SAVANNAH, Ga. - Savannah State University will enter its Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference football game Saturday against Hampton University with momentum from its 42-35 victory over Edward Waters College last Saturday at T.A. Wright Stadium.
 
SSU (1-6, 0-4) will play Hampton (1-5, 1-3) at 2 p.m. at Armstrong Stadium in Hampton, Va. The game will be radio broadcast on WHCJ 90.3 FM.
 
Hampton is coming off a 37-20 loss at North Carolina Central University on Oct. 18.
 
“We're going into this game with a level of confidence that we haven't had this year so we'll see how it goes,” SSU head coach Steve Davenport said after the Tigers' practice Thursday. “It's lifted the spirit of the whole campus. Anytime you win a game you feel good about yourself. We're no different. But, obviously, we've got to try to build on that. This is an opportunity to try and go win Game No. 2, and that's what we're going to try and do.”
 
SSU, which left Savannah by bus at 2 p.m. Thursday, will be Hampton's Homecoming opponent. Last season, Hampton beat North Carolina Central, 30-27 in overtime, to snap its four-game Homecoming losing streak. The Pirates had not won their Homecoming game since 2006, when they beat Winston-Salem State, 13-3.
 
“It's their Homecoming so there will be a level of excitement at their place,” Davenport said. “There's nothing better than spoiling Homecoming, so we'll take that approach this week and try to go get after them.”
 
Saturday's game, and SSU's trip to Norfolk, Va., to play Norfolk State at 2 p.m. Nov. 3, will be the first back-to-back road games for the Tigers since they began the season at Oklahoma State (Sept. 1) and Florida State (Sept. 8).
 
“We've got to go back next week as well,” Davenport said. “We know that strip of ground pretty good.”
 
SSU played Howard University in Washington, D.C., on Sept. 29 and lost, 56-9.
 
“We've just got to focus,” Davenport said. “We struggled at Howard but it was the first time that this team had played in the daytime. It was a 1 p.m. kickoff, as I recall, and pregame was at 9 a.m. and we just never could find our gauge. By the time we did, Howard had already jumped on us pretty good.
 
“This will be a 2 p.m. kickoff, so one hour later, but having played Homecoming last week (at 2 p.m.) we'll have an idea of what it's like to play a game during the daytime, and come out better prepared than we did at Howard.”
 
Saturday's game also will be Senior Day for Hampton, which will play its final three games on the road at Howard (Nov. 3), Delaware State (Nov. 10) and Morgan State (Nov. 17). The Pirates' only victory was a 28-14 decision against Norfolk State on Oct. 13.
 
Hampton is 4-0 in the series against SSU. The Pirates won, 22-5, last season at T.A. Wright Stadium.
 
“Winning can be infectious as well,” Davenport said after SSU beat Edward Waters. “Sometimes you just need a little success to feel how it feels on you and then you want more. Hopefully, this will quench their thirst for success. We'll have to prepare for Hampton. Hampton's going to want to win the game just as bad as we are. We hope we feel better about it in terms of preparing and playing hard up in Virginia.”
 
After games at Hampton and at Norfolk State, SSU will play its final home game at 5 p.m. Nov. 10 against Bethune Cookman at T.A. Wright Stadium. The Tigers' season finale will be Nov. 17 at South Carolina State.
 
“This win is a spark,” SSU defensive end Micah Blount said after beating Edward Waters. “We're taking it as a spark for the next few games. That's how we're taking it. This is a spark for the rest of the season and the start of the next season. It's a spark to get the rest of the second half of the season going and see if we can win the rest of these games.”
 
Hampton outlook
Hampton is led by running back Jeremiah Schwartz, a 5-foot-11, 235-pound redshirt senior from Orlando, Fla., who has run for at least 100 yards four times this season.
Schwartz has run for 110 times for 606 yards and seven touchdowns and is second in the MEAC in rushing with an average of 101 yards per game. He ran 20 times for 129 yards and two touchdowns against North Carolina Central.
 
“They've got a running back, a transfer, I think, from Iowa State who is a really good football player,” Davenport said of Schwartz, who transferred from Iowa State, where he made 30 catches for 300 yards as a redshirt freshman in 2009. “You've got to tackle him. Either they're going to hand him the ball a hundred times or they're going to spread us out and try to throw it all the time. They've done both in games. So we've got to try and figure out what their approach is going to be.”
 
Hampton is third in the MEAC in passing offense with 211.7 yards per game. The Pirates lead the conference in fourth-down conversions (8-of-13, 61.5 percent).
 
Hampton quarterback Travis Champion, a 6-foot-2, 218-pound sophomore from Moreno Valley, Calif., is 106-of-176 passing (60.2 percent) for 1,093 yards and five touchdowns. He has thrown eight interceptions. Champion averages 182.2 yards passing per game, which ranks third in the MEAC.
Hampton linebacker Lyndell Gibson, a 6-foot-11, 230-pound senior from Virginia Beach, Va., has made 51 tackles, including 6.5 sacks (both team highs), and two interceptions. He was an All-MEAC second team selection last season.
“Defensively, I think they're real good,” Davenport said. “I think they're probably the second-best team in the conference so far. I haven't seen Bethune but I hear Bethune is pretty good on defense.”
 
On special teams, Hampton leads the MEAC in punting and is ranked 11^th in the FCS. The Pirates average 38.4 yards per punt. Jordan Stovall, a 5-foot-8, 175-pound senior from Elgin, S.C., is second in the MEAC in punting with 40.5 yards per punt.
 
Hampton leads the MEAC and is ranked 10^th in the FCS in kickoff returns, averaging 25.5 yards per return. Antwon Chisholm, a 5-foot-9, 190-pound junior from Belle Glade, Fla., averages 22 yards per kickoff return, which ranks third in the MEAC.
 
The Pirates are third in the MEAC in field goals (5-of-7) and tied for the conference lead in extra-point attempts (15-of-15). Taurean Durham, a 6-foot, 170-pound senior from Uniondale, N.Y., is sixth in the MEAC in field goals (5-of-7).
 
Bostick-to-Heyward combination
SSU quarterback Antonio Bostick throwing to wide receiver Simon Heyward continues to be a major strength for the Tigers' offense.
 
On Monday, Heyward selected MEAC Offensive Player of the Week for his performance against Edward Waters. Heyward, a graduate of Savannah's Beach High School, made six catches for 160 yards and three touchdowns.
 
“That just goes to the hard work we put in over the summer,” said Heyward, a 5-foot-11, 185-pound junior. “And during the week putting in extra time after practice.”
 
Heyward is second in the MEAC in receiving yards per game with a 76.4-yard average. He has caught 27 passes for 535 yards and five touchdowns this season.
 
Bostick is fourth in the MEAC in total offense with an average of 179.9 yards per game. He has run for 216 yards and five touchdowns, and thrown for 1,043 yards and six touchdowns.
 
“The kid's developing and maturing,” Davenport said of Bostick, a 6-foot-1, 202-pound junior from Greensboro, Fla. “I give some of the credit to (quarterbacks) Coach (Darrell) Hackney, who has done a good job of training and getting him prepared. It always helps to have a guy who has played the position, who recognizes what you see. I think their relationship has gotten better and better as the year has gone on, and I think he's done a tremendous job helping the kid out.”
 
Hackney, in his first season as SSU's quarterbacks coach, was the University of Alabama-Birmingham's quarterback from 2001-05. Hackney led Conference USA with 3,070 yards passing in 2004 and he was ranked 14^th nationally in passing efficiency (146.6). He set a UAB single-season record for touchdown passes with 26 in 2004.