Facing its most important game of the season to date, Miles did not have enough to keep up with Albany State.

The Golden Bears squandered an early lead and once the Golden Rams got rolling, Miles could not keep up in a 31-3 loss on Saturday night at Sloan-Alumni Stadium. The defeat ended a modest two-game win streak for Miles (2-3, 1-1 SIAC West) and continued the team's regular season struggles against Albany State (4-1, 2-0 SIAC East), which has won five straight league contest against Miles while dropping three championship game tilts during the same time frame.

Miles looked good at the start, driving deep into Albany State territory on its opening drive. But two penalties stunted the progress and the Golden Bears settled for a 33-yard field goal from Jackson Spradlin for a 3-0 lead. After forcing a punt on the Golden Rams' first drive, the defense got the ball back the second time when Mitchell Smiley snatched his second interception of the season and help Miles start its next drive at the ASU 37.

But Miles was unable to capitalize after Spradlin missed a field goal attempt. Albany State was still struggling to move the ball as the first quarter ended. But once the second quarter began, that all changed.

After not completing a pass over the first 15 minutes, ASU quarterback Dionte Bonneau completed a 38-yard pass to Rashad Jordan on the first play of the second quarter. Four plays later, Bonneau found Joe Shorter in the back of the end zone for an 18-yard touchdown connection that gave Albany State a 7-3 advantage, From there, Albany State was in control.

Miles gained 118 yards on its first four drives but was only able to muster three points. Unfortunately, they did not get 100 yards the rest of the game. The Golden Rams were not markedly better, completing just five passes the entire game, had fewer passing yards that the Golden Bears (90-89), and finished with just 293 total yards. But they had all the answers once they took the lead.

After Miles quarterback Claude Newell II threw his first interception of the season late in the second quarter, Albany State converted it into another score. On fourth-and-goal from the 1, Marcuis Fulks bulled into the end zone with 20 seconds left in the first half to push the Golden Rams towards a 14-3 lead at halftime.

Not much else went right for Miles in the second half. The Golden Bears had just three first downs and ran only two plays past the 50-yard lin in the second half - those were the final two plays of the game. Even a change at quarterback could not spark Miles, which did not score a touchdown in a game for the first time since a 37-0 loss at Alabama A&M in 2018 and in a SIAC contest since a 34-9 loss at home against these same Golden Rams in 2017.

Kingston Davis rushed for a team-high 71 yards and Marcus Lodge had three catches for 51 yards - both game highs.Jaylun Thomas has six tackles and a sack for Miles, which hosts Benedict for Homecoming on Saturday, Kickoff is scheduled for 4 p.m.