Football | 10/18/2017 11:28:00 AM

GAME CENTRAL

GAME CENTRAL

Savannah State Tigers I Game Notes: Click Here
(0-6, 0-4 MEAC)
at
Charleston Southern Buccaneers I Game Notes: Click Here
(3-3, 1-0 Big South)

Saturday, October 21, 2017
Charleston, S.C. 
Buccaneer Field
6 p.m. 

Savannah, Ga. -- SSU travels to Charleston, S.C. to take on the Charleston Southern Buccaneers for the first time since 2009. The Tigers and Bucs played for consecutive years from 2005-09, but have not met since.

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The Series: Charleston Southern leads the series, 6-0 

Tiger Bites

- The Tigers are 0-15 against Big South opponents since entering Division I in 2002. The last time SSU faced a Big South team was in 2010 when the Tigers loss 14-52 to Liberty.

- SSU is still looking for its first road win since Sept. 24, 2011.

- SSU is currently ranked 3rd in the MEAC and 22nd nationally in punt returns; and  5th in the MEAC and 63rd nationally in turnover margin.
 
COMMON OPPONENTS
SSU and Charleston Southern have one common opponent on their 2017 schedule: South Carolina State University.
 
THE RAEBURN FILE
SSU head coach Erik Raeburn is known as a rebuilder. In his first head coaching job at Coe, he had back-to-back 6-4 seasons. In his third season, his team went 10-2 and made the Division III playoffs. At Wabash, he made the Division III playoffs his first two years. He went 8-2 in his third year, then went 12-1 in his fourth season and earned another trip to the Division III playoffs. SSU went 3-7 last year in Raeburn's first season with the Tigers so there is optimism in the air on the marsh.
 
CAREER DAY
D'Vonn Gibbons and David Handler both had career-high passing efforts against Morgan State. Gibbons threw for 160 yards and two touchdowns while Handler threw for 151 yards and two touchdowns.
 
HIGH OUTPUT
SSU's offense had its best offensive showing of the year scoring 28 points against MSU.
 
FIRST CATCH
Sophomore wide receiver Charles Barnes III made his first collegiate catch a memorable one. Barnes caught a 41 yard touchdown pass against Morgan State.

REUNION
SSU's Roddree Hardwick and CSU's Johnny Robinson both went to Apopka High School.
 
SHORT TRIP
SSU will take their shortest road trip of the season. It is 107.4 miles from Savannah to Charleston.
 
SSU-CSU CONNECTION
SSU wide receiver Geonte Smith and CSU coach Zane Vance were at New Mexico State where Smith was a player and Vance was a member of the coaching staff.
 
LOOKING BACK
25 years ago, the 1992 Tiger team became the first and only Savannah State football squad to play in the post season.
 
LOOKING BACK
50 years ago, the 1967 Tiger team won the Southeastern Athletic Conference title with a record of 6-2-1
 
IN DAD'S FOOTSTEPS
Senior defensive back Kalin Lovett is the son of Neely Lovett, a former SSU defensive back who played for the Tigers from 1991-94.
 
WELCOME TO THE MARSH
Glenn Davis joins the coaching staff this season and will be in charge of the corner backs. Davis comes to SSU from Northern Michigan where he coached the defensive backs.

BROTHERLY LOVE
Keynnard and William Campbell are the only set of brothers on the team. Keynnard is a senior running back while William is a junior defensive back.
 
WHERE'S THE BEEF
SSU recruited six offensive linemen during the off season. The newcomers average 6-foot-4 and 298 pounds.
 
MOVING BACK DOWN
In April 2017, the Savannah State administration made the decision to move SSU athletics from Division I to Division II.
 
 BIRTHDAY WISHES
Running back Keynnard Campbell was born Oct. 16 and tight end Paris Baker was born Oct. 21.
 
SSU GOING DIVISION I
Savannah State University made the decision to move from Division II to Division I in 1998, while opting to leave the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference and become independent of conference affiliation. SSU played their first season as a Division I institution in 2002.
 
ABOUT THE MEAC
The Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference, a NCAA Division I Conference, is in its 45th year of operation heading into the 2015-16 academic school year. The MEAC is made up of 13 outstanding, historically black institutions across the Atlantic coastline: Bethune-Cookman University, Coppin State University, Delaware State University, Florida A&M University, Hampton University, Howard University, University of Maryland Eastern Shore, Morgan State University, Norfolk State University, North Carolina A&T State University, North Carolina Central University, Savannah State University, and South Carolina State University.

LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION
The SSU roster is made up of players from 12 states (Georgia, Florida, Colorado, Indiana, California, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, New Jersey, Texas, Ohio, Maryland and Connecticut.
 
PRESEASON HONORS
Two SSU players received preseason honors from the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference. Linebacker Mulik Simmons and lineman Stefan Banks were both named to the third team defense.
 
THE SIZE OF IT
Freshman offensive lineman Michael Johnson is the largest player on the squad at 330 pounds while wide receiver Monroe Thorton is the smallest at 5-foot-6 and 140 pounds. Johnson along with wide receivers Steve Hagan and Deric Wright are all listed  at 6-foot-7.