Washington, DC---Kalen Johnson threw for a career-high four touchdowns and ran for yet another to give Howard University a 55-9 win over Savannah State University in a Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference game at Greene Stadium.  The first was the first of the season for the Bison (1-7 overall, 1-5 in the MEAC).
           
Johnson, a red-shirt in his fourth start, set the tone on Howard's first possession, engineering a 93-yard, 12-play drive that was culminated by a Guy Lemonier eight-yard rush from the Wildcat formation, something the Bison had not used all season.
           
The defense did its part and got the ball back to Johnson, who made it pay dividends when he capped off a short drive with a 47-yard TD pass to Myles Williams.
           
The Bison, who had been scored only one touchdown in the first quarter all season, were not through as Johnson took advantage of some good field position and connected with freshman running back Ricquaz Brannon on a 21-yard TD pass to give his team a 20-0 lead at the end of the first quarter.
           
"We wanted to make sure we gave ourselves the best shot at winning," explained Howard head coach Gary Harrell. "And that's what we did, especially in that first half. We came out and sustained a lot of things as far as mentally not doing anything that would be negative plays for ourselves. But most importantly, we made plays. I think we got some lucky bounces here and there but the guys made plays."
           
The Tigers (1-6 overall, 1-4 in the MEAC), who have never beaten Howard in nine meetings, woke up and finally put together a drive of 62 yards that got down to the Howard one-yard.  But a bad snap forced a John Barron 30-yard field goal early in the second stanza.
           
Johnson answered with his third touchdown pass, this to Robert Mercer from 19 yards to up the margin to 27-3 midway through the second quarter.
           
Savannah State countered on a 9-play, 70-yard drive as Leon Prunty tossed a 34-yard pass to Rashad Saxton at the 4:26 mark.
           
With his confidence growing, Johnson answered less than two minutes later on a 21-yard catch-and-run to senior Matt Colvin that gave his team a 34-9 halftime lead.
           
"We had a very good game plan today," said Johnson.  "The offensive line gave me good protection and they created some holes for the run game."
 
Added Harrell. "The game is starting to be more comfortable to him; it's slowing down. He's giving the receivers a chance to make the plays. He's not doing anything as far as throwing interceptions that's going to hurt us throughout the game."
 
It was then the defense's turn to play takeaway as Travon Hunt returned a Savannah State fumble for a TD and Kenneth Russ would later score on an interception return.
           
The defensive unit forced four turnovers and held the Tiger quarterbacks to 15 of 36 passing for 135 yards passing.
           
"Defensively, getting the turnovers, the fumble for a touchdown, the pick for a touchdown showed that we are realizing the importance of making plays that impact the game," said Harrell.
           
Johnson finished 14 of 20 for 219 yards, career highs for him.  Brannon rushed for a career-high 66 yards on 19 carries
NEXT UP:  Savannah State travels to Norfolk, VA to take on the Spartans of Norfolk State next Saturday while the Bison step out of conference when they travel to New York to take on the Seahawks of Stony Brook next Saturday at 1 pm.