The Battle for Greater Baltimore football game has favored Towson University for more than 40 years as Towson leads the all-time series 22-6.
Morgan State’s football team looks to get their first win against Towson since 2009, where the Bears won at home 12-9.
These two teams are the only two Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) teams in both the Baltimore area and the entire state of Maryland. The two institutions directly compete athletically and when recruiting talent.
Towson Head Coach Pete Shinnick confirmed the sentiment and said Morgan and Towson often go after the same players, along with other FCS schools in the area.
Shinnick said, “We’re not that far away. Most of our guys know each other. You’ve got a lot of Maryland players on both programs and so anytime you have the opportunity to come out on top of a game like this, it helps all aspects of your program — recruiting included.”
This is evident on Towson’s roster. The Tigers’ starting quarterback graduate transfer student Carlos Davis of Mervo High School and redshirt senior All-CAA defensive lineman Dion Crews-Harris of Dunbar High School came straight from Morgan’s backyard.
Davis and Crews-Harris are just two major contributors on the Tigers’ roster this season and both came from Morgan’s backyard — along with many other players on the roster.
The Bears head coach Damon Wilson said he plans to end his two-game losing streak and win on Saturday.
“We haven’t beaten Towson in some years and that’s something we talked about as we want to beat an FCS program in Baltimore. You gotta beat ‘em and if not you’re kind of second best.” said Wilson.
While this game is a rival of Baltimore foes, both sides have said they will treat this as if it’s any other game.
“You try to keep every game the same so that your approach to [your] guys is always even keel,” Shinnick said. “We have a saying, ‘it’s how we play, not who we play.’”
Both schools had offensively successful games last week — Morgan ran for 244 yards in their win against Hampton and, although Towson lost to Cincinnati last week, they put up more than 400 yards. The Bears go into this game after a 30-28 victory against nearby FCS opponent the Hampton Pirates whereas Towson lost to Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) opponent Cincinnati 38-20.
Morgan’s senior offensive linemen Treyvon Branch said, “I mean obviously it’s a little bit different because we haven’t beaten them in a couple of years but other than that, you just have to treat it like another game.”
The Morgan State Bears and Towson Tigers will meet Saturday Sept. 7 for the 28th Battle for Greater Baltimore at Johnny Unitas Stadium at 6 p.m.
