College Football
Tuesday, December 21
Hampton had the final word
Associated Press

ATLANTA -- The Hampton Pirates didn't play like a "third-rated team" in the Heritage Bowl.

Spurred by Southern coach Pete Richardson's comment that his Southwest Athletic Conference champions were facing a third-rated team in Saturday's game at the Georgia Dome, the Pirates avenged a regular season loss by beating the Jaguars 24-3 with a defense that produced six turnovers, including three interceptions by Vincent Lewis.

Richardson wasn't about to use his remark as an excuse for the way his team was dominated.

"I didn't say anything that wasn't true," Richardson said. "They still finished third in the MEAC, and that's not going to change."

Hampton (8-4) indeed was third in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference race, but the two teams that finished ahead of them, conference champion North Carolina A&T and runner-up Florida A&M, each competed in the NCAA Division I-AA playoffs.

The SWAC doesn't send a team to the playoffs for two reasons -- a late season showdown between Southern and Grambling that is always nationally televised from the Louisiana Superdome and the advent of the SWAC championship game this year.

Southern won both those games in the two weeks before the Heritage, beating Grambling 37-31, then Jackson State 31-30 in the title game.

"We had an emotional ride," Richardson said, adding that no matter which SWAC team makes it to the Heritage, it will be coming off an emotional conference championship game.

"No excuses," he added. "They just executed better than we did."

And although Richardson insisted his remark wasn't intended to downgrade Hampton, the Pirates kept hearing about it all week.

"We finished third, which was what he meant," Hampton coach Joe Taylor said, adding with a grin. "However, we did use it."

"We had a chip on our shoulder," Hampton quarterback Roy Johnson said. "We proved we were a lot better team than we were the last time we played them."

In the regular season game at Indianapolis in October, the Jaguars (11-2) posted a 21-6 victory.

"We were hearing that quote in our sleep," said Adrian Wideman, who had two touchdowns on receptions of 11 yards from Montell Coley and 7 yards from Johnson. "It definitely was embedded in us. Since we also lost to them earlier in the season, they didn't respect us at all."

Southern's only score came on a 33-yard field goal by Justin Mattingly with 11 seconds left in the first half after the Pirates turned the ball over on a high snap to the punter.

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