Albany State’s match-up with Fort Valley State in this weekend’s Fountain City Classic is much more than a rivalry – it’s a trap.
The Golden Rams know exactly what’s at stake for this game. Not just bragging rights over the Wildcats for the next year, but a chance at the SIAC football title. They know Tuskegee controls their own destiny, and that of the Ram title hopes over the next two weekends.
But more than that, you hope that Mike White and the Rams know that the air attack that took TU to a fourth-quarter, go-ahead drive two weeks ago is the same kind of air attack that the Wildcats are going to launch from start to finish. ASU leads the conference in interceptions with 18, and forced three takeaways last week against David Hart and Morehouse.
But the Rams are ranked just sixth in the SIAC in total passing defense, and the Maroon Tigers are nowhere near the passing threat that Nathaniel Samas and FVSU will bring to McClung Memorial. The Wildcats average more than 220 passing yards per game, and unless the Rams can run the ball effectively to control the clock, big plays will abound on both sides.
And if that happens, Fort Valley will have the upper hand. They will combine an existing confidence with a nothing to lose attitude. They’ll have no championship to let slip away, and all the reason in the world to exploit a Ram secondary that will be more than uptight should the score be close in the game’s waning minutes.
Should be a good game; probably on par with Albany State-Tuskegee. But a good game can’t be enough for a Ram team trying needing help to bust up the Tuskegee aura over the conference and trying to avoid a Wildcat trap all at the same time.
