Washington, DC—North Carolina A&T scored on its opening drive and added another within a two-minute span following a Howard miscue to go on to defeat Howard 34-7 in a Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference game Greene Stadium before an overflow homecoming crowd. 

The Aggies (6-1, 4-0 in the MEAC) took control early and were never challenged. With senior running back Tarik Cohen leading the way, NC A&T drove 65 yards in 10 plays with Cohen finishing it off with a 16-yard scamper at the 9:36 mark. 

On the ensuing possession, the Bison (1-7, 1-4 in the MEAC) had a bad exchange on the first play that resulted in a costly turnover. The Aggies drove 20 short yard in less than two minutes to take a 14-0 lead with 7:25 on the clock. 

From there, NC A&T turned to its defense and it responded by shutting down the Howard offense and holding it scoreless. The Bison defense thwarted Aggie drives and forced two second quarter field goals by Cody Jones from 34 and 28 yards to take a 20-0 lead to the locker room. 

The NC A&T defense, which boasts one of the top run defenses in the FCS, shut down Howard's junior running back Anthony Philyaw, who came into the game averaging 160 yards per game. Philyaw finished with a season-low 27 yards on 17 carries while Howard managed only 50 yards on the ground. 

With the Bison defense focusing its attention on Cohen (20 carries, 133 yards), it opened up the Aggies' passing game and quarterback Lamar Raynard and he responded by tossing three TD passes on the day, two to Denzel Keyes. 

His last TD strike to Keyes gave NC A&T a 34-0 cushion midway through the third period. 

The Bison were finally able to get on the board, when Jason Collins scored on a one-yard sneak with a little over three minutes left in the game. 

The balanced Aggie attack maintained its quota of over 400-plus yards per game, 220 on the ground and 209 in the air. 

Raynard finished 13 of 18 for 191 yards while Cohen added 54 yards on two receptions that included a 45-yard TD reception. 

Philyaw was able to catch a career-high 5 passes for 66 yards and freshman wide reciver Kyle Anthony also grabbed five for 61 yards. 

NEXT UP: The Aggies host FAMU for homecoming next Saturday at 1:30 pm while the Bison will try to get their second win when they travel to Savannah, GA to take on the Tigers of Savannah State next Saturday at 2 pm.