Devan James posted a season-high 103 yards on 22 carries against Howard.
Boxscore
BALTIMORE, Md. -- The Morgan State Bears came into Hughes Stadium playing the last of a two game, five day stint. The Bears already dodged many bullets against North Carolina A&T in their homecoming victory. Last night in front of an ESPNU audience, Morgan State put its defense on display for the country as the Bears knocked off Howard 14-7 for their second win in five days.
This was the fourth time in five games that the Bears allowed 10 points or less to their opponent. Senior defensive end Justin Lawrence said about the defensive effort, “Basically what it is man was we feel we carry the team. The offense could (struggle) and sputter the whole game, but if the (opponent) doesn't score, we win. That's our whole motto. So if we can go out there and shut them out, no matter what, they could give us two, three or six points, we're going to win. That's how we carry ourselves.”
The first scoring opportunity for Morgan State (5-1, 3-0 MEAC) came off what was supposed to be a play call to surprise the Bears. However, the Bears defense wasn't too surprised with Howard's fake punt call deep inside their own territory as they stopped Robert Parker III after a three yard run on fourth down and seven in the first quarter.
Two plays later, MSU quarterback Carlton Jackson threw a 31-yard touchdown pass to junior wide receiver Edwin Baptiste to help the Bears jump on top 7-0 with 4:10 left in the first quarter.
In the second quarter, Jackson hooked up with sophomore Lamont Bryant for a five yard touchdown pass with 9.5 seconds left. The extra point by Kemar Scarlett gave Morgan State a 14-0 lead. Jackson said of those two touchdown passes in the game, “Coach made (the) great calls and we all executed.”
In the third quarter, Jackson's pass attempt was intercepted by Howard's Keith Pough, who ran the ball inside the MSU five yard line for what was a costly turnover at the time. Two plays later, Howard senior quarterback Floyd Haigler connected with Phillip Doakes for a three yard touchdown pass with 6:29 remaining. That helped cut the Bears' lead to 14-7.
The play of this heavily defensive game which featured 23 punts between both teams happened late in the fourth quarter. This was after MSU freshman punter Nicholas Adams fumbled a snap during a punt opportunity in which Howard (2-4, 0-3 MEAC) recovered the ball at the MSU 48. A few plays later, Howard moved the ball to the MSU 21 when Haigler's pass attempt was intercepted by junior defensive back Richard Wilson with 4.5 seconds left in the game.
MSU head coach Donald Hill-Eley said about that play, “That's what they call upon. (Richard) was the defensive back, one of the better kids we have out there and they tried to go on top of him and he put himself in great position to bring the interception down and give us another opportunity to win.”
After that crucial play, Jackson took a kneel down and finished off another hard fought victory.
Morgan State is off to one of their best starts in school history so far. The Bears are briefly on top of the MEAC by a half-game over South Carolina State and Florida A&M. They will be tied with the winner of Saturday's ESPNU televised game between those two teams. Hill-Eley said about this start, “Being 5-1 is definitely an expectation. We expect to win week in and week out when we go out there. So this has been a reward for the time and all the hard effort.”
The Bears have won five straight games over Howard and the seventh in the last eight meetings with their D.C rivals. Morgan State travels to Dover on October 24 for a homecoming meeting with the Delaware State Hornets.
