In a year of firsts and firsts in a long time, the Clark Atlanta football team lives to fight another week in the SIAC championship race while Tuskegee’s championship took a serious step backward.
The Panthers (6-2-1 overall, 5-2 SIAC) won their senior day game 36-28 over the Golden Tigers, picking up their first win over TU (5-4) since 2006.
It is also a devastating blow to Tuskegee’s title hopes, as they fall to 5-2 in SIAC play. They lost the head-to-head tiebreaker to Clark Atlanta, with Fort Valley State, Albany State, and Miles still at least one game ahead of them in the standings. Here’s how it happened.
A rare ground game sighting for CAU
Clark Atlanta came into Saturday’s contest with just five rushing touchdowns throughout the 2024 season. They collected three rushing scores in the first half—a quarterback sneak from David Wright III and two touchdown runs from running back Alan Riggins (20 yards and 2 yards, respectively).
TOUCHDOWN PANTHERS‼️🏈🐾
David Wright finds the end zone to get the Panthers on the board in the first quarter! The extra point is missed to make the score 7-6! #GoPanthers🐾 | #WeAreCAU | #BeTheReason pic.twitter.com/qqXDvY6fTR
— Clark Atlanta Football (@CAU_Football) November 2, 2024
For the day, CAU ran for 150 yards with Riggins leading the charge, scampering for 119 yards on 13 carries, including a 48-yard run in the final two minutes that allowed Leonardo Cabrera to salt the game away with a 29-yard field goal.
CAU overcame a slow start — again
The Panthers watched Tuskegee take the ball 68 yards in over 8 minutes of game time, scoring on a 5-yard run by running back Desmond Leverette. CAU went on to score the last 20 points of the half, aided by a balanced run-and-pass strategy that overcame TU’s ball control strategy.
Clark Atlanta has trailed to start nearly every ball game this season, but somehow, Teddy Keaton’s guys find a way to climb back in it, save for the losses to Savannah State and conference leader Miles.
Red and Black, Maroon and Gold, meet Yellow
Both coaching staffs will not be pleased with the number of penalties both sides incurred Saturday – Tuskegee was penalized 10 times for 84 yards while Clark Atlanta was docked 12 times for 85 yards. A few of those were unsportsmanlike conduct infractions, so you can be sure that those players will hear about it in film this week.
Clark Atlanta featured too many weapons
Tuskegee fought valiantly throughout the contest. Hard touchdown runs by quarterback Raequan Beal and Leverette (twice), along with an outstanding catch and carry effort by Quavon Beckford, kept the Golden Tigers close, but Clark Atlanta’s endless supply of playmakers was just too much.
Jamal Jones took a simple screen 68 yards to the end zone after TU drew to within six points in the third quarter, and in the fourth quarter, after they closed to within five, Wright struck again, this time with Armone Harris taking a screen 24 yards to the end zone.
CAU may not be in the SIAC title game this year (who’s to say with some important games left on the schedule next week), but they’ll definitely be a team to watch out for in 2025 after a long spell of being ignored by the HBCU football community.