ALBANY, Ga. – Mike White may have switched sides of the field, but the Albany State Golden Rams still looked like one of his championship Ram teams with a pounding running game and a solid defense as they took a 35-9 victory over Benedict on Saturday afternoon.

The loss dropped the Tigers to 0-9 on the season and 0-4 in the SIAC. Benedict will look to avoid a winless season when they take on Southeastern University in a non-conference game next Saturday at home. Albany State improved to 5-3 overall and 3-0 in the SIAC.

The Golden Rams, led by running back Jarvis Small, the 2014 SIAC Offensive Player of the Year, rushed for 243 yards and three touchdowns. The Tigers, on the other hand, finished with negative 17 yards, primarily due to quarterback Mason Duckett being sacked six times and punter Brian Curry losing 29 yards on a fumbled punt.

"It was a tough game," said White, who spent more than 30 years on the campus of Albany State as a player and coach. "We got behind early in the game and the guys fought hard to try to hang in there, but they were a little too much for us."

After the game, a long line of Albany State players, coaches and staff came up to hug and speak to White.

"It was great seeing a lot of familiar faces," White said. "I got a lot love here. But home is Columbia now and we're trying to build that."

The action on the field followed the same script as many other Benedict games this season. The Tigers struggled offensively, turned the ball over, and gave up the big play.

The first quarter was scoreless, with Benedict coming up with the big defensive stop, blocking a 29-yard field goal attempt by Albany State's Zachary Gayden. But on their next possession, the Golden Rams completed passes for 22 and 38 yards, and Small finished the drive with a 15-yard touchdown run to give the Rams a 7-0 lead with13:34 left in the second quarter.

Benedict couldn't move the ball on the ensuing possession, and Curry came in to punt. A high snap forced Curry to chase down the ball and he threw it backwards out of the end zone for a safety. The Rams got the ball back and capped off a quick six-play, 68-yard drive with a 33-yard touchdown pass from Caleb Edmonds to Devonta Osborne and a 16-0 lead. Benedict took the ensuing possession and drove to as close as the Albany State 13-yard line, but Duckett was sacked and the Tigers missed on a 46-yard field goal, and the score stayed 16-0 at the half.

In the third quarter, the Tigers appeared to score a touchdown on a 21-yard run by Macathy Briere, but a penalty against the Tigers called it back. Benedict had to settle for a 19-yard field goal by Tory Mimbs to cut the lead to 16-3 with one minute left in the third quarter.

The Golden Rams answered with a field goal by Stefan Whitehead early in the fourth quarter for a 19-3 lead.

The Tigers went for it on fourth-and-two from midfield on their next possession, but only picked up a yard. Two plays later, Albany State's Caleb Edmonds went around the edge and raced 47 yards for the score.

Benedict came back with their best drive of the day, a six-play, 60-yard march, with Duckett completing a screen pass to Jervic Blocker, who then raced 30 yards for the Tigers' only touchdown of the day. The Tigers attempted a two-point conversion, but Duckett was intercepted by Albany State's Zavondric Shingleton, who returned it the length of the field for a defensive PAT and two points for the Rams, making the score 26-9 with 5:56 left in the game.

Mark Green added the final Albany State score on a 23-yard run on third-and-eight.

"We're still having the same issues. If you run to the perimeter, to the outside, we have trouble and it kind of showed up today. I thought we did not do bad on the inside, but we had trouble on the outside," White said. The Rams finished with 243 yards rushing. Small finished with 103 yards on 17 carries, while Edmonds had 80 yards on just six carries.

Arkivious Reeder led the Benedict defense with 11 total tackles.

The Tigers will now look to Southeastern University, an NAIA team from Florida, at 2 p.m. on Saturday. The Fire were 4-3 entering their Saturday night contest against Webber.

"We've got to try and get one before the year is over," White said.