SAVANNAH, Ga. – Savannah State's 35-20 loss to Bethune-Cookman in a Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference game Saturday night boiled down to two things, SSU third-year head coach Erik Raeburn said: the SSU defense's inability to stop the run, and the Tigers' inefficiency passing the ball.

A crowd of 5,018 at T.A. Wright Stadium watched as Bethune-Cookman gained 455 yards of total offense on 84 plays compared to SSU's 225 yards on 49 plays. The Wildcats (2-3 overall, 1-1 MEAC) were led by quarterback Akevious Williams, who threw for 177 yards and a touchdown, and ran for 56 yards and two scores.

The Wildcats ran 54 times for 259 yards compared to SSU's 27 carries for 89 yards. It was a rough home opener for SSU (0-4, 0-2), which played its first of four consecutive home games.

"It's frustrating," Raeburn said. "It's simple. We're not stopping the run on defense. If you can't do that, you're in trouble. Offensively, we're not efficient enough passing the ball so we're getting eight and nine guys at the line of scrimmage every time, and we're not making (opponents) pay for it when they crowd the line of scrimmage. Until we pass the ball better on offense, until we get up there and stop the run on defense, we're going to be in these types of games."

In the first quarter, SSU's JaMichael Baldwin returned a punt 62 yards to B-CU's 9-yard line. Two plays later, quarterback T.J. Bell connected with tight end Paris Baker for an 8-yard touchdown, and Giovanni Lugo kicked the extra point, making it 7-0 with 11:14 left in the first quarter.

Bethune-Cookman answered by producing a 14-play, 68-yard scoring drive. Williams plunged in for a 1-yard touchdown and Uriel Hernandez kicked the first of his five extra points, tying the game at 7 with 5:30 remaining in the first quarter.

The Wildcats took their first lead, 14-7, when wide receiver Keavon Mitchell caught a 25-yard touchdown pass from Williams early in the second quarter.

"We didn't see a lot of stuff that they did (when we watched them) on film," said SSU defensive back John Wilson, who made a game-high 8.5 tackles. "We just have to play our assignments and practice harder. That's about it, really. We missed a lot of tackles tonight. That was a key to the game. Their running backs were breaking a lot of tackles. Their quarterback was running, too. We didn't key on that."

Bethune-Cookman's running back Isaac Washington finished with a game-high 90 yards on 15 carries, and Wildcats running back Tupac Isme gained 62 yards, including a 3-yard touchdown, on 17 carries.

SSU tied the game at 14 with 11:59 left before halftime when quarterback D'Vonn Gibbons connected with wide receiver James Kicklighter for a 28-yard touchdown. The pass was intended for SSU wide receiver Treveyon Pratt but the ball deflected off of Pratt. Kicklighter snared the ball out of the air and scampered into the end zone, capping a six-play, 79-yard scoring drive. Lugo kicked the second of his two extra points.

Bethune-Cookman's Williams struck again, running for a 4-yard touchdown to give the Wildcats a 21-14 lead with 7 seconds remaining before halftime. The11-play drive covered 62 yards and gave the Wildcats momentum heading into halftime.

Bethune-Cookman increased its lead to 28-14 thanks to Isme's 3-yard touchdown run with 11:18 left in the third quarter. The eight-play, 50-yard drive put the Wildcats firmly in control of the outcome.

Late in the third quarter, SSU's Gibbons fumbled when Bethune-Cookman strong safety Kennedy Ndukwe stripped the ball from Gibbons and B-CU defensive lineman Kevin Thompson recovered it at the Tigers' 47-yard line.

Three plays later, the Wildcats extended their lead to 35-14 with 4:36 left in the third quarter when quarterback David Israel threw an 11-yard touchdown pass to Mitchell, his second touchdown catch of the game.

SSU cut it to 35-20 early in the fourth quarter on running back Rashad Saxton's 11-yard touchdown run. Lugo's kick for the extra point failed.

SSU's Saxton finished with a team-high 51 yards on five carries. Gibbons finished 5-of-9 passing for 98 yards, including a touchdown. Bell finished 3-of-13 passing for 38 yards, including a touchdown.

"We're not really frustrated," Gibbons said. "We just have to pick it up. We have to get things going and come together as a group, and then everything should fall into place for us. I wouldn't say something's wrong with us. I would just say we've got to work on some things in order to get clicking. Once we do that, we can be unstoppable."

SSU's defense, in addition to Wilson's game-high 8.5 tackles, was anchored by defensive back Donald Rutledge, who made eight tackles. SSU defensive back Isaiah Bennett intercepted a pass in the third quarter.

SSU will play Charleston Southern (1-2) in a nonconference game at 6 p.m. Saturday at T.A Wright Stadium. Charleston Southern defeated Hampton, 48-14, today in Hampton, Va.