COLUMBIA, S.C. – Having a bye week one week into the season was a blessing and a curse for the Benedict College Tigers.

After opening the season with a 10-0 victory over Fayetteville State on Aug. 30, the Tigers (1-0, 0-0 SIAC) have had two weeks to prepare for Saturday's SIAC opener on the road at Central State University (0-2, 0-2 SIAC). Kickoff from McPherson Memorial Stadium in Wilberforce, Ohio is 1 p.m. The game will be available to watch on the SIAC TV network. Live stats will be available here.
 
One of the advantages of having the long break is the Tigers had plenty of time to prepare for their longest road trip of the season. The team will leave campus on Thursday, and have a stretch and walkthrough stop en route, and also have a walkthrough and practice on Friday at a local high school field.
 
"With us having to leave on Thursday, it's a short week. We're going to prepare as if it's just a regular trip for us, and try to keep as much as if we were at home," said Benedict head coach Ron Dickerson Jr. "We'll try to keep the familiarity for the young men the same. That's the most important thing, to keep the distractions from them.
 
"It is a long trip, but it's a business trip. And we're going up there to play a really good team with a great coaching staff. They've got some good players and get ready for a good game."
 
The Marauders enter their first home game of the season with an 0-2 record. After a season-opening 34-24 loss to Kentucky State in the Detroit Football Classic, they traveled to take on Tuskegee last week in the first night game in that school's history and fell 33-0. But Dickerson said the Marauders were in the game for most of the contest until giving up a long touchdown in the third quarter. Tuskegee then put the game away with 17 points in the fourth quarter.
 
"The game was 9-0 up until the third quarter, against Tuskegee at home. That shows you they have everything they need. They've just got to keep on playing together," Dickerson said.
 
In their season opener, the Marauders, under first-year coach Tony Carter, a seven-year NFL veteran, had a pair of 100-yard rushers in the loss to Kentucky State, while also throwing for 118 yards. Against Tuskegee, the Marauders were held to 40 yards rushing, and threw for 184 yards.
 
"Offensively, they're going to want to run the ball. That's what they're going to wear their hat on," Dickerson said. "Can they throw the ball? Yes, they can, and they've done well. Against Tuskegee, they didn't run the ball as much as they did against Kentucky State. And they've got some good runners. Going into week two, they were able to mix some things up. Going into week three, we have to prepare for everything. That's the good and the bad of having a week off. We were able to prepare for what we saw against Kentucky State, now we're getting prepared for what we saw against Tuskegee and kind of blend them together."
 
The Tigers opened the season with a 10-0 shutout over Fayetteville State. Dickerson was happy for the win, but saw some first-game kinks the team has focused on fixing. Dickerson said that redshirt freshman quarterback Jackson Jensen, who was injured in his only extensive playing time last season, is still a young quarterback and making improvements.
 
"We started a couple of series with penalties, and that gave us first-and-15, and it's hard to do that," Dickerson said. "That was Jackson Jensen's first game as a whole game. I think in some situations, he tried to press and make big plays instead of taking the easy throws. I think there were a couple of times he audibled when he shouldn't and just handed the ball off. That's what we've been working on, keeping it simple. And we'll let our playmakers make plays."
 
Benedict leads the all-time series with Central State 4-2, and has won the last three meetings, including a 24-14 victory in their last meeting, which happened in 2018 in Wilberforce.
 
After this week, the Tigers have another short week, as they will play Tuskegee on Thursday, Sept. 18 at 7 p.m. in Charlie W. Johnson Stadium.