GREENSBORO, N.C. - Nov. 22, 2003 marked a the turning point for the North Carolina A&T football program.

The Aggies entered Charlotte Memorial Stadium that day riding high with an eight-game winning streak, a 10-1 record and having already secured a post-season berth with their sixth Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference championship. All that remained for North Carolina A&T before the Division I-AA playoffs was taking care of archrival South Carolina State.

Instead of picking up momentum, the Aggies were left trying to pick up the pieces following a 49-9 shellacking at the hands of the Bulldogs. SCSU scored off four defensive touchdowns and collected five sacks in leaving the Aggies physically and mentally bruised for its first-round matchup at Wofford College.

North Carolina A&T went on to lose to the Terriers 31-10 and have seen its fortunes since then continue to take a tailspin. Entering Saturday's regular-season finale against the Bulldogs at Johnson Hagood Stadium, the winless Aggies own the nation's longest active losing streak at 26 games (last winning Oct. 8, 2005 against Morgan State in overtime 40-33) and have gone 6-39 since the Charlotte debacle four years ago.

In North Carolina A&T head coach Lee Fobbs' mind, snapping the streak against a team which has won the last six meetings in the series would be a fitting way to finally ignite the program revival he was hired to oversee two years ago.

"I couldn't express how important it would be (to win)," said Fobbs, who's 0-21 as Aggies' head coach, at Tuesday's teleconference. "It would mean a lot to the kids and to the program itself, the effort that we've put forth this year and the direction that we're headed. It would really set the presence going into the off-season. It would mean a great deal to this program.

"They do a good job at what they do. It's a great challenge for us. Each and every week is a challenge in our league simply because of the growth of our league and everybody is getting better and better in our league. So it's a challenge in a lot of ways, but our kids are up for it. We play hard every week and we'll continue to play throughout this last ballgame and coming up this week."

Junior tailback Michael Ferguson apparently carried over his season-high 175-yard, two-touchdown performance in last year's 41-19 loss to SCSU into this season. The 5-11, 185-pound Durham native has nearly doubled his ground total in 2007 as the MEAC's second-leading rusher with 1,099 yards, but only has four touchdowns.

North Carolina A&T ranks last in the MEAC in scoring and total offense and also in scoring and total defense. The Aggies, like SCSU, are also among the worst teams in the Red Zone and have been outscored in the fourth quarter 89-30.

Those fourth-quarter droughts have proven costly in four of North Carolina A&T's last five games that it lost by an average margin of five points. The Aggies led Howard 27-15 in the fourth quarter back on Oct. 20, only to give up 20 unanswered fourth-quarter points in losing 35-27.

Two weeks later, the Aggies squandered a 21-18 lead to Florida A&M in falling 24-21. During the bye week, Fobbs has incessantly stressed the importance of finishing games.

"It's been a constant conversation in our preparation each and every day in practice," he said. "The three days we worked last week, it's a constant conversation that's held all the time through each and every one of our young men. We worked on Red Zone offense. We worked on defending the run as far as that's concerned. But it's a constant conversation with our guys to put forth four quarters of football together and every facet of the game - kicking and offense and defense and that's what it's going to take against South Carolina State.

"We can't play two quarters or three quarters and not come out the second half and be on top of our game. If we get on top of these guys, we've got to be able to put them away and that's real important for us."

Slowing down SCSU senior quarterback Cleveland McCoy, who needs just 76 total yards to set a new school record for a career, is just as vital for the Aggies as getting increased production from their two quarterbacks Shelton Morgan. (58-127, 694 yards, five TDs, five INTs) and Herbert Miller (47-83 passing, 576 yards, five TDs, six INTs).

"Cleveland McCoy's a good quarterback," Fobbs said. "I thought he was an outstanding quarterback last year and he's really matured a whole lot more this year. Everything's pretty much centered on him with all the other weapons that they have. It will present a challenge for us. But you know each and every week has been a challenge for us and our kids are always up to that and we'll be out there battling against those guys and we'll make it a very interesting ballgame and hopefully, we'll come out on top."

ALL-TIME LONGEST FCS LOSING STREAKS

1. Prairie View (1989-98) - 80

2. Columbia (1983-88) - 44

3. St. Francis, Penn. (1999-2002) - 30

4. North Carolina A&T (2005-Present) - 26

5. Canisius (1999-2001) -

6. (tie) Indiana State (2004-06) -- 19

7. Delaware State (1997-99)

8. Charleston Southern (1993-95)

9. Idaho State (1978-80)

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