Tuesday, August 14, 2007

SCSU Bulldogs bust into big foes


Quest for MEAC title balanced against dates vs. I-A muscle

By PATRICK OBLEY, The State

ORANGEBURG — It took 100 years for South Carolina State to play an NCAA Division I-A football team.

It will take two weeks for the Bulldogs to play their second.

The Bulldogs open their 100th season on Sept. 1 at Air Force with an optimism that comes only from a team layered with experience and returning talent. The expectation of the Bulldogs’ Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference brethren is that they are the class of the league.

Thanks to a schedule that has the Bulldogs opening the season with road trips to Bethune-Cookman and— for the first time — USC following the Air Force opener, the Football Championship Subdivision will find out sooner, rather than later if the hype is legit.

Senior quarterback Cleve McCoy said it was important not to judge the Bulldogs’ centennial book merely by reading the opening chapter.

“The main thing is winning our conference,” he said. “When it comes to Air Force and USC, we just want to show those guys we can compete.”

McCoy’s purchased his MEAC-colored glasses in the wake of last year’s devastating 10-9 loss against Delaware State. The defeat in miserable weather conditions came one week after the Bulldogs finally shed their Hampton baggage with a 13-6 victory that put the MEAC in their hands.

“That might have been as good a lesson as we could ever have learned,” said Bulldogs coach Buddy Pough who is beginning his sixth season.

The Bulldogs pulverized their final three opponents following the Delaware State debacle, but the damage had been done. Hampton won the title and earned the automatic playoff berth.

“It taught us just to finish games,” McCoy said of that loss and the 7-4 season. “We completed one of our goals, which was to defeat Hampton, but we lost to Delaware State. I think we want to have fun this season, which means taking it one day, one game at a time.”

If the Bulldogs can do that, their talent and experience should do the rest. Junior defensive end Tony White said this team is better than last year’s group, which led the MEAC in total offense and was third in total defense.

“Sure, I think this is our most challenging season, but this has to be the most talented team,” White said.

Like McCoy, White’s focus is not so much on Air Force and USC as it is the Bethune-Cookman game in between. It is the MEAC season-opener for both teams and the Wildcats are still smarting from the 45-21 smackdown they sustained against the Bulldogs in the Lowcountry Classic.

Wildcat coach Alvin Wyatt fired a shot over Pough’s bow at last month’s MEAC Media Day.

“He said something about how we’re the big, bad wolf and they’re just darling dandelions,” Pough said with a laugh. “I think Alvin has played in the league enough to know the truth.”

That said, Pough acknowledged the Bulldogs might be reaching a crucial tipping point.

“We’re right at the edge of where we should be in order to turn things around here,” Pough said. “I’m real excited about what we’re doing, but I don’t want to put so much pressure of winning the conference on our players that it becomes too much.”

If the Bulldogs can prove the preseason predictions correct, then the team’s centennial celebration could continue past Thanksgiving as they try to do something they haven’t done in 60 years — play for a national championship.

The Bulldogs’ first and only crack at a national title resulted in a 7-6 loss to Shaw in 1947’s National Black College Championship

“I have to admit this is a little bit more special to me than most because I’m an Orangeburg child. I grew up on the campus, so-to-speak,” Pough said. “I’m just hoping we go out and prove ourselves proud.”

BY THE NUMBERS

South Carolina State is celebrating its 100th year of football in 2007. A look at the program by the numbers: 0

Division I-A teams the Bulldogs played during the first 99 years: 1

Losing seasons since joining MEAC in 1971 (5-6 overall, but 4-2 in MEAC): 2

D-IA teams they play this season (Air Force, USC): 2

Pro football Hall of Famers (Marion Motley, Harry Carson, Deacon Jones): 3

10-win seasons, the last coming in 1994: 11

Games coached by W.C. Lewis, 10 of which were shutouts (6 wins, 4 losses): 18

Undefeated conference seasons since joining MEAC in 1971: 26

Victories against Bethune-Cookman, Howard and Morgan State, the most against any single team: 30

Losses against Florida A&M, the most against any single team: 50

Wins under Willie Jefferies during his first stint as head coach : 67

All-American nods (including DeShawn Baker and Clyde Reed in 2006): 72

Victories under Willie Jeffries, during his second stint: 99

Points scored against N.C. Institute in 1926 during a 99-0 romp: 109

Bulldogs who reached the NFL: 168

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