A&T Coach Rod Broadway happy to be (3-0), but knows Aggies still need to be showing improvement, as they ready for S.C. State

As Spencer Gwynn used to say on 1510 WEAL, “This is Aggie Football” and its looking pretty good at (3-0) on the 2013 season, but Aggie skipper Rod Broadway knows his team still has a long way to go, if they want to reach the (4-0) mark..The Bulldogs of S.C. State are up next and let’s look back at last night’s win on ESPNU, as we visit the Aggies’ athletic web site this morning….27-19 with A&T topping Howard on Thursday night….

GREENSBORO – Having enough humility is not something the North Carolina A&T football team has to worry about heading into its conference matchup with S.C. State on Oct. 5 in Atlanta.

They will have plenty of it. The Aggies are off to their first 3-0 start in 12 years after defeating Howard 27-19 Thursday night in front of 16,011 fans at Aggie Stadium and in front of a national-television audience watching on ESPNU. After looking like a dominant 3-0 team in a first half where they took a 27-7 lead, the Aggies showed there is still room for improvement, even for undefeated teams.

The Bison scored the final 12 points of the game, the Aggies turned the ball over twice and had a punt blocked and for the first time in eight games, a team was able to rush for more than 100 yards on the Aggies defense.

“Tonight was an eye-opener for all of us,” said A&T head coach Rod Broadway. “We can’t turn the ball over like we did. “Our kicking game went south on us tonight. We’ve been pretty good kicking game wise, but we had a punt blocked. We dropped a punt (on a return). We shanked a punt. We just weren’t very sharp tonight.”

A&T held a 27-10 lead at halftime lead, but the second half opened with A&T freshman Dominic Frescura’s punt being blocked. The Bison took over at the A&T 22-yard line and three plays later quarterback Greg McGhee connected with Stewart Hartman for a 17-yard touchdown. John Fleck missed the extra point, which left the Aggies with a 27-16 lead.

The Aggies had to rely on their defense to keep the Bison from rallying. A&T ran just 24 plays for 75 yards in the second half. But Howard compiled just 18 yards over its next five possessions and turned the ball over once during that span. In the fourth quarter, the Bison was able to put together a 13-play, 45-yard drive that included an 18-yard run by Anthony Philyaw. Fleck closed out the drive with a 40-yard field goal to put the Bison down by one score, 27-19, with 8:08 to play.

Howard had two more chances to cut into the Aggies lead, but D’Vonte Grant blocked a 32-yard field goal attempt by Fleck with 4:03 to play. Howard’s final drive ended in four plays, giving the Aggies their first conference win of the season and their seventh straight win overall, dating back to last season.

“We’ll take it,” said Broadway. “We’re 3-0. When is the last time we’ve been 3-0 around here? Twelve years? So yeah, we’ll take it. It was a tough win. I knew coming in Howard was a good football team. We’re very fortunate to get a win. But we’re going to have to play better than we played tonight if we expect to beat a team, South Carolina State, who I think has been one of the premiere teams in our league over the last 10 years.”