BOXTOROW National Game of the Week
Albany State (0-1, 0-0) vs. Tuskegee (1-0, 0-0)
Whitewater Classic, Phenix, AL
The 3rd annual Whitewater Classic played in Phenix City, Ala. featuring the matchup between Albany State and Tuskegee, could be a preview of the SIAC championship. After all, the teams combined have played in all five SIAC championship games, with the teams playing each other just once. Over the last 14 seasons, Miles is the only other team to win the SIAC championship. Tuskegee has seven titles over that time and Albany State six.
Tuskegee has won the last four meetings between the two and is coming off an opening season 36-13 victory at Clark-Atlanta. Tuskegee racked up 347 yards of total offense and limited CAU to 287 yards.
Meanwhile, Albany State opened the season with a 16-7 loss at Valdosta State, a team that made it to the Division II national playoffs in 2015. The Golden Rams defense held Valdosta State to 201 yards of offense, but turned the ball over four times in the game.
The Golden Tigers’ offense is led by senior quarterback Kevin Lacey, who was a perfect 8-for-8 for 179 yards with a touchdown and no interceptions. He also rushed for another touchdown. TU rushed for 133 yards and was led by Jayierien Craig who had eight carries for 61 yards.
The issue with the Golden Tigers offense in the victory over CAU is that they only ran 50 plays and had relatively good field position throughout the game. On a positive note, TU had the ball on its eight and 13 yardlines and put together 11 and 10-play drives, respectively to score touchdowns.
Perennially, Albany State has had top ranked defenses and it showed against Valdosta State. Not only did the Golden Rams hold the Blazers to 201 yards, they only allowed 67 yards on the ground. Preseason All-SIAC defensive lineman Grover Stewart had two sacks against Valdosta State.
ASU’s offense managed 377 yards of total offense against Valdosta with 220 yards coming on the ground. The Blazers limited SIAC Preseason Offensive Player of the Year running back Jarvis Smalls to just 19 yards on seven carries. Quarterback Caleb Edmonds had a successful day running the football, carrying the ball 18 times for 156 yards and a touchdown. But he threw four interceptions including twice deep in Blazer territory as the Golden Rams were putting together nice drives.
The Tuskegee defense is led by linebacker junior linebacker Osband Thompson who had 16 tackles (eight solo) and 3.5 tackles for loss and defensive end Julian Morgan, the SIAC Preseason Defensive Player of the Year who had three tackles and two sacks against Clark-Atlanta.
The Golden Tigers won last year’s matchup 27-14.
Unlike the previous Whitewater Classic, Saturday’s matchup will be a conference game.