Football | 10/19/2017 8:50:00 AM

SAVANNAH, Ga. – Ask Erik Raeburn about Charleston Southern's football team and Savannah State's second-year head coach immediately removes the Buccaneers' 49-0 loss at Mississippi State from consideration. He also eliminates Charleston Southern's 27-0 setback at Indiana from the discussion.

"If you take out their two FBS games they've played against Indiana and Mississippi State, they've given up 26 points all season," said Raeburn, whose Tigers (0-6) will play the Buccaneers (3-3) at 6 p.m. Saturday in Charleston, S.C. "They've got a dominant defense so it'll be a challenge for us, whether we're talking about running it or passing it."

The non-conference game at Buccaneer Field will be televised on the Big South Network. It will be radio-broadcast on WHCJ 90.3 FM and on SSU Internet (SSUAthletics.com).
Charleston Southern, using primarily an option offense, averages 200 yards rushing per game. SSU allows 217 yards rushing per game.

"We have not faced a team like them," Raeburn said. "Most of the teams we've played have been more of a spread offense. That's probably true of college football in general. We've played some teams that will run an option play here or there but this will be the first true option team we've played all season."

SSU is coming off a 48-28 loss to Morgan State last Saturday in Baltimore, Md. The Tigers are searching for their first road victory since Sept. 24, 2011.

Charleston Southern is 6-0 in the series against SSU. The teams played for consecutive years from 2005-09 but have not met since 2009, when CSU beat SSU, 47-10. The Buccaneers are coming off a 7-0 victory at Presbyterian last Saturday.

"They're an option team so most of their passes are play-action plays off of the different option looks," Raeburn said. "We have not played good run defense, other than the Hampton game, so this will be a difficult matchup for us from a defensive standpoint. We're going to have to play a lot better run defense than we did last week if we're going to have a chance."

TAKING A BREAK FROM MEAC PLAY
Of SSU's four Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference losses, three were close games. The Tigers fell, 20-14, to Florida A&M. The following week, SSU lost, 24-12, at Bethune-Cookman. SSU then lost, 17-10, to Hampton. The Tigers' 48-28 loss at Morgan State was the only game that got out of reach.

"We're disappointed with our first four conference games," Raeburn said. "We had chances to win them. We felt like we could get in there and compete with all four of those teams so to lose all four of them has been frustrating. Hopefully, this gives us a chance to regroup before we move into the last four (MEAC games)."

SSU will wrap up the second half of its season at Norfolk State (Oct. 28), at home against Delaware State (Nov. 4), at North Carolina A&T (Nov. 11), and at home against South Carolina State (Nov. 18).

GIBBONS, HANDLER COMING OFF CAREER PERFORMANCES
SSU's D'Vonn Gibbons, a 6-foot-2, 205-pound freshman from Stone Mountain, will make his fifth collegiate start at quarterback against Charleston Southern, Raeburn said.
Gibbons is coming off a career-best performance against Morgan State, passing for 160 yards and two touchdowns. He threw one interception.

Backup quarterback David Handler, a 6-foot-5, 240-pound junior from Culver City, Calif., also had a career-best performance against Morgan State, throwing for 151 yards and two touchdowns without an interception.

"We'll play them both," Raeburn said. "Both of them have done some good things and we feel like they've both earned the right to get to play. If one of them gets a hot hand and is just playing dynamic then we'll go with that guy. We'll rotate them but Gibbons will take the first series.

"We're going to make sure David gets in the game early as well," Raeburn continued. "If one of them is playing fantastic, we'll get rid of the rotation and roll with that guy. If they both play like they did last week, we'll keep rotating them throughout the game."

SSU's offense scored 28 points against Morgan State, the Tigers' best production this season.

"I thought they both threw the ball well," Raeburn said of Gibbons and Handler, who were sacked a combined seven times for minus-45 yards. "What doesn't show up on the stat sheet is the pressure. Morgan State was getting pretty good pressure on us in the pass game so that made what they did, from a passing standpoint, more impressive to me.

"The last several weeks, teams are putting eight, nine guys in the box, just daring us to throw it," Raeburn continued. "We haven't thrown the ball particularly well leading up to this past week. If that's the case this week, we'll have to try to throw it more often. We'd like to have balance but we just could not run the football this past weekend at all."

BARNES' FIRST CAREER CATCH WAS FOR A TOUCHDOWN
SSU wide receiver Charles Barnes III, a 6-foot-3, 180-pound sophomore from Boca Raton, Fla., turned his first collegiate catch into a 41-yard touchdown against Morgan State.

"He's got really good ball skills," Raeburn said. "He's been playing all season. He's done a really good job on special teams. He's played some at receiver as well. But he has played a ton of snaps on special teams, and he's really helping us in that regard. Saturday, he had the opportunity at receiver and made the most of it. Big, tall guy. Real good ball skills. He was able to go up and get the ball, and then ran the last 10 or 15 yards for the touchdown."

CHARLESTON SOUTHERN OUTLOOK
Quarterback Shane Bucenell, a 5-foot-11, 190-pound redshirt sophomore from Wesley Chapel, Fla., is 33-of-67 passing (49.3 percent) for 525 yards and four touchdowns. He has thrown two interceptions. Bucenell has run 47 times for 81 yards.

"Our defense is going to have to play really assignment-sound football," Raeburn said. "Everybody is going to have to be in their gap. You get a little too aggressive and pursue a little too hard, you're going to give up a big play. You're not aggressive enough and get cut off in your gap, you're going to give up a big play. Everybody has to be really disciplined to have success against them."

Running back Noah Shuler, a 5-foot-7, 215-pound redshirt junior from Goose Creek, S.C., has run 62 times for a team-high 281 yards and five touchdowns. Running back Ronnie Harris, a 5-foot-10, 205-pound redshirt sophomore from Richmond Hill, Ga., has run 44 times for 234 yards and a touchdown.

Wide receiver Kameron Brown, a 6-foot-3, 200-pound redshirt sophomore from Beech Island, S.C., has made a team-high 11 catches for 236 yards and two touchdowns.
Linebacker J.D. Sosebee, a 6-foot-1, 220-pound redshirt sophomore from Gainesville, Ga., has made a team-high 43 tackles, including 3.5 for loss, to go with a forced fumble and fumble recovery. Defensive back Demetri Royer, a 6-foot, 195-pound redshirt freshman from Clearwater, Fla., has 40 tackles and two pass breakups.