COLUMBIA, S.C. – For the fifth straight year, the Benedict College Tigers are playing a prime-time Thursday night game.
 
The Tigers, 2-0 (1-0 SIAC) with back-to-back shutout victories, host the Tuskegee Golden Tigers (2-1 overall, 1-0 SIAC). Kickoff from Charlie W. Johnson Stadium is 7 p.m. The game will be available to watch on ESPN+ (subscription required). Live stats will be available here.
 
The Tigers are 4-0 in the previous four years of Thursday night television games, and have a 4-3 all-time record on Thursday night televised games since resuming football in 1996.
 
"This is a huge conference game for both of us," said Benedict head coach Ron Dickerson Jr. "Traditionally, Tuskegee is the powerhouse. We've just got to play sound."
 
Tuskegee has dominated the all-time series against Benedict, holding a 12-1 record. The only Benedict victory came in their last meeting, when the Tigers defeated the Golden Tigers 58-21 in the 2022 SIAC championship game.
 
Benedict will look to its defense, which has not allowed a score so far this season, to continue to lead the way against a Tuskegee team that averaged 27 points a game in their first two games, before being shut out last week against Division I Jackson State. They averaged more than 267 yards of offense in those first two games, with the majority of those yards coming through the air. Quarterback Raequan Beal has thrown for 469 yards and four touchdowns.
 
"Their offense will be a challenge to our secondary," Dickerson said. "But we've got some good ones there. They have a lot of quick, short receivers and they like to do short gains and set you up. This is going to be a challenge for our defense."
 
The Benedict defense has been up to the challenge so far this season. The Tigers rank first in the SIAC in scoring defense, third in total defense, and third in passing defense. They also rank second in the conference in fumbles recovered.
 
"We know defense wins championships," Dickerson said.
 
Offensively, the Tigers are still looking to get things untracked. In last week's game against Central State, Benedict had 11 total offensive drives, with six of them going for 10 yards or less, and five ended with punts.
 
He said the play of the Benedict defense during practices continues to help the offense improve.
 
"You should see the dog fights we have in practice," Dickerson said. "That defense is coming; putting pressure on us. You see the productivity in our offense. Every day at practice they go hard. They pin their ears back and go after it. If we get our offense going, that's going to help our defense."
 
Dickerson said the Tigers will continue to use two quarterbacks, with redshirt freshman Jackson Jensen and senior transfer Darius Ocean splitting time. Ocean came off the bench last week and completed 15-of-22 passes for 180 yards. Jensen threw for 143 yards and a touchdown in the season opener against Fayetteville State.