Alabama A&M vs. Savannah State: Game Updates


no relation between walter and clyde.

walter tullis left a&m to coach the ssu women's basketball team but was fired after one season because of ncaa violations. last i heard he was in the northeast portion of the country.
 
Alabama A&M dominates CSRA Classic

By Scott Michaux | Staff Writer

The game was labeled a "classic," but you won't ever see Saturday's matchup between Alabama A&M and Savannah State on ESPN's retro network.

Alabama A&M accumulated 11 sacks and six takeaways to shut down Savannah State 41-0 in the 11th Annual CSRA Classic on Saturday at Lumpkin Road Stadium.

Savannah State (0-7) has now been outscored 302-18 this season, 96-0 in two games since Richard Basil took over as interim head coach. Saturday marked the fourth time the Tigers have been shut out in 2003. It was also the fifth and final time the Tigers have lost in a so-called "classic" game this year, having already succumbed in the Gateway, Joe Turner, Lowcountry and Music City Classics.

Alabama A&M (5-3) entered the game as the conference sack leader, with 27 total in seven previous games. But after registering zero sacks in last week's loss at Southern University, the Bulldogs more than made up for it against a Savannah State offensive line that was totally overmatched.

Eight different Alabama A&M defenders were credited with taking part in the sackfest. CSRA Classic MVP Malasta Hill had three, and also made two acrobatic interceptions in the second half to set up scores.

Savannah State was so manhandled up front that quarterbacks Clyde Tullis and Daniel Gilbert barely had time to get the snap and retreat into the pocket before Bulldogs had hands all over them by blitzing and swarming through gaps.

"They ran a lot of defensive stunts and blitzes and kind of confused us up front," Basil said.

Of the Tigers' 63 offensive plays, 23 gained negative yardage, adding up to 112 lost yards. Three of the five interceptions and the lone lost fumble that was recovered in the end zone all happened behind the line of scrimmage.

Two Alabama A&M defenders - Hill and Leverno Turner - caught as many passes each (two) from Savannah State quarterbacks as any of the Tigers' receivers. Turner's 52 return yards on his pair of interceptions nearly topped the 56 by Savannah State leading receiver Khalil Hasan.

"We just had fun out there," Hill said of the defensive waves that overwhelmed Savannah State.

It's defense was so dominant that Alabama A&M rarely had to work hard for its points. The opening touchdown was scored by the defense, when Jerald Harris stripped Tullis of the ball in the end zone and Henry Roberson recovered for a touchdown.

Turnovers also set the Bulldogs up on scoring drives of 29, 1, 7 and minus-6 yards, and another zero-yard drive ended in a missed 39-yard field goal. Alabama A&M's offense executed only two sustained scoring drives of 64 and 75 yards, the latter on the opening possession of the third quarter, which took 15 plays and used up 7:51 to make it 31-0.

While Alabama A&M coach Anthony Jones was irritated with his team's poor offensive production, Basil was surprisingly upbeat about Savannah State's showing. After all, the Tigers did gain more first downs (16-14) and yielded only 223 total yards.

Take away all of the negative plays, and the Tigers' forward progress was only six yards shy of Alabama A&M's (247-241).

"We're installing something new every day," Basil said. "Small progressions. Each week we're starting to get better. If we have progress every week, that's all I can ask for."

Alabama A&M got a pair of rushing touchdowns each from running back Jeremiah Bonds and quarterback Johnny Keith.
 

We didn't know about the classic until we arrived. It is a big thing in the area. Wished we had really known about it. I mentioned this to one of the promoters. Even met a big time Lawyer from SU who was married to a SSt Alum.

John Stallworth spoke on Thursday night. The people turned out to include AAMU Alumni from Georgia and Alabama. AAMU had a lot of people at the game.
 
the stands were packed on both sides, however with the lopsidded score, fans started to fill out at the start of the third quarter.
ssu could have played better but the OL continues to do a piss poor job of blocking. ssu had six turnovers that resulted in 20 points for the bulldogs. ssu defense did a ok job of stopping buldog running game but was picked apart by the short yardage a&m passing attack.
hats off to a&m defense:
1 fumble recovery for TD
5 interceptions
11 sacks
held ssu to -6 yards rushing
 
Pittsburgh great talks on game's importance



It's been 20 years since John Stallworth suited up for Alabama A&M.
Since that time, he was drafted by the Pittsburgh Steelers, won four Super Bowls and was an All-Pro. Last year, he was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio.

The kind of success Stallworth has seen throughout his life is a reason he was invited to be the guest speaker of the CSRA Classic Banquet. He chose to speak because he didn't want to miss an opportunity to help get smaller schools - such as his alma mater - exposure.

"The more people see them (athletes), the more of an opportunity they're going to get to play at the next level," Stallworth said. "This (CSRA Classic) means exposure to young players. They get the opportunity to show their talents to a broader audience.

"It also means more for the university in exposure. It's more chances to bring the students in and it also helps the student athletes. If they do well, they'll play in more classics and you bring more people in."

Stallworth knows that getting a shot is all it takes.

When he was with the Bulldogs, most NFL scouts didn't take the time to travel to the smaller, black schools to look for players. Fortunately for him, one Pittsburgh scout did.

"Looking back at my career, I wasn't highly recruited," Stallworth said. "There just happened to be one scout for Pittsburgh that went to black college games. Back then that wasn't a trip that a lot of scouts took."

Which is why Stallworth says games like Saturday's CSRA Classic between Alabama A&M and Savannah State are important.

"For the average guy, this is a great opportunity to play in front of a big crowd and to mature as athletes and young men and go on to bigger and brighter things," he said. "This might be the only opportunity (scouts) get to see some of these guys play."

Stallworth's success has already helped his former school grow.

He estimates that when he was in school there were more than 2,000 students. Now the school has "more than 6,000 students, a good engineering program and is continuing to add programs."

Stallworth has not only seen his alma mater grow, but other smaller black schools as well.

"It's not just Alabama A&M," he said. "It's South Carolina State, it's Savannah State, Alabama State, Tuskegee ... all of them have grown tremendously."

Reach Raymond Beasock at (706) 823-3221 or raymond.beasock@augustachronicle.com.


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orangetiger, did you see all the overflow crowd that watched the half time show? the crowd was in both endzones watching the game. Even the folks on the outside came up to the fence. Many of them wanted to see the bands and after halftime they went back to doing what they were doing.
 
mighty dogg,

yes i did noticed the nice crowd that stayed to watch the halftime show.
after halftime folks either went to concessions or to finish their tailgating.

the stadium holds about 8k so i would say attendance was close to 10k

see yall bullpups during basketball season!
 
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