Football | 11/17/2017 10:46:00 AM

GAME CENTRAL

GAME CENTRAL

Savannah State Tigers I Game Notes: Click Here
(2-8, 2-5 MEAC)
Vs.
S.C. State Bulldogs I Game Notes: Click Here
(3-6, 2-5 MEAC)

Theodore A. Wright Stadium
(Savannah, Georgia, 1 p.m.)

Savannah, Ga. -- The Savannah State football team will play its season finale at home  and honor 23 seniors in Theodore A. Wright Stadium when they take the S.C. State Bulldogs on Saturday at 1 p.m.

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The Series:  S.C. State leads the series, 18-1.

Tiger Bites

- The Tigers look to  finish the season with three wins for the second consecutive year. SSU ended last season with a 3-7 record. With two wins, a win  on Saturday will equal last seasons win total.

- SSU is currently ranked 2nd in the MEAC and 13th nationally in punt returns; and  4th in the MEAC and 71st nationally in kickoff returns.
 
COMMON OPPONENTS
SSU and South Carolina State have six common opponents on their 2017 schedule: Bethune-Cookman, Hampton, North Carolina A&T, Charleston Southern, Delaware State 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.
 
 SSU-SCSU CONNECTION
William "Bill" Davis served as head coach at Savannah State and South Carolina State. SSU track coach Ted Whitaker is a graduate of SCSU.
 
CATCHING ON
Derek Kirkland has 23 receptions this season. He needs four more to match his total from last season (27).
 
ANOTHER W
With SSU's win over Delaware State, Erik Raeburn tied Steve Wilkes on the SSU coaching list for having five wins. Steve Wilkes had five wins in his only season as the Tigers coach in 1999.
 
GETTING DEFENSIVE
Stefen Banks has seven sacks. He needs a half sack to match his total from last year (7.5)
 
SEEKING 100
Defensive back Donald Rutledge has 76 tackles and needs 24 more to reach 100 for the season.
 
SEEKING 1,000
D'Vonn Gibbons has passed for 992 yards and needs 8 more to reach 1,000.
 
LAST GAME
This is the last game in a SSU uniform for 23 seniors: David Crowley, Derek Kirkland, Brandon Bailey, Cameron White, Kalin Lovett, Tino Smith II, Edward Goubadia, Keynnard Campbell Jr., Johvonte Singleton, Juwuan Tolbert, Nicholas Bentley, Traynearious Dillard, Mulik Simmons, Warren Sweet Jr, Deandre Vickers, Quaron Hilliard, Ellison Burns III, Chidi Onwuzuruoha, Rohan Francis Jr, AnquaviusFuller, Rodheem Green, Darien Coulter, and Christopher Johnson.
 
THE STREAK IS OVER
SSU's win over Norfolk State was its 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
Defensive lineman Aaron Robinson was born Nov. 12 and long snapper Deundra Kelsey was born Nov. 19
 
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 47th year of operation heading into the 2017-18 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.