Albany State returns home to face Lincoln University of Missouri

ALBANY — The Albany State Rams are back above .500 on the season and are in good spirits heading into Saturday’s 2 p.m. home game against Lincoln University of Missouri.

A convincing 34-9 road win over Miles College put the Rams at 3-2 on the season and 2-0 in SIAC play. Albany State head coach Gabe Giardina said his team did a great job of bouncing back after a two-game skid and seems to have gotten its swagger back.

“I just think we got back to being ourselves,” he said. “We just took a step back and told our guys, ‘Look, relax. Calm down, play. Don’t try to do too much.’”

He added that the Rams were able to win the game by winning the battle at the line of scrimmage.

“I think we did a good on the offensive and defensive line,” he said. “I think we controlled the game up front, and I think anytime you can do that you’re going to have a really good chance at winning.”

For the third time the season, the Rams have a player named SIAC Player of the Week. After his 184-yard, three-touchdown performance against Miles, running back McKinley Habersham was named the conference’s offensive player of the week.

Lincoln (1-3) is coming off of a bye week, with its last game being a 41-14 loss to Truman State two weeks ago. Lincoln comes into the game averaging 20 points per game on 302.8 total yards of offense.

Defensively, Giardina described the Blue Tigers as very stingy. They’ve given up just 24.3 points per game on 243 total yards of offense. Giardina said the Blue Tigers defense takes care of business on third downs to ensure they get off the field quickly.

ASU offensive coordinator Newland Isaac said the key will be to wear the Lincoln defense down.

“We have to win the third downs,” Isaac said. “They do a lot of different stuff as far as fronts. They show you a bunch of different looks, so we just gotta make sure we’re all on the same page as far as O-line seeing and identifying what they’re supposed to be in and completing third downs and just executing.”

ASU is averaging 25.2 points on 375.2 total yards of offense while giving up 22.2 points and 316.8 total yards.

The contest also marks the return of former ASU offensive coordinator Steve Smith. Smith is now the head coach at Lincoln, and his coaching staff features four other former ASU players and coaches.

Giardina said the familiarity Smith has with the players will make the matchup an interesting one in which staying focused on the game plan will be key.

“I think we gotta execute well and just play to our character,” he said. “Against West Georgia, we just didn’t execute and played a little nervous. I think we’ve just got to play within ourselves and not try to do too much.”