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© St. Petersburg Times, published October 2, 2001
When Alvin Wyatt invests so much time, so much energy, so much attention to a facet of his team, he wants to make sure people know about it.
Hence, the Bethune-Cookman coach's tendency use his name as a prefix.
"I'm not afraid to name something after me," he said in the preseason. "That just makes me work that much harder to make it work."
That's where the "Wyattbone" offense came from.
Now, meet the "Wyatt Terrors."
That's what Wyatt nicknamed his defense, and it truly earned the honor of bearing the) coach's name in Saturday's 30-0 win over Morris Brown at Municipal Stadium.
The Wildcats (3-1) held the opposition to 139 yards (54 rushing, 85 passing) and had nine sacks, four by end Jimmy Williams. Morris Brown (0-3) had 12 first downs and held the ball for 25:12, but B-CC's defense still recorded its second shutout in four years.
What makes it more special is Wyatt has been the defensive coordinator since the end of last season. In the preseason he gave up his offensive coordinator duties so he could dedicate his time to mold the secondary and coach the entire unit.
MIA: A host of Wildcats missed out on the fun Saturday. A-back Shaun Ford was out with a bruised knee. Backup quarterback Gary Woulard was out with an undisclosed injury, which led to starting A-back Taji Parrish taking snaps Friday at quarterback to back up Allen Suber.
Seven players, including three starters, were suspended by Wyatt before Saturday's game for violating team rules. Those suspended were starting wideouts Tarion Hubbard and Erik Lash, starting linebacker Josh Oglesby, running back Robert Archie, linebacker Willie Doby, kicker Michael Kidd and special teams member Devin Rispress.
"We are always prepared to go with or without our best players and coaches," Wyatt told the Daytona Beach News-Journal. "We stand firm on upholding our team rules. If they are violated, the punishment is swift and severe."
FLORIDA A&M: The Rattlers returned to their offensive ways in Saturday's 50-23 rout of Howard. But there was something new: They rushed for 261 yards and five touchdowns, and passed for just 152 yards and two scores.
The credit, coach Billy Joe told the Tallahassee Democrat, belongs to the offensive line.
"They still have a long way to go, but they're doing extremely well for a group we just pulled together last week," Joe said.
FAMU (3-0) has started a different combination of linemen each week. Center Terrie Logan moved to left guard because an injured hand kept him from snapping the ball. That left Fletcher Williams benched along with Lamar Demps, who sat when Kevin MucCular was promoted to right guard. Freshman Kenneth Jones became the new starting center.
At right tackle, Shedrick Moten is still holding on despite nagging knee and wrist injuries, and at the other tackle position transfers Larry Ram and Kevin Johnson are gaining the coach's confidence.
More important, FAMU bounced back from its Sept. 22 loss to Tennessee State and remains undefeated at 3-0 in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference while burying Howard's conference hopes (1-3, 1-2).
The win helped the Rattlers jump one spot to No. 17 in the Sports Network poll.
CENTRAL FLORIDA: It would be one thing if the Golden Knights (1-3) lost to another ranked team after playing a nearly perfect game.
But it is quite another to simply hand the game to a talented team like No. 8 Virginia Tech, which is just what UCF did in Saturday's 46-14 loss.
Tech (4-0) scored 27 points off UCF turnovers -- three interceptions, two fumbles -- blocked a punt for a safety and returned an interception and a punt for touchdowns.
"Free touchdowns," Knights running back Alex Haynes told the Orlando Sentinel. "Free field goals."
Added coach Mike Kruczek: "You can't beat a high school football team turning the ball over like that."
- Information from other news organizations was used in this report.