SAVANNAH, Ga. - After playing two consecutive games on the road, Savannah State University's football returns to T.A. Wright Stadium on Saturday to play its final home game of the season.
 
Kickoff is 5 p.m. for the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference game between Bethune-Cookman (7-2, 6-0) and SSU (1-8, 0-6). The game will be radio broadcast on WHCJ 90.3 FM. It will be open campus/community/high school band day and SSU is asking all fans to dress in blue for a “blue out.”
 
“It feels good to be back home,” SSU head coach Steve Davenport said after Thursday's practice. “It's Senior Day. I'm looking forward to having Bethune here and going out in exciting fashion.”
 
SSU is coming off a 33-21 loss at Norfolk State last Saturday in Norfolk, Va. The Tigers fell, 21-13, to Hampton University the previous Saturday in Hampton, Va.
 
Bethune-Cookman, which is in first place in the MEAC standings, is coming off a 24-13 victory over Morgan State last Saturday in Baltimore, Md.
 
“They all jump out (on film) to be honest with you,” Davenport said of the Wildcats. “I thought last year Bethune was the most talented team we played. Norfolk won the championship. It looks like Bethune will win it this year, which will be two of the last three years. They're really, really talented and Coach (Brian) Jenkins does a really, really good job with those guys.
 
“They play hard. They've got athletes in the positions that you've got to have them. They make you make plays against those athletes, one-on-one plays, and the game is really simple. If you make those tackles in those one-on-one situations you can have a modicum of success against them. When you don't make those tackles they can kind of embarrass you. We're looking forward to the opportunity to get back out there at them but they are a tremendous football team on both sides of the ball.”
 
Bethune-Cookman is 33-8-2 in the series against SSU. The Wildcats beat the Tigers, 59-3, last season in Daytona Beach, Fla.
 
Davenport said SSU has gained confidence from its competitiveness in its last three games: a 42-35 victory over Edward Waters College, an eight-point loss at Hampton and a 12-point loss at Norfolk State.
 
“I've been saying it all year, I've seen positive steps,” Davenport said. “This program is going in the right direction. I feel really good about that. We wanted to win those games, and the kids felt like we should have won them both, in retrospect, and I think that's an extension of getting this program to where we've got to get it. We really should have won them both but we didn't make the plays when we had the opportunity to make the plays. That's the maturation of a program.
 
“You look at our roster with five seniors for Senior Day. Most of these kids will be back. We're looking forward to an offseason of hard work and getting bigger, stronger and faster, and getting ready to compete again but we're going to finish this thing out right these last two games.”
 
SSU's final game will be at 1:30 p.m. Nov. 17 against South Carolina State in Orangeburg, S.C.
 
Bethune-Cookman outlook
Bethune-Cookman is ranked No. 11 in the Football Championship Subdivision in rushing offense and No. 1 in the MEAC in with 237.7 yards per game.
 
Running back Isidore Jackson, a 5-foot-10, 205-pound junior from Mossy Head, Fla., has 818 yards and eight touchdowns on 145 carries.
 
Running back Rodney Scott, a 5-foot-10, 200-pound senior from Cross City, Fla., has 514 yards and four touchdowns on 113 carries. He transferred from Ole Miss.
“They force you to really run after their tailback,” Davenport said. “They've got two athletic tailbacks that they force you to tackle in space. If you overrun that thing the quarterback keeps it at times and he's athletic.”
 
Bethune-Cookman starting quarterback Quentin Williams, a 6-foot, 190-pound sophomore from Tampa, Fla., is 56-of-94 (59.6 percent) passing for 735 yards and seven touchdowns. He has been intercepted one time and is ranked No. 1 in the MEAC in passing efficiency. Williams has run for 250 yards and three touchdowns on 73 carries. Backup quarterback Brodrick Waters, a 5-foot-11, 195-pound senior from Sarasota, Fla., is 26-of-57 passing (45.6 percent) for 258 yards and four touchdowns. He has been intercepted twice. Waters, who transferred from Louisiana Tech, has run for 432 yards and three touchdowns on 60 carries.
 
“They've got two kids (at quarterback) that are both athletic,” Davenport said. “And then if you stop them from doing that thing they can drop back and throw the football.”
 
Wide receiver Eddie Poole, a 6-foot-4, 195-pound senior from Belle Glade, Fla., has 21 catches for 266 yards and three touchdowns. Poole, who transferred from Rutgers, has caught a pass in 32 consecutive games.
 
Wide receiver KJ Stroud, a 6-foot-3, 205-pound senior from Brooklyn, N.Y., has 20 catches for 242 yards and a touchdown. He transferred from Rutgers.
 
Slot receiver Preston Cleckley, a 5-foot-8, 170-pound junior from Delray Beach, Fla., has 11 catches for 218 yards and two touchdowns.
 
“They've got two receivers that transferred from Rutgers that are tremendous players,” Davenport said. “And they've got a slot receiver that's fast as lightning. They've got some talented people.”
 
Bethune-Cookman offensive lineman Eugene Solomon, a 6-foot-4, 270-pound senior, is from Savannah. Solomon, who played at Jenkins High School, has started every game this season at center for Bethune-Cookman.
 
Defensively, Bethune-Cookman has not allowed a touchdown in the second half in four consecutive games. The Wildcats' defense is ranked third in the FCS in interceptions and has picked off 16 passes. They trail Lafayette and Richmond, who are tied for first place with 19 interceptions. B-CU's Dion Hanks, Nick Addison and Dawud Lane have intercepted three passes apiece.
 
Linebacker Jarkevis Fields, a 6-foot, 230-pound junior from Sanford, Fla., has made a team-high 72 tackles.
 
Defensive back Nick Addison, a 6-foot-2, 180-pound sophomore from Tampa, Fla., is second on the team with 54 tackles.
 
Defensive end LeBrandon Richardson, a 6-foot-2, 255-pound sophomore from Miami, Fla., has made a team-high seven sacks. Richardson, who transferred from the University of Central Florida, is tied for 18^th in the FCS and is second in the MEAC in sacks.
 
“Defensively, they're a really good-looking team,” Davenport said. “We've got our hands full, a tremendous challenge, but you have to look at a challenge as an opportunity to go out and do something positive that will be memorable for quite some time around here. We've got another opportunity to do that on Saturday so we're going to take our best chance at it.”