Quentin Williams and Isidore Jackson each rushed for two touchdowns as the Wildcats downed the Rattlers by a score of 29-10 in front of an announced crowd of 45,321 Saturday afternoon inside the Florida Citrus Bowl.

The Wildcats (10-2 overall, 7-1 Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference) defeated the Rattlers (3-9, 2-6 MEAC) for the third consecutive time, earned a share of the conference championship  for the third time in four years and clinched an automatic berth to next weekend's FCS Playoffs.

Williams rushed for 70 yards and completed 7-of-10 passes for 95 yads, while Jackson gained 96 yards on 29 carries as the Wildcats held the ball for 36:48 and outgained the Rattlers 289-to-89.

The Rattlers' lone touchdown was a Jonathan Pillow 45-yard fumble return in the third quarter. Florida A&M's offense managed just eight (8) first downs, converted only 2-of-12 on third downs, and never got inside the Bethune-Cookman 30-yard line.

“We knew we could play defense like we did today,” said Bethune-Cookman head coach Brian Jenkins, whose team has won 10 games twice in his four-year tenure. "When you have coaches like I do for defense,  you can only have confidence that they're going to play lights out.”

Florida A&M capitalized on a Bethune-Cookman fumble to take an early 3-0 lead on Chase Varnadore's 41-yard field goal with 9:58 remaining in the opening period.

The Wildcats took over after that.

Williams scored on runs of 10 and 17 yards, respectively, to cap off Wildcat scoring drives of 79 and 66 yards on the next two possessions. On the first possession, he connected with Jontavious Carter on a 43-yard strike. On the second, it was a 23-yarder to Patrick Harris.

After Marquis Drayton recovered a Rattler fumble on the Florida A&M 16 yard line, B-CU took a 21-3 lead on a three-yard Jackson run with 4:41 remaining in the first half. Bethune-Cookman's defense  held the Rattlers  to three first downs and 34 total yards in the opening half.

Williams left the game following a big FAMU defensive hit after giving up a fumble on a hard hit  that Pillow took in for the touchdown.

“I'm a little disappointed with the offense and a little disappointed with [Williams],” Jenkins said. “Quentin could run into a brick truck and get up. He saw a buzzsaw - me, and he knew he was going to get chewed up, but he accepted it.”

Jackson put the game away with a three-yard touchdown scamper with three minutes remaining in the fourth quarter.

A Jonathan Cagle punt pinned the Rattlers at their own one-yard line, and after a three-and-out, punted the ball back to the Wildcats, who ran seven minutes off the clock on the scoring possession.  Jackson had 19 yards on the drive, including a crucial fourth down rush while Cary White gained 17.

Al-Tere McBurse had 32 rushing yards for the Rattlers. Redshirt freshman Carson Royal completed just 3-of-19 passes for just 17 yards.

“We never found a tempo on offense where we could move the ball down the field,” said Florida A&M head coach Earl Holmes.

Eddie Poole had two catches for 18 yards as he extended his school record pass-catching streak to 47 games.  Dyron Dye had seven tackles and a sack, and it was Dion Hanks adding an interception for the defense.

Bethune-Cookman will find out its playoff opponent Sunday at 11:30 a.m. in the selection show broadcast live on ESPNU. It will be the Wildcats' third appearance in the playoffs in the past four years. They lost to New Hampshire in 2010 – Jenkins' first season as the Wildcats' head coach – and Coastal Carolina last year.

“Believe it or not, I'm going to take a breather,” Jenkins said. “Then we'll see what's in store for us.”