Benedict to host Bowie State on national stage in DII game of the week

BOWIE STATE at BENEDICT Watch: Sept. 6 at 8 p.m. ET Stats: Benedict | Bowie State | National

COLUMBIA, S.C. – The Benedict College Tigers will be in the national spotlight on Thursday night, and head football coach James Woody said a packed Charlie W. Johnson Stadium will help the Tigers against a big and fast Bowie State team.

“We're a very young football team, but we're very excited about the opportunity,” Woody said. “With us being home, I really think that's going to give us momentum. We just hope we get everyone out to the game and pack this stadium because our kids feed off that energy. I think we can pack the stands here with everyone very excited and we'll feed off the crowd and get some energy.”

Thursday night's game will be part of CBS Sports Network's Division II Game of the Week package. This is the seventh season CBS Sports Network has broadcast NCAA Division II regular-season games. Two years ago, the Tigers had a basketball game on CBS Sports Network.

CBS Sports Network is available across the country through local cable, video and telco providers on Verizon FiOS channel 94 and AT&T U-Verse channel 643 (1643 in HD) and via satellite on DirecTV Channel 613 and Dish Network Channel 158. In Columbia, the channel is available on Time Warner Cable channel 537 (1537 in HD) or Sky Angel channel 323. It is also carried on Benedict College's on-campus cable channel 32.

A video stream will also be available at ncaa.com.

Thursday night's game will also be available on a national radio broadcast, as Heritage Sports Radio Network will broadcast the game. HSRN is available on SiriusXM channel 128 as well as streamed over the Internet at www.hsrn.com.
The Benedict athletic department has been blanketing the Columbia area with tickets, providing free tickets to school children and everyone 17 and under.

The Tigers will be looking to rebound from Saturday's season-opening 28-7 loss to Virginia Union. Despite the final score, Woody said after studying the film, he was encouraged with several aspects of the team.

“Overall, I thought we played well,” Woody said. “The defense played extremely well. Offensively, we didn't sustain some drives. We've got to get better on third-down conversions. That really, really hurt us.”

Benedict converted on five of 17 attempts on third down, while holding the VUU Panthers to 1-for-18. But the Panthers did convert on one fourth-down attempt, which resulted in a touchdown.

The Benedict offense struggled at times. Freshman quarterback Marcus Graham was 12-for-25 for 119 yards and one interception. Chris Thomas came in and sparked the team to its only touchdown, and was 4-for-9 for 67 yards. Woody said the quarterback job is still up for grabs.

“Right now, Marcus is still our starter. Hopefully he can put this thing together,” Woody said. “Chris is coming along real, real strong. I have confidence in both of those guys playing, and, hopefully, after that they will be able to separate themselves. Right now, they're not able to separate themselves, they're so inconsistent.

“But that job is still up for grabs, so we'll see what happens after these next couple of practices.”

Woody said another key for Thursday night will be to hang on to the football. The Tigers had three turnovers against Virginia Union, including fumbling the second-half opening kickoff when they trailed just 12-7.

The Bulldogs come into the game riding a lot of momentum. Bowie State rallied from a 14-point deficit, including scoring the winning touchdown with just five seconds left in the game for a 24-20 victory over Assumption. Assumption went ahead with 33 seconds left, but Bowie State moved the ball 65 yards in just 28 seconds for the winning score.

Bowie State quarterback Jared Johnston threw for 274 yards and three touchdowns. Receiver Douglas McNeil III had seven catches for 144 yards.

Running back Keith Brown was All-CIAA last year as a freshman, but was held to just 23 yards against Assumption. The Bulldogs sport a front line that averages 300 pounds.

“I know they're a good football team, a very talented team,” Woody said. “They have great speed, great size. It's going to be a challenge for us, but we look forward to it.”

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