Football | 9/27/2018 6:22:00 PM

GAME CENTRAL

Savannah State Tigers I Game Notes: Click Here
(0-3, 0-1 MEAC)
vs.
Bethune-Cookman Wildcats I Game Notes: Click Here
(1-3, 0-1 MEAC)

Theodore A. Wright Stadium
(Savannah, Ga. 6 p.m.)

Savannah, Ga. -- The Savannah State Tigers and the Bethune-Cookman Wildcats look for their first conference wins of the season. Both teams enter the game with 0-1 MEAC records. The Wildcats have one nonconference win, while the Tigers are still looking for their first win of the season.

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The Series:  39-9-2

Tiger Bites

- SSU is 2-5 in conference openers since joining the MEAC in 2011. The Tigers defeated NCCU (33-30) in their inaugural MEAC season and Bethune-Cookman in the 2016 MEAC opener.

 - SSU's last win over B-CU came on the Wildcats last visit to the marsh in 2016. The Tigers defeated Bethune-Cookman 16-10 in an overtime thriller at Theodore Wright Stadium.

- Bethune-Cookman leads the all-time series over SSU, 39-9-2. The Tigers have nine wins over the Wildcats along with two ties. SSU has defeated the Wildcats once in seven tries since entering the MEAC.
 
COOKMAN CONNECTION
SSU interim AD Opio Mashariki is a Bethune-Cookman alumnus and former sports information director. Current SSU men's basketball coach Horace Browdnax is a former basketball coach at B-CU.
 
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, but bounced back to go 12-1 in his fourth season and earned another trip to the Division III playoffs. SSU went 3-7 in Raeburn's first season with the Tigers and 3-8 a year ago so there is optimism in the air on the marsh.

COOKMAN CONNECTION II
Bethune-Cookman Senior Associate AD Robert O'Neal, B-CU's Assistant AD for Student Athlete Services/Compliance Jarrad Ratliff and wildcat Track Coach Donald Cooper are all former SSU employees. O'Neal is a former SSU athletic director, Ratliff worked as the Tigers' assistant athletic director for compliance and Cooper was an assistant track coach at SSU.
 
EARLY SUCCESS
Despite being 0-3 and having faced two FBS opponents, SSU has only been outscored 14-7 in the first quarter.
 
FAREWLL
SSU said goodbye to athletic director Sterling Steward on Sept. 28. Steward, who spent seven years at SSU, has been hired as the new AD at Alaska Fairbanks.
 
BIRTHDAY WISHES
Wide receiver James Kicklighter was born September 27.
 
COMMON OPPONENTS
SSU and Bethune-Cookman have five common opponents: North Carolina A&T, South Carolina State, Morgan State, Howard and Florida A&M.
 
SACK 'EM
Freshman defensive lineman Cam Brown got his first two sacks of his collegiate career against FAMU.
 
200 CLUB
Stefen Banks needs 14 tackles to reach 200 for his career.
 
PRO TIES
Defensive line coach Tom Sims, safeties coach Paul Humphries and corner back coach Glenn Davis all played professional football. Sims played defensive line in the NFL with the Kansas City Chiefs, Indianapolis Colts and Minnesota Vikings. Humphries played for a pair of seasons in 1997 and 1999 in the Canadian Football League for the British Columbia Lions and Toronto Argonauts. Davis played with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers of the CFL and three years of arena football with the Orlando Predators, the Carolina Cobras and the Wilkes-Barre Pioneers.
 
HOME GROWN- Seven members of the team hail from Savannah and come from six different of the local high schools (New Hampstead, Islands, Bible Baptist, Johnson, Windsor Forest and Jenkins).
 
THE SIZE OF IT- Sophomore 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 tight end Steve Hagan are both listed  at 6-foot-7.
 
THE SIZE OF IT
Sophomore 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 tight end Steve Hagan are both listed  at 6-foot-7.
 
MOVING BACK TO D-II
In April 2017, the Savannah State administration made the decision to move SSU athletics from Division I to Division II. SSU began the two-year transitional period in July of 2018. This is the final season the Tigers will play as members of the MEAC.