bragg Memorial Stadium, renovated in phases in 2021 and 2022 and equipped with a new north‑end video board in 2023; current capacity is 19,633. The day builds from the Rattler Walk—players and coaches making their way to the ground through fans—into pre‑kickoff ceremonies where the Marching 100, the university’s world‑travelled band, set meter and mood.

The football itself runs to FCS tempo: FAMU’s 2023 game‑by‑game statistical summaries timed home dates between roughly 2 hours 51 minutes and 3 hours 45 minutes, with most fixtures clustering around the three‑hour mark. Halftime is never dead air. The Marching 100 typically performs a full field show at the interval and punctuates stoppages from the stands; at the Florida Classic, the band‑on‑band theatre is advertised as a feature as much as the game. Reviews and reportage from the opening week of 2026 focused on the new‑look defence’s 10‑sack opener and on the head coach’s return to FAMU in parallel with his quarterback, a narrative fans and HBCU outlets seized on in the build‑up and in the post‑match commentary.