RB Jason Jackson set a new school rushing record against Savannah State.
Boxscore
CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Not Ali Culpepper, and not even the great Leroy Kelly, who starred at Morgan State, then dazzled Browns fans in this city back in the 1960s, did what Jason Jackson did Saturday.
Jackson, a junior tailback from Oxon Hill, shredded the Savannah State defense for a school-record 251 yards and four touchdowns Saturday to help Morgan to a 55-26 triumph, its first of the season.
Doing most of his damage in the second half, Jackson exceeded Culpepper's school mark of 229 yards set in 2001.
For his part, Jackson was unimpressed with his personal accomplishment or to be mentioned in the same breath as Kelly and Culpepper.
"It doesn't mean anything," Jackson said. "This is just the third game [of the year], and we've got to keep it going. Give the credit to the offensive line."
Jackson scored on runs of 9, 90, 25 and 33 yards, exciting the crowd of 40,502 at Cleveland Browns Stadium, the first of three NFL venues the Bears will visit this year.
Success of any sort has eluded the Bears this year, so Jackson's rampage, and the big-play performance by his offense, was a pleasant development for Morgan coach Donald Hill-Eley, even if it came at the expense of winless Savannah, the only independent Division I-AA program in the country.
"I'm proud that they found a way to win," he said. "But we've still got a lot of work to do."
Morgan State led 20-13 after a wild first half that saw both teams strike from long distance.
Savannah scored on the second play of the game, a 70-yard burst through the middle by MyShun McAlpine (152 yards, two touchdowns). But the Bears weren't down for long.
Freshman Aaron Moore (Here- ford High) ran the ensuing kickoff back 93 yards for a touchdown, the first by the Bears since Rodrick Wolfe's 97-yarder on Sept. 11, 2004.
The Tigers threatened to make matters interesting in the third quarter, when they scored a touchdown, then got the ball back on the 26 when Wolfe fumbled the ensuing kickoff.
But the Bears stopped Savannah on fourth-and-eight from the 9, and Jackson promptly applied the knockout punch with his 90-yard dash to the end zone. That made it 41-19 and left Jackson gasping for oxygen.
"I couldn't go a yard longer," he said, laughing.
