Eric Randall threw for two touchdowns, one covering 68 yards to Melvin Williams, and Southern University survived a late comeback to beat Florida A&M 30-25 in the Heritage Bowl on Saturday.
The Jaguars (11-1) stretched their lead to 30-11 on Randall's second scoring pass of the day, a 6-yarder to Fred Bailey with 43 seconds remaining in the third quarter.Mario Allen then rallied the Rattlers (9-3), connecting with Robert Wilson on a 66-yard TD pass less than a minute into the final period and capping a 49-yard drive with a 2-yard scoring run with 5:21 left.
FAMU, which dropped a 52-38 decision to the Jaguars in the Georgia Dome in November, forced Southern to punt and Lionel Nicholas hit a 51-yarder to put the Rattlers on their own 16.
On the first play, Rod Deamer intercepted his second pass of the game at the FAMU 37, allowing the Jaguars to run out the remaining 1:29 and preserve their No. 1 ranking in the Sheridan Poll for historically black colleges.
Randall completed 16 of 25 passes for 190 yards.