Savannah State football program makes big strides in 2016

SAVANNAH, Georgia -- Erik Raeburn barely had time to process the consequences. Cantrell Frazier scored an overtime, game-winning touchdown against Bethune-Cookman and the Savannah State Tigers began celebrating.

And suddenly, the Tigers baffled first-year coach was wearing the contents of a Gatorade bucket.

“I’m thinking I must be the only coach in America with a 1-2 record getting Gatorade dumped on him,” said Raeburn about the first of three SSU victories this football season.

It doesn’t sound like much, particularly to a former player and assistant coach who began his career at Division III powerhouse Mount Union, but a three-win season represented the number of victories the Tigers had in the previous four seasons combined.

For Savannah State fans, 3-7 wasn’t just Gatorade-bath worthy, it signaled a possible renaissance of a football program for years wallowed in an undercurrent of defeat.

And Raeburn, who had been a part of four national championships and a 54-game winning streak at Mount Union, learned a little something too.

CONTINUE READING