Football | 11/1/2017 5:10:00 PM

GAME CENTRAL

GAME CENTRAL

Savannah State Tigers I Game Notes: Click Here
(1-7, 1-4 MEAC)
Vs.
Delaware St. Hornets I Game Notes: Click Here
(1-7, 1-5 MEAC)

Theodore A. Wright Stadium
(Savannah, Georgia, 5 p.m.)

Savannah, Ga. -- The Savannah State Football team returns home after three-straight road games to face the Delaware State Hornets, Saturday at 5 p.m. The Tigers haven't faced DSU since 2014 with DSU leading the series 4-0 since 2001.

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The Series: Delaware St. leads the series, 4-0.

Tiger Bites

- The Tigers will need to win two out of its last three games in order to match last season's three wins. SSU will need to win all three to surpass it.

- SSU is still looking for its first home win of 2017. The Tigers went 3-1 at home last season.

- SSU is currently ranked 3rd in the MEAC and 18th nationally in punt returns; and  5th in the MEAC and 53rd nationally in turnover margin.
 
COMMON OPPONENTS
SSU and Delaware State have five common opponents on their 2017 schedule: Norfolk State, South Carolina State, 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.

CAREER DAY
Jaylen McCloud ran for a career-high 132 yards against Norfolk State and JaMichael Baldwin caught a career-high four passes.

SEEKING 100
Defensive back Donald Rutledge has 59 tackles and needs 41 more to reach 100 for the season.

SEEKING 1,000
D'Vonn Gibbons has passed for 693 yards and needs 307 more to reach 1,000

CATCHING ON
Derek Kirkland has 21 receptions this season. He needs six more to match his total from last season (27).

ANOTHER W
With SSU's win over Norfolk State, Erik Raeburn passed Theo Lemon on the SSU coaching list for wins. Lemon, who coached the Tigers for two seasons (2006 & '07) had three wins. Raeburn now has four wins as a SSU head coach. Steve Wilkes had five wins in his only season as the Tigers coach in 1999.

DEFENSIVE EFFORT
SSU's had their best defensive effort of the season, limiting Norfolk State to just nine points. The last time SSU held an opponent under ten points was in 2008. The Tigers defeated Concordia-Selma 23-7 and Webber International 24-7.

REUNION
SSU defensive back Antonio Spooney and DSU quarterback River Walker were teammates at Mandarin HS in Jacksonville, FL; SSU quarterback D'Vonn Gibbons and DSU kicker Wisdom Nzidee both went to Stephenson HS.

SSU-DSU CONNECTION
SSU defensive backs coach Glenn Davis and DSU head coach Kenny Carter were both assistants at Youngstown State in 2014.

IN MOURNING
Former SSU band director Alzie Walker II died last weekend. Walker was he SSU band director from 2001-06.
 
THE STREAK IS OVER
SSU's win over Norfolk State was their first road win since beating North Carolina Central in 2011, a span of 40 games.
 
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 Cedric Cole and offensive lineman David Cooper were born Nov. 1
 
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.