Alabama A&M returns home looking for its first win of the season when Miles College visits Louis Crews Stadium on Saturday for the 16th annual Louis Crews Classic. Kickoff is set for 6 p.m. CT, with the game televised on SWAC TV and available on WJAB 90.9 FM. Both teams enter at 0-1. Saturday marks the 22nd all-time meeting between the programs and just the third since Alabama A&M moved to Division I. A&M leads the series 18-3 and has won the last two meetings, though Miles’ last win in the series came in 1998.
Shade Faces the Program He Once Led
The game carries an added storyline for Alabama A&M head coach Sam Shade, who spent three seasons as Miles’ head coach, compiling an 18-15 overall record and a 15-7 mark in the SIAC, before taking over at A&M. His final season at Miles, in 2024, ended with a SIAC championship and a trip to the second round of the NCAA Division II playoffs, where the Golden Bears fell to top-ranked Valdosta State. Shade is now in his second season leading the Bulldogs, who are looking to build on a 3-1 start to his tenure last year that faded into a 4-8, 1-7 SWAC finish.
How Alabama A&M Nearly Rallied Past Howard
A&M fell to Howard 31-24 in the Cricket MEAC/SWAC Challenge, a nationally televised game on ABC, after failing to pick up a first down in the opening quarter and falling behind 13-0. The Bulldogs erased the deficit and took a 24-23 lead midway through the fourth quarter before Howard answered with a 51-yard touchdown pass with 2:41 remaining. A&M drove to the Howard 21-yard line on its final possession but could not find the tying score. “We started off slow. We really had a slow start that was unexpected,” Shade said. “We got it together at halftime. I told the guys, let’s go out here and win this game. We took the lead in the fourth quarter, but unfortunately, they made a play, and they basically just made one more play than we ended up making.”
Shade also pointed to third-down execution as an area of focus after the Bulldogs converted just 3 of 10 chances. “Last year we weren’t as good as we needed to be on third down, and we’ve addressed it in the offseason and in training camp,” he said. “We’ve been working on it, both sides of the ball, because we had our struggles there last year.” Quarterback Cornelious Brown IV, who has appeared in 44 career games, spread the ball to eight different receivers in the loss, including a toe-tapping touchdown catch from Jarel Williams for A&M’s first score of the season. Kicker David Faulk connected on a 32-yard field goal in the fourth quarter, and linebackers Jeremiah Hudson-Davis and John Robinson combined for 22 tackles on defense. A&M finished the opener with 405 total yards of offense.
Scouting Miles’ Explosive Skill Players
Miles enters off a 56-7 loss at Alcorn State in which the Golden Bears matched Alcorn’s opening touchdown with a 61-yard scoring pass from quarterback Brinley Vandiver to Glen Williams, tying the game 7-7, before Alcorn State scored 28 unanswered points in the second quarter to take a 35-7 halftime lead. Miles finished with 232 total yards, including 188 through the air, and limited Alcorn State to 94 rushing yards but allowed 316 passing yards and six touchdowns. Vandiver completed 15 of 25 passes for 174 yards and a touchdown in the loss, while the Golden Bears’ running game managed just 44 yards on 27 carries. Special teams were also a problem: Miles had a punt blocked, missed two field goals, and lost a fumble on a kickoff return, with one of the blocked field goals returned 77 yards for an Alcorn State touchdown.
Shade, who recruited and coached Vandiver at Miles before the quarterback became eligible to play, praised him this week. “He’s actually a really good quarterback. Got good size, good anticipation on his throws, and throws the ball well,” Shade said. “They’ve got some explosive skill guys, receivers and return guys that can make things happen with their legs.” Miles was picked seventh in the 13-team SIAC preseason poll and opens conference play next week at home against Edward Waters.
What’s Next
A&M continues its three-game homestand next week when Tennessee State visits Louis Crews Stadium for The Legacy Series on Sept. 12. A&M won last year’s meeting 23-21 in Nashville. Tennessee State holds a 15-9 edge in the all-time series, but A&M has won seven of the last 10 meetings and is 4-0 against the Tigers in games decided by seven points or fewer.
