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GREENSBORO — The single biggest weekend of the N.C. A&T school year is over. But the football season is not.

And the Aggies, who fell hard in a 31-13 loss to Bethune-Cookman on Saturday, cannot afford a homecoming hangover. Not with back-to-back road games to close out the season against the No. 2 and No. 1 teams in the MEAC, Florida A&M and defending champion S.C. State.

"We're not going to let it linger," A&T head coach Alonzo Lee said. "We've got two big-time games coming up. ... Things happen for a reason. Maybe we weren't supposed to win so we could come back and knock these two out. They'll forget all about homecoming if we win these next two games."

First up is Florida A&M (6-2, 4-1 MEAC) and star quarterback Curtis Pulley. The Rattlers lead the MEAC in rushing and passing offense, and Pulley — who ran for 231 yards and threw for 174 last week — leads FAMU in both.

A&T, meanwhile, will counter Pulley with two quarterbacks: senior Carlton Fears and freshman Lewis Kindle.

The loss to Bethune-Cookman officially knocked A&T (5-4, 3-3) out of the conference race. With Fears gone after this season, Lee wants to get Kindle some playing time.

"We will look at our young quarterback and he will play some in these next two games, for sure," Lee said. "We have to put a little bit more fire into what we're doing. We had opportunities and just didn't carry out things Carlton (needed to) as a quarterback. So we have to go ahead and look to the next level."

Fears completed 16 of 31 passes for 164 yards in the loss to Bethune-Cookman. He was intercepted twice in the fourth quarter, and his receivers dropped at least four passes.

"We started to (put Kindle in) Saturday, but we wanted to put it on our seniors," Lee said of the homecoming game. "This was their opportunity to come through in a big game, and unfortunately those rough things happened. &ellipses; You would love to see your seniors come through. We were trying to do things that were senior-oriented."

Lee stopped short of naming Kindle as the starter this week, but he guaranteed the freshman would play.

If Kindle starts, it would end Fears' run at a bit of A&T history. Fears has started all eight of the Aggies games this season, and if he were to start the final two games he would be the first A&T quarterback to start every game in a single season since Maceo Bolin did it in 1995.

"Kindle is going to see some time," Lee said. "There's no ifs, ands or buts about it. We already have our game plan set. It's just a matter of whether we start him or not. But he's going to see some playing time regardless of how the game is going. ... (Playing time) might be an even split, but if he comes out rockin' and rollin' the whole week (in practice), it might be more."

Lee said he has kept the job open throughout the season, and Fears has won it each week in practice. He said sometimes his senior tries to do too much on game days.

"Carlton does some good things in practice," Lee said, "but I think sometimes (in games) his tension level gets a little too high and he wants to do things he doesn't have to do. He doesn't have to make spectacular plays, just do his 1-of-11 job."

STREAK IN JEOPARDY: Senior free safety Nick Clement had surgery on a broken finger Monday and might not be ready to play Saturday at Florida A&M.

That's big news. Clement, who ranks third on the team in tackles with 49, has played in 42 consecutive games for the Aggies.

Clement broke his finger in the Aggies' victory at Howard two weeks ago, and he was fitted with a cast so he could play in the homecoming loss to Bethune-Cookman.

But he only lasted a couple of series.

"He probably will not play this week," Lee said. "They put a cast on it (last week), but there still was definitely some pain there. Early on we played him, and you could see he couldn't get off of blocks with that bad hand."

If Clement can't play, freshman Charlton Latta or redshirt freshman Terrence Webb are the front-runners to start in place of the senior.

GAME OR NO GAME? Actually, it's both.

N.C. A&T's forfeit victory over Delaware State three weeks ago will not be recognized by the NCAA for any record-keeping purposes. The NCAA ruled the game as no contest, and Lee will not get credit for a career victory.

Therefore, A&T would have to win its remaining two games — instead of only one of two — to earn Lee a winning record in his first season as a head coach.

The MEAC — which fined Delaware State $100,000 for dropping the game to go play at Michigan for a $550,000 appearance fee — recognizes the forfeit in both the overall and league standings to ensure a balanced conference race.

RECRUITING: Nearly 100 high school football players attended A&T's homecoming over the weekend.

Players came from as far south as Miami and as far north as New Jersey, Lee said. Rev. Jesse Jackson, who played quarterback during his years at A&T, spoke to the recruits, who also toured the campus.

"This was an outstanding weekend in terms of recruitment. There's a lot of things going on behind the scenes," Lee said. " ...The only bad part about the whole weekend was we didn't win the game. Everything else was awesome in terms of our future."

Contact Jeff Mills at 373-7024 or jeff.mills@news-record.com