Football | 10/25/2017 3:40:00 PM

GAME CENTRAL

GAME CENTRAL

Savannah State Tigers I Game Notes: Click Here
(0-7, 0-4 MEAC)
at
Norfolk State Spartans I Game Notes: Click Here
(3-3, 3-1 MEAC)

Saturday, October 28, 2017
Norfolk, Va.
William "Dick" Price Stadium
2 p.m. 

Savannah, Ga. -- The Savannah State Football team returns to conference play against Norfolk State on Saturday at 2 p.m. It is Norfolk State's Homecoming game and the third consecutive road game  for SSU.

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The Series: Norfolk State leads the series, 10-2 

Tiger Bites

- The Tigers defeated NSU for the second time in school history last year with a convincing  31-14 win over NSU. SSU has not had back-to-back wins over any opponent since defeating Edward Waters in 2009 then again in 2012.

- The Tigers are still looking for their first road win since Sept. 24, 2011.

- SSU is currently ranked 3rd in the MEAC and 20th nationally in punt returns; and  4th in the MEAC and 54th nationally in turnover margin.
 
COMMON OPPONENTS
SSU and Norfolk State have five common opponents on their 2017 schedule: Delaware State, Florida A&M, Hampton, North Carolina A&T and Morgan State.

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.

PICTURE PERFECT
SSU's kickers have made all 12 of their extra point attempts this season.

EASY AS 1,2,3
SSU is ranked number one in the MEAC in kickoff average (44 yards); kicker Giovanni is second in the MEAC in punting (40.1); and SSU is third in punt returns average (11.7 ).

SSU-NSU CONNECTIONS
Norfolk State defensive backs coach Cordell Taylor spent three years (2014-16) as the SSU defensive back coach. Norfolk State senior associate athletic director for administration/SWA Melody Webb is an SSU alumnae. Webb was a three-sport athlete (volleyball, basketball and track) at SSU as well as an All-SIAC performer.

CAREER DAY
D'Vonn Gibbons, Donald Rutledge and Tyqueze Johnson all had career-best efforts against Charleston Southern. Gibbons threw for 162 yards and two touchdowns, Rutledge had 13 tackles and Johnson had 10 tackles.

SEEKING 100
Defensive back Donald Rutledge has 56 tackles and needs 44 more to reach 100 for the season.

SEEKING 1,000
D'Vonn Gibbons has passed for 573 yards and needs 427 more to reach 1,000.

FIRST SCORE
Freshman running back Jaylen McCloud made his first collegiate touchdown against Charleston Southern on a two yard run early in the second quarter.

SECOND QUARTER BLUES
SSU has been out-scored 100-12 in the second quarter this season.
 
BIRTHDAY WISHES
Linebacker David Ervin was born Oct. 24 and running back Chris Scott was born Oct. 25
 
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.

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.
 
 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.