Benedict Hits The Road To Face High-Powered Central State

After a 31-19 loss to Division I University of Dayton to open the season, Central State dropped a 20-13 decision to Central State last week in Chicago’s Soldier Field in the 19^th annual Chicago Football Classic. CSU totaled 453 yards of total offense compared to CAU’s 348, but costly turnovers and errors in execution kept the Marauders from scoring throughout the afternoon. The Marauders turned the ball over three times and were 0-for-4 in fourth down conversion attempts. Through the first two games, Central State leads the SIAC in total offense, averaging 409 yards of offense per game, good for 59^thoverall in Division II. CSU quarterback Lavon Meeks leads the SIAC in passing yards while Marquis Wells is the top SIAC receiver after back-to-back games of 100+ receiving yards. Senior running back De’Michael Jackson rushed for 156 yards last week and ranks second in the conference in rushing yards.

“They look very potent on offense. They’re throwing the ball well, running the ball well, and their quarterback is scrambling and making big plays with his feet,” White said. “They’re a tough offense and we’ve got our work cut out for us. I think that’s going to be key to the game, how well we can hold them down and keep him from making big plays.”

The Tigers, 1-1, have proven to have a much improved defense through the first two games. Benedict is allowing just 50 yards rushing per game, best in the SIAC and ninth best in Division II. The 221.5 yards of total defense also leads the SIAC and is 10^thin Division II. Linebacker Kendrick Frazier leads the SIAC and is seventh nationally in interceptions. He leads the team in total tackles with 12, tied with safety Edward Kirkland.

The struggle for the Tigers has been on the offensive side. Through the first two games, the Tigers have managed just one rushing and one passing touchdown. Benedict did show improvement in the running game last week, churning out 120 yards, getting 55 yards on 12 carries from Jeremy Johnson, the Tigers’ big, bruising back, while freshman quarterback Phillip Brown gained 52 yards on the ground.

White said it will be important for the Tigers to have success running the ball against the Marauders, which will help keep the Central State offense off the field. White said Johnson will likely start this week, although Raheem Jennings, who missed last week with an injury, should be ready to go on Saturday. White also said Brown will likely start at quarterback after guiding the offense to a pair of second-half touchdowns last week.

“We’re going to ride with Phillip this week,” White said. “You’re going to see both quarterbacks, but we’ll start out with Phillip. I thought he came in and gave us a good spark last week. We’ll see if we can keep the momentum going with him. We’ll start out with Jeremy at running back and hope we can get Jennings some more carries this week. He’ll be ready to go this week. That’s going to be key for us, can we run the ball against a tough defense. We need both of those guys to be effective, that means the line is doing their job and those guys are making some runs and making some first downs and not ending until the end of the game like last week.”

Benedict had four turnovers – three fumbles and an interception, in last week’s 19-13 loss to Limestone. The Tigers were also penalized 11 times for 145 yards. White said those are two areas where the Tigers need to improve this week.

“The turnovers, the penalties, we’re just too young and not good enough to overcome those things,” White said. “That’s key for us is to cut back on the penalties and definitely cut the turnovers out. You just can’t win football games playing that kind of football. We hope to do a better job and it’s going to be key for our offense to be effective to keep those penalties down and cut those turnovers out.”