With a 35-14 victory against the Prairie View A&M Panthers, the Florida A&M Rattlers secure their first SWAC Championship in school history and move on to the Celebration Bowl. Many expected the Rattlers to win as they had demolished the Panthers earlier in the year, 45-7.

The game was set to air on ESPN2, but a weather delay forced a later start time. Another delay early in the third quarter caused the game to shift out of the spotlight and onto ESPN3 and ESPN News.

Prairie View looked clean in their white-and-purple uniforms topped with a shiny gold helmet, but the drip only took them so far. Coming out of the initial weather delay, the Rattlers' defense struck immediately. On a second down, PVAMU quarterback Trazon Connley threw an interception to FAMU defensive back Javan Morgan. The Rattlers got called for a personal foul penalty, but the interception stood.

On their opening offensive drive, the Rattlers did what they do best: throw the ball. Following an eight-yard rush up the middle from Terrell Jennings, quarterback and SWAC Offensive Player of the Year Jeremy Moussa hit two completions to get his team down to the goal line. Moussa found receiver Marcus Riley for a 60-yard bomb down the field. At the goal line, Jennings went up the middle again for the inaugural score.

Florida A&M didn't have to wait long to get the ball back again. The combination of a sack and a false start penalty put the Panthers far behind the yardage markers. The Rattler defense forced a punt on a three-and-out.

On their second offensive drive, FAMU leaned a little more on the run. A 10-yard rush from Jennings and a pass interference call helped the Rattlers get into the red zone. Riley then ran for a gain of 19 yards, but was tackling just short of the end zone. Jennings punched in the touchdown to take a 14-0 lead.

Meanwhile, the offensive woes for the Panthers continued. After a first down, Prairie View had to punt again. Incomplete passes and a stuffed run resulted in another fourth down. They got the ball back after the defense forced a Rattler three-and-out, but the Panthers gave possession back to their opponent after a quick three-and-out of their own.

To open up the second half, Florida A&M relied heavily on running back Jaquez Yant. After a failed trick play with Yant throwing a pass, he got three consecutive carries to put the Rattlers inside the 20-yard line. Yant eventually finished the drive with his own touchdown run, increasing the lead to 21-0.

Luckily for the Panthers, Florida A&M's offense seemed to completely stall for the rest of the quarter. Their offensive ineptitude helped even more after Connley left the game with an injury. Backup Kenneth Patterson checked in on their next drive, but he threw an interception to Morgan on his first passing attempt.

Finally, at the end of the half, the Panthers managed to register on the scoreboard. After the second FAMU punt of the quarter, Connley checked back into the game and started connecting with his receivers. He completed four of five passing attempts on the drive as PVAMU marched from their own 20-yard line down to the end zone.

Following a 22-yard completion to receiver Shemar Savage, running back Caleb Johnson got three consecutive carries and picked up 24 yards. Johnson ran in for an eight-yard touchdown, giving the Panthers their first score of the game. They went into halftime down 21-7 to the Rattlers.

Coming out of the halftime break, luck continued to trend in the Panthers' favor. Florida A&M got back down the field, but the PVAMU defense forced a 35-yard field goal. The Rattlers missed the field goal, turning possession back over to Prairie View.

Following another series of rain delays, the Panthers began their first drive of the half. The drive, however, stopped nearly as soon as it started. Chris Herron, a quarterback who switched to receiver, checked in as the playcaller for the rest of the game in place of Connley.

Two runs for minimal gain and an incomplete pass forced them to punt the ball away. The defense stepped up again and made the Rattlers punt the ball right back. Prairie View encroached on the Rattler lead as running back Ahmad Antoine shook loose for a 35-yard touchdown run.

With the score now 21-14, the Rattler offense finally got back on track. Their first play was a 20-yard rush from Jennings. Jennings followed the initial rush with three more carries to get Florida A&M across midfield and into Panther territory. Shortly after, Moussa connected with Riley for a 32-yard touchdown pass, reclaiming a 14-point lead as the Rattlers went up 28-14.

Prairie View desperately needed another touchdown to keep pace with their opponent, but their next drive resulted in a punt. The punt nearly pinned FAMU inside their own 10-yard line, but Jennings broke off another 20-yard run to get them out of trouble on the final play of the third quarter. After two successful completions from Moussa, Jennings erupted for his second touchdown of the day with a 33-yard run.

Down 35-14 and without a legitimate passing threat, the Panthers were forced to run the ball. They actually found a decent amount of success as they moved from their own 10-yard line to FAMU's 36-yard line all through the ground. The bulk of the progress came from a 40-yard rush from Herron, though defensive back Deco Wilson intercepted his lone pass attempt of the drive.

With just under eight minutes to go and a commanding lead, the Rattlers began to drain the clock. Running back Lelan Wilhoite was the lead back on their final drive. Besides an occasional pass from Moussa to keep the chains moving, the ball was in Wilhoite's hands for nearly the entire possession. He helped get the Rattlers inside Prairie View's 10-yard line before they stared taking knees to end the game.

Without a consistent quarterback presence, the Prairie View offense never really found a groove, even though they scored two touchdowns. Trazon Connley completed seven of his 14 pass attempts for 91 yards and an interception, but he didn't play in the second half. Chris Herron and Kenneth Patterson both threw an interception, and neither completed a pass. Herron, however, led PVAMU in rushing with 70 yards on seven carries. Caleb Johnson had 56 yards and a touchdown on 10 carries. Ahmad Antoine also ran for a touchdown and gained 52 yards on his six carries. Trejon Spiller was the leading Panther receiver with three catches for 27 yards.

The Florida A&M offense was cooking for most of the game, and they didn't even need a spectacular performance from Jeremy Moussa. Moussa completed 13 of his 22 pass attempts for 188 yards and a touchdown; a good game, but nothing like his top performances. Marcus Riley led all receivers with five catches for 132 yards and a touchdown. The Rattlers did most of their damage on the ground. Terrell Jennings had an outstanding game, rushing for 113 yards and two touchdowns on 17 carries. At the end of the game, Lelan Wilhoite got eight carries on just one drive, turning them into 57 yards.

Now crowned as the SWAC Champions, the Florida A&M Rattlers travel to Atlanta, Georgia. They will play the MEAC Champion Howard Bison in the Celebration Bowl on Dec. 16.