WASHINGTON, D.C.- Kalen Johnson accounted for five touchdowns as Howard won their first game of the season with a 55-9 victory over Savannah State at Greene Stadium.
 
Johnson had touchdown throws of 47, 21, 19 and 21 yards while running for a one yard score.
 
The Bison led 20-0 after one quarter of play.
 
Savannah State (1-6) scored their points in the second quarter.
 
John Barron kicked a 30 yard field goal with 11:28 left in the quarter to cap a 11 play, 62 yard drive. A key play on the drive was a 28 yard run by freshman running back Uriah Oliver.
 
After a touchdown by Howard, SSU answered with a 9 play, 70 yard drive that was capped by a 34 yard touchdown reception from Leon Prunty to by freshman running back Rashad Saxton with 4:26 left before intermission. Barron's extra point was no good. During the drive, Prunty ran the ball four times and completed three of five pass attempts.
 
It was the first touchdown pass thrown by a SSU quarterback this season.
 
Howard answered the Tigers score with a touchdown pass with 2:34 left in the first half and took a 34-9 lead into halftime.
 
The Bison run defense shut down the Savannah State running game in the second half. SSU had minus 10 yards rushing in the third quarter and just 19 yards in the fourth quarter.
 
Howard's Travon Hunt returned a Dereon London fumble 31 yards for a touchdown in the third quarter while in the fourth quarter, Johnson scored on a one yard touchdown run with 9:44 remaining. The final score of the afternoon came 13 seconds later when Kenneth Russ intercepted a Prunty pass and returned it 11 yards for a touchdown.
 
The crowd of 1,056 saw Saxton rush for 57 yards on three carries for the Tigers while Oliver added 42 on nine carries. Prunty completed 11 of 29 passes for 113 yards with one touchdown and two interceptions. London caught four passes for 40 yards.
 
Defensively, Mulik Simmons and Leonardo Myers each had eight tackles while Marcus Lee had two sacks.
 
Hunt had five tackles, one interception and one fumble recovery for the Bison. Ricquaz Brannon ran for 66 yards for Howard while Matthew Colvin caught four passes for 63 yards and a touchdown.
 
Howard had 352 yards of offense as they improved to 1-7 overall.
 
Savannah State shook up their offense by with several new starters but it did little to help the outcome of the contest.
 
The Tigers were held to 233 yards of offense and had 15 penalties for 142 yards.