ALBANY, Ga. – Will the third time really be the charm?
 
For the 23^rd-ranked Benedict College Tigers, they are counting on that when they face the 13^th-ranked Albany State Golden Rams for the third time in six weeks on Saturday in the second round of the NCAA Division 2 Football Championship. Kickoff is set for 1 p.m. in the ASU Coliseum. The game will be streamed live on ESPN+ (subscription required). Live stats are available here. Tickets are available here.
 
Albany State took a convincing 31-3 victory over Benedict in Columbia on Oct. 25. Three weeks later in the SIAC Championship game, the Golden Rams had a 17-7 lead at the half. Despite the Tigers outplaying the Golden Rams in the second half, Albany State pulled out a 22-16 victory, with Benedict holding the Golden Rams to a field goal and a two-point conversion after a 90-yard blocked extra point return in the second half. Benedict had a shot to win at the end of the game, but a pass in the end zone was broken up.
 
The two SIAC titans will meet again in the second round of the playoffs, guaranteeing a conference team in the national quarterfinals on Dec. 6. The winner of Saturday's game will face the winner between 9^th-ranked West Florida and 16^th-ranked Newberry.

The Tigers are coming off one of the most fantastic finishes in college football history last week. Trailing Wingate 24-0 early in the third quarter, the Tigers clawed their way back and trailed 24-19 when they received the ball with just 19 seconds left. On fourth down and just three seconds on the clock, the Tigers executed a cross-field lateral pass to perfection and scored the game-winning 86-yard touchdown.
 
"I'm happy for the university, I'm happy for all the alumnus, but most of all, I'm happy for these young men," head coach Ron Dickerson Jr. said. "We've been out here since July. The one thing about them is they do not flinch."
 
It's that type of never-give-up attitude that Dickerson and his coaching staff have instilled into the Tigers. Earlier this season, Benedict scored a game-winning touchdown with 29 seconds remaining to beat Edward Waters, and then beat Savannah State in double overtime. That resiliency was first displayed last year during Dickerson's first season, when the Tigers marched 80 yards in just 35 seconds to score the game-winning touchdown with no time left against Edward Waters for his first victory.
 
"That comes from the past experience of some of us who are coaches, places we've been, and understanding that football is bigger than just going out there and being athletes," Dickerson said. "You've got to win off the field, you've got to win on the field. There's hardships in life. We probably spend the first week and a half of fall camp on just mental. And all during the season, we call it academic and mental Monday. During the week, we'll talk to them about mental, talk to them about overcoming adversity. And as you preach it into them, they believe it. And when they're in those situations, it's not a shocker."
 
Dickerson said he likes to throw unlikely scenarios into the team's practices, just in case those situations ever arise.
 
"At any point in time during practice, I'll throw something crazy at them, just so that they can see a scenario that they don't normally see. To live it and to go through the muscle memory of your brain, I think that's what's really helped us through those times," Dickerson said.
 
"It goes back to my first year, here against Edward Waters. We had three plays and we had to go 80 yards down the field. People ask me, 'Why?' It's because I believe in this team. These young men believed in Coach Dickerson to be here, and so I believe in them and I'm going to put them in a great position to be successful."
 
Now the Tigers will look to keep that momentum going when they face the Golden Rams for the third time this season. Dickerson said the euphoria of last week's thrilling victory was short-lived once they found out they would be facing the Golden Rams again.
 
"For some of these guys, it's personal," Dickerson said. "We've played them, and unfortunately we've been on the opposite side of where we want to be the last two times. The focus going into Wingate, to other teams, is a little different. For this one, everyone's locked in. When we found out we were going to play them on Saturday after the game, the celebration was happy we won, but it was more of, hey, we've got to lock in and get ready for this team."