Savannah State hoping to tame the Howard Bison, for once

SAVANNAH, Georgia -- You’ve heard of misdirection running plays? Howard University comes to T.A. Wright Stadium today with a misdirection record.

The Savannah State Tigers have bitten on the bait before — most recently a year ago.

“I’m sure (the Tigers) felt last year like ‘Hey, Howard hasn’t won a game, we can beat these guys,’ and then they got beat by 46 points,” said SSU’s first-head football head coach Erik Raeburn.

So the Tigers’ 2 p.m. game today with the deceptive Bison comes with all the trappings. First, it’s Savannah State’s homecoming. And Howard’s coming to the party with a 1-7 record.

SSU hasn’t been a pillar of success in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference, but the Bison, despite just one winning season since the Tigers began play in the league in 2011, have captured the five meetings between the teams by an average of more than 34 points a game.

Last year, Howard beat SSU 55-9 for its only win of the season. In 2011, the Bison came to Savannah with a 29-game conference losing streak — they hadn’t won a MEAC game since 2007 — and beat the Tigers 34-14.

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