Albany State looking to pick up steam in SIAC

ALBANY — The Albany State Rams have reached the midway point in their season and are hopeful that the growing pains are over.

The Rams will face SIAC opponents the remainder of the regular season with the goal of returning to the conference title game. With just one win, the Rams need to pick up steam and in a hurry.

They travel to Fairfield, Ala. to take on the Miles College today at 4 p.m. and will try to avenge a brutal 40-0 beating suffered last week at the hands of Delta State, a game which left a bad taste in head coach Dan Land’s mouth.

“It really wasn’t a fair game,” he said. “And why I say it wasn’t a fair game is because we had a lot of bad calls. The bad calls really didn’t decide the outcome of the game, but at the same time, it frustrated the coaches and the players when it comes down to seeing the way officials treat your players.”

Land said there were several times when officials turned a blind eye to his players getting hit and clipped after the whistle, but the officials were quick to hand out punishment on an Albany State infraction.

Regardless of officiating, Land said his squad was inconsistent and overall “didn’t play the way we needed to play.”

The Rams still found themselves in a hole early and not even sophomore safety Nick Scott’s career-high 12 1/2 tackles or Caleb Edmonds’ 213 passing yards could help them overcome.

They’ll take on a Miles team that is also 1-3. The Bears got a gritty 13-10 victory over Morehouse last week for their lone victory of the year.

Miles’ defense recorded seven sacks and forced four turnovers in the contest. Land said he expects tough defense from the Golden Bears with a good bit of blitzing. Having faced heavy hitters such as Valdosta State and Delta State from the Gulf South Conference, Land is confident that his offense will be ready.

“I think in the last four games, we’ve basically seen all of the defenses that we’re gonna face,” he said. “We’ve basically seen them all. We’ve just got to focus on the one that they do the most which is 4-3. They don’t blitz a whole lot, but they blitz enough. Most teams, what they wanna do with us is blitz us because of our running game. They wanna keep eight in the box to stop Jarvis (Small).”

Small is coming off a season-low 65-yard rushing yard performance. Land said they’ve been working this week to ensure they’ll be able to attack from all angles.