Football | 11/8/2017 4:53:00 PM

GAME CENTRAL

GAME CENTRAL

Savannah State Tigers I Game Notes: Click Here
(2-7, 2-4 MEAC)
at
N.C. A&T Aggies I Game Notes: Click Here
(9-0, 6-0 MEAC)

Saturday, November 11, 2017
Greensboro, N.C.
Aggie Stadium
1 p.m. 

Savannah, Ga. -- The Savannah State football team travels to Greensboro, N.C. for it final road game of the season against top ranked N. C. A&T Saturday at 1 p.m. This is the first meeting between the two programs since 2014. N.C. A&T leads the series 2-0.

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The Series: North Carolina A&T leads the series, 2-0 

Tiger Bites

- The Tigers earned their first road win since 2011 after defeating Norfolk St. two weeks ago. SSU has not had two-road wins in a season since 2008 when the Tigers were Independent.

- SSU is currently ranked 2nd in the MEAC and 13th nationally in punt returns; and  4th in the MEAC and 61st nationally in kickoff returns.
 
COMMON OPPONENTS
SSU and North Carolina A&T have six common opponents on their 2017 schedule: Bethune-Cookman, Norfolk State, South Carolina State, Florida A&M, 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-A&T CONNECTION
N.C. A&T softball coach Kenya Peters spent two years as an assistant coach at SSU. A&T softball grad assistant Megan Uhrman played softball at SSU (2011-14).

PROVIDING PROTECTION
For the first time since 2012 against North Carolina Central, the offensive line went a game without giving up a sack last week against Delaware St.

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 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.

DEFENSIVE EFFORT
SSU's defense had a season-best eight sacks and four interceptions against Delaware State. The eight sacks is second most in the SSU single-game record books. The most was nine in 1999.

REUNION
SSU's Chidi Onwuzuruoha and A&T's Troy Scott both went to McEachern HS; SSU's Miles Kelly and A&T's Jalon Bethea went to Hillside HS in Durham, NC; and SSU's JaMichael Baldwin and A&T's Julian McKnight went to Rockdale County HS.

A DAY FOR FIRST
Against Delaware State, JaMichael Baldwin and Elijah Shah both scored their first collegiate touchdowns while Savannah native Mekhi Cooper had his first career interception.

SEEKING 100
Defensive back Donald Rutledge has 64 tackles and needs 36 more to reach 100 for the season.

SEEKING 1,000
D'Vonn Gibbons has passed for 855 yards and needs 145 more to reach 1,000.

PLAYER OF THE WEEK
JaMichael Baldwin was named MEAC Specialist of the Week for his play against Delaware State. Baldwin had 235 all-purpose yards and scored on a 70-yard kickoff return.
 
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
Tight end Stavion Stevenson was born Nov. 8.
 
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 Thornton 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.