Preview: Miles at Albany State

Preview: Miles at Albany State

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Full Game Notes here

    Teams that win championships the previous year are often targeted the next season by every team on the schedule. Chances are that the Golden Bears will face that scrutiny this week when they travel to take on Albany State. The Golden Bears, the defending Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference champions, defeated the Golden Rams in last season's SIAC Championship game and are looking to build on a 31-7 win last week over Morehouse. Albany State is currently 1-3 after losing an early, slim lead in a 27-23 loss to West Georgia, the current No. 3 team in Division II.
    Albany State is led by Dan Land, who is in his second season at the helm of the Golden Rams. Defense has been the team's calling card this season, holding three of its four opponents under 70 yards rushing and 300 yards of total offense. When they have the ball, the offense—led by the top passer in the SIAC, quarterback Caleb Edmonds— has done a nice job racking up yards. But a 30 percent conversion rate on 3rd down has led to the lowest time of possession in the conference. They were also victimized last week by having a kickoff and interception returned for touchdowns.
    The Golden Bears know how to get the ball into the end zone. Last week, they scored on offense, twice on defense, and special teams in the win over Morehouse. Running back Jamarcus Nance has had a solid start, averaging 90 rushing yards per game. He ran for 145 yards in last season's championship game and eclipsed the 1,000-yard career mark last week. The defense will look to stay opportunistic as it leads the SIAC in turnovers forced per game (3.67)
 
Miles-Albany State: The Series
    Today marks the 56th meeting between Albany State and Miles, a series that began in 1942.  The Golden Rams have certainly held the upper hand in this series with a 36-16-3 mark, but two of those 16 wins for the Golden Bears were the biggest in school history.
    Albany State won the initial contest 13-0 but in four of the next five years, the Golden Rams did not score a single point. Miles won the second meeting 52-0, still the largest shutout win in the series, and an 8-8 tie in 1949 was the only blemish during that time.
    Both teams were fairly competitive over the next 12 years but the series took a big change after Miles earned a 26-12 win over Albany State in 1961. From 1962-1995, the Golden Rams went 17-1-1 against the Golden Bears—the lone Miles win being a 7-0 victory in 1967. It included a 70-6 shellacking in 1992, the biggest margin of victory in the series, which came during a 22-game losing streak. The Golden Bears won 26-24 in 1996 but from 2003-2011, Albany State would win all nine contests, continuing its dominance.
    That all changed in the 2011 season. New head coach Reginald Ruffin helped Miles avenge a 34-27 loss from earlier in the season with a 20-17 win over the Golden Rams in the inaugural SIAC Championship Game.  Since Ruffin's arrival, the teams have split six contests. Albany State downed Miles in the 2013 SIAC Championship game 17-14, shutting the Golden Bears out in the second half to erase a 14-7 deficit.
    Miles returned the favor last season. Albany State took advantage of several Miles mistakes in the second half to earn a 29-16 win in Fairfield. But in the SIAC Championship Game, the Golden Bears defense controlled the contest from the start and used a big goal line stand in the first half to take a 20-7 win and the school's second conference title in five seasons.
 
Last Meeting: Miles 20, Albany State 7 (2015 SIAC Championship Game)
    Cedric Poole returned the opening kickoff 90 yards to set up a score, running back Jamarcus Nance ran for a career-high 145 yards and two touchdowns and the defense harassed Albany State quarterback Caleb Edmonds all night en route to a 20-7 victory in the SIAC Championship Game. The win was the sixth straight for Miles, which avenged a 29-16 loss to the Golden Rams on Oct. 3 and secured the second league title for the Golden Bears and first since 2011.
    Miles may have received a little help from the officials early in the game. After Miles had taken a 10-0 in the first quarter 20-yard field goal and 2-yard scoring run from Nance, Edmonds broke free down the sideline on the first play of the second quarter and appeared to have scored on a 25-yard run. The officials, though, ruled he was out at the 1-yard line – a yard Albany State would never get. After three tries to punch it in, the Golden Rams settled for a field goal attempt that missed right.
    Nance would score his second touchdown with 3:46 left in the first half and Miles would go into halftime with a 17-0 lead. This season, though, Miles has coughed up several leads in the second half, something the team did not want to happen Saturday night.
    Quarterback David Whipple, who had rushed for more than 100 yards the last three weeks, had only seven yards rushing but threw for 153 yards in the win. He was comfortable feeding the ball to Nance in the second half.
    Albany State got on the board with a 14-yard touchdown pass with 2:41 left in the third quarter when Edmonds found Thomas Smith alone in the end zone. But the Golden Bears defense held Golden Rams in check. Anthony Hardy had a team-high 11 tackles (nine solo) and Braysean Jones was nearly unstoppable at defensive end, recording six tackles, five quarterback hurries, a sack and a forced fumble. 
    Poole closed the game out with an interception that sealed the deal and started the championship celebration for the Golden Bears.

Notes

· Since Reginald Ruffin took over the Miles  football program in 2011, five players have rushed for at least 700 yards in a single season.
1. Jordan Lewis (2011), 966
2. Jamarcus Nance (2015), 815
3. Jonathan Clark (2014), 811
4. Floyd Graves (2013), 801
5. David Whipple (2015), 702
 
· The Miles' coaching staff features three who have played professional football. Outside linebackers coach Ronald McKinnon played 10 seasons in the NFL with Arizona and New Orleans. Cornerbacks coach Dexter McCleon spent eight seasons in the NFL with St. Louis, Kansas City and Houston, winning a Super Bowl with the Rams in 2000. Safeties coach Kenneth Watson played for eight seasons in the Canadian Football League, winning two Grey Cups.

· Miles (2-1) is one of just four teams to compete in the SIAC Championship Game, joined by Albany State (1-3), Tuskegee (2-0), and Fort Valley State (0-1)

· Junior kicker Nick Christiansen set school records last season for most field goals (16) and points by kicker (74) in a single season. Both records were previously held by Patton Chambers, 13 field goals in 2011 and 71 points in 2012.

· Ruffin is second all-time in coaching victories at Miles but he has a ways to go to catch T.J. "Mule" Knox, who amassed 98 wins from 1934-67.

· Miles' national ranking in total and scoring defense since 2011:
2011: 14th/32nd         2012: 22nd/16th
2013: 99th/57th          2014: 18th/21st
2015: 22nd/8th           2016: 38th/25th
 
 
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