COLUMBIA, S.C. – Much like the prescribed therapy plan between Dr. Leo Marvin and Bill Murray's character Bob Wiley in the comedy "What About Bob?", the 2015 Benedict College football season has been all about taking baby steps.

Each week head coach Mike White is looking for his young team to show a little bit of improvement from the previous week.

The Tigers took a step forward last week. Despite eventually losing 32-19 to Kentucky State, the Tigers had their first lead of the season and were tied heading into the fourth quarter.
 

Benedict Gameday

Benedict (0-5) vs. Lane (1-4) at Lucy Laney High School Stadium, Augusta, Ga.

Kickoff: 2 p.m.

Radio: WLXC Kiss 103.1 FM

Streaming: www.kiss-1031.com

White and the 0-5 Tigers will be looking for another positive step forward when they take on the 1-4 Lane Dragons on Saturday in the annual Augusta City Classic. Kickoff at Lucy Laney High School Stadium is 2 p.m.

"We had a couple of series (last week against Kentucky State) where we looked a little better and we're trying to see if we do a little bit better than that," White said. "It's all about taking baby steps forward."

One step forward for the Tigers was the emergence of a speedy running back who can break through holes and outrun the secondary. After gaining just 16 yards on 10 carries through the first four games, freshman running back Raheem Jennings exploded for 73 yards on seven carries against Kentucky State. Nearly all of that came on two big touchdown runs of 51 and 20 yards. That was the best rushing performance of any back for the Tigers this season.

"I was real proud of him," White said of Jennings' performance. "He's a hard working kid and it was great to see him break out and get a couple of scores. The team needed that kind of lift. When you are a team that is struggling to run the ball and you want to run the ball, to see your back go in the end zone with a couple of rushing touchdowns was huge for us. When you are 0-5 and not really controlling the line of scrimmage like we want to, we saw a few glimpses of that last week and we need to see more of that this week."

White said Jennings will likely see a bigger role in the offense, especially after last week's effort.

"You'll see him and (Edward) Kelly take the bulk of the carries. It has to do with them making the proper reads and the lineman maintaining their blocks," White said. "We saw our best output offensively last week, let's hope we can do better. We're going to need that kind of output this week to be successful."

White is hoping Benedict's makeshift offensive line can continue to show improvements. Injuries have forced the Tigers to use a different starting offensive line in each of their first five games, and another injury this week is forcing another shuffle along the line.

"We're trying to get some consistency out of that group," White said.

The Dragons come in as the top rushing team in the SIAC, averaging just under 200 yards per game on the ground. Dual-threat quarterback Marcus Reynolds is the second-leading rusher in the conference, averaging 93 yards per game on the ground. He is also averaging 97 passing yards per game.

A main weak spot for the Tigers last week was giving up yardage to a quarterback on the zone read option. KSU quarterback Ora Johnson picked up 75 yards rushing, and came up big in the fourth quarter to lead the Thorobreds to a pair of fourth-quarter touchdowns. White knows the Tigers will have to do a better job on controlling Lane's running quarterback.

"We didn't do a good job in my opinion. We weren't consistent enough, especially in the red zone," White said. "And Lane is a huge zone (read option) team. We're going to watch the quarterback, who is one of the top rushers in the conference. And Lane likes to run the ball, so it's going to be a good challenge for us to see if we can handle their run game."

White, a native of Augusta, is also looking forward to this game to see family and friends and would love to get that first win in his hometown.

"I'm excited. This is my first trip back since being on this side. I've got a lot of relatives, friends, high school teammates who I haven't seen in a long time. I get to see them this weekend," White said. "I'm excited about that part. Also I enjoy going home and I'll enjoy it better if we play better. So I'm looking forward to the team playing better so I can have a good homecoming."