Albany State looks to correct mistakes against Benedict

ALBANY — The Albany State Rams try to get back on track this week after an uncharacteristically bad game against Clark Atlanta last Saturday.

The Rams fell to the Panthers 44-36, snapping a 15-game winning streak against Clark dating back to 2001.

Albany State racked up a season-high 14 penalties for 115 yards. ASU head coach Gabe Giardina said he’s confident this week’s film session will rectify that issue.

“We just had a couple things go against us,” he said. “We had two targeting penalties, a couple roughing the passers, things like that. You review the tape, but we still gotta play hard and with reckless abandon, we just gotta play a little smarter.”

The defense gave up a season-high 445 yards on 79 plays. Defensive coordinator Cory Peoples said they were off their game and never able to recover.

“We didn’t play ‘Dirty Blue’ traditional defense that we expect here, and it was one of those days where if it could happen, it happened,” Peoples said. “Give CAU credit, they made some amazing plays, be we didn’t play our best brand of ‘Dirty Blue Defense’ and that falls on us and that falls on me as a defensive coordinator to get them in line and get them in check.”

He added that the effort and fundamentals were there, but the Rams had a few missteps that hurt them.

“We actually tackled well, they just had rhythm and they made plays and we had some missed assignments. We had some things that at the end of the day, as a coaching staff I’m (putting) it on me to put those guys in a better position.”

The Rams also allowed the Panthers to convert 10-of-18 third downs and go 4-for-4 in the red zone. Peoples said losing corners Nick Scott and Anfernee Simmons to targeting calls earlier in the game compounded their defensive woes.

“We lost two of our better players to targeting; they didn’t play the second half,” Peoples said. “So we broke down on some communication calls right there in the red zone that hurt us. It’s no excuse, the backups gotta be ready to play, but we had some missed assignments, more than just guys not doing what they were supposed to do. With guys that don’t normally play as much, we just gotta make sure they’re locked in and ready to play.”

This week, former ASU head coach Mike White and his 5-2 Benedict Tigers come to town for another tough matchup.

The Tigers boast a stout defense that recorded 21 sacks in the first five games of the season. As of Oct. 13, the Tigers had made 61 tackles causing a loss of 271 yards. Leading the charge on that defensive unit is defensive back Edward Kirkland, who is the reigning SIAC Defensive Player of the Week. He made seven tackles in the Tigers’ 29-26 double overtime win over Morehouse last week.

Giardina said his offense was able to get off to a better start last week, something he has been stressing throughout the season, but this week they need to sustain that effort for four quarters, particularly from the o-line.

“Benedict is massive up front. I think their nose guard is like 370 pounds, something like that. They’ve got three guys over three bills (300 pounds) to start, and they got a bunch of guys that they rotate in there that are just massive,” he said. “So we gotta do a good job of playing with a great pad level. We’ve got to be able to control the line of scrimmage and hopefully put our guys in some good situations where they got some angles on some guys, and we just gotta play hard.”

Saturday’s 2 p.m. matchup at the Coliseum will serve as ASU’s Senior Day, as well as Military Appreciation Day.