JACKSON, Tenn. – A week ago, Benedict College's vaunted defense showed it was no match for an upper echelon Division I offense. This week, the Tigers return to Division II competition, and will face off against the top rushing team in the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference in the Lane Dragons.

Lane comes into Saturday's 3 p.m. Eastern contest averaging 222 yards per game. Even after giving up 387 yards of offense to Gardner-Webb last week, the Tigers still have the 14^th-best total defense in Division II and 23^rd-best rushing defense in this week's NCAA Division II statistics.

GAMEDAY

Benedict College at Lane College, Lane Field, Jackson, Tenn.

Time: 3 p.m. Eastern

Radio: WLXC Kiss 103.1 FM

Audio Stream: Kiss-103.1.com

Video Stream: UStream.tv

Benedict head football coach Mike White knows the Tigers will have to get back on track defensively to slow down the potent Dragons and their star running back and quarterback pair. Running back Marcus Holliday averages 115.8 yards rushing per game, which ranks second in the SIAC and 14^th in the country. Quarterback Marcus Reynolds is also a threat on the ground, averaging 56.4 yards per game, the sixth-best average in the SIAC. Reynolds also averages nearly 100 yards passing per game.

"They've got the playmaker of this conference in their quarterback," White said. "Reynolds, he is a tough customer, running the ball and passing the ball. We've got our hands full with him. He can scramble, he makes plays out of the passing game with his feet, and we're just going to have to play a complete game and mistake-free game to take these guys. We're coming off a tough week, a short week, with a big conference game."

Gardner-Webb exposed some of Benedict's shortcomings on the defensive side of the ball last week, so the Tigers have been looking to stop those gaps.

"Some of the things we did in the interior, I thought were fine," White said about the Gardner-Webb game. "But we had trouble again when the ball went to the outside."

The Dragons started the season 3-0, but have dropped back-to-back games to Tuskegee and a non-conference game to Lincoln of Missouri. Last week, Lincoln kicked a school-record 54-yard field goal with two seconds left to beat Lane 12-9 and secure their first victory of the season.

Offensively, the Tigers look to get back on track after accumulating just 154 yards of offense last week. Freshman quarterback Phillip Brown did not play much of the second half, while running back George Myers Jr. was limited to one rushing attempt in the game as not to aggravate a sore knee. Both players are expected to take center stage once again this week.

"We got a chance to rest him, so we did," White said about Myers, who ranks fourth in the SIAC in rushing yards per game. "He should be ready to go this week."

And while the Tigers hope for another strong game from Myers and the running game, White said Benedict also has to look to throw the ball a little more, if for no other reason than to take some pressure off the running game.

"I think everybody we play from now on is going to try and stack the line and take the running game away from us and force our quarterback to try and throw the ball," White said. "I don't know right now how many times we want to throw it, but we want to be more efficient than we were. Just take what they give us and not try to make something that's not there. Take what the read is and just make the throw."