By THOMAS GRANT JR., T&D Senior Sports Writer
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - There’s an added pride quarterback Cleveland McCoy and BANDIT Marshall McFadden take in wearing a South Carolina State uniform.
Each time the two Bulldog leaders suit up, they see themselves as carriers of a proud legacy of football which for 100 years has produced not only three NFL Hall of Fame players (more than all the other Palmetto State colleges combined) but legendary head coaches and future leaders on and off the gridiron.
"It’s very important that we uphold the SCSU name and title because you’ve got guys like Harry Carson and Robert Porcher," McCoy said. "Those guys set the tone for us. We’re just trying to follow in their footsteps."
"There’s so many people that wore number 42 (McFadden’s freshman year number) and number 5 and this year’s our 100th year," McFadden said. " With the history behind those people who have worn number five, it’s now on me now to make big plays and make history."
Today at 2 p.m. Eastern Standard Time at Falcon Stadium, the Bulldogs will begin another historic chapter in their long, illustrious history when they face Air Force Academy. The matchup is the first of an unprecedented two contests against Football Bowl Subdivision (formerly Division I-A) teams, with the second game two weeks from now against the University of South Carolina.
"It means a lot for the program," McCoy said. "Air Force is a pretty good team and it’s a great honor to be able to play those guys. It’s a great honor for the team and a great thing for me, especially the competition level."
From afar, former SCSU head football coach Willie Jeffries can only look with pride how much the program he turned into a national power during his 19 seasons as head coach has grown under his successor Oliver "Buddy" Pough. The winningest head coach in school history with 122 wins, Jeffries is also part of a committee which plans to hold several activities commemorating the 100 years of football.
Such commemorations can be seen at the 128 marker on Interstate 26 where a sign saluting SCSU’s 100 years of football is posted behind one displaying the school’s new slogan "A New State of Mind"
"I think it’s at another level where we’re playing 1-A schools and I think we’re going to fare well against those 1-A schools," Jeffries said. "With 16 wins in the last two years, we’ve never been at this level. I remember my first six years, we won the championship five of the six years and went to a bowl game every year. It has gotten so now that people like to go to the Division I-AA playoffs.
"I think (Pough’s) taking it to a new level. Not only is he competing well in the (Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference), we have a chance to get into these large stadiums where you have a lot of writers, a lot of media and we’re going to get a lot of exposure. So I really think he’s done well and taken us to another level."
McCoy credits Pough with running a first-class organization which models itself after other elite Division I-A programs.
"Coach Pough and took over from Coach Jeffries ... and he set the tone," McCoy said. "Coach Pough is a real good guy and he changed the program and put it in a positive direction."
. When asked about why the football program has had sustained success over the years through the different coaches, Jeffries said it’s because of the integrity of the coaches and players.
"We’ve never had an problem NCAA-wise or anything like that," Jeffries said. " Just to be a former player and a former coach, it gives me a lot of pride that we’ve had football for 100 years. The program has progressed so much. I think now it’s just going so well now and everybody’s proud of it and I think it adds to the flavor that we’re doing after 100 years, we’re finally playing a 1-A school and we’re playing the University (of South Carolina). It’s a lot going on and I’m proud to be a part of it."
Photo: From left, South Carolina State head coach Oliver 'Buddy' Pough, quarterback Cleve McCoy, defensive back Marshall McFadden and formal SCSU head football coach Willie Jefferies pose inside Oliver C. Dawson Stadium. The Bulldogs are celebrating 100 years of football in 2007 by opening the season against their first Football Bowl Subdivision opponent Air Force, Saturday.
Much as John Martin, Roy D. Moore, George Bell and Oree Banks built upon the success established by predecessor Oliver C. Dawson, Pough has managed to, in Jeffries’ words, "continue to move the graph up" in terms of expanding on what Jeffries as well as Bill Davis accomplished during their tenure. .
"I had a part in the inside of both of those guys’ operations," Pough said. "I got a chance to play for and coach for Coach Jeffries. I got a chance to coach for Bill Davis. Both of them were magnificent human beings and really good football coaches. A lot of what I am, probably most of what I am I patterned after those guys. Anytime you think of guys being your mentors, you look back at the kinds of things that you’ve seen them done and try to see if you can do some things that are just as good or better."
Although Pough’s winning percentage (40-17) his first five seasons is almost comparable to what Jeffries accomplished during his first tenure (50-13-4) and he’s starting the first year of an extension which will pay him a school-record $1 million over the next five years, reaching the post-season remains the elusive goal.
It’s something Pough hopes to change this season, appropriately during the 100th season of celebration.
"I think you’ve got all types of things you can say would be reasons why we want to do what we want to do," he said. "I think more than anything else, I just think it’s time. I just think it’s a piece of the puzzle in that progression of us getting to where we want to get to that we want to reach now."
"This year, to me, is one of the biggest years," McFadden said. "Just look at our offense. Just look at our defense. We have no holes. We have no holes nowhere. That just comes to show what it means by the 100-year history. I think everything happens for a reason and this is the year to make history on top of history."
South Carolina State is celebrating its 100th year of football in 2007. A look at the program by the numbers:
Division I-A teams the Bulldogs played during the first 99 years: 0
Number of losing seasons under current head coach Oliver "Buddy" Pough: 0
D-IA teams they play this season (Air Force, USC):2
Number of players in the Collegiate Hall of Fame (Harry Carson, Donnie Shell):2
Pro football Hall of Famers (Marion Motley, Harry Carson, Deacon Jones):3
10-win seasons, the last coming in 1994:4
Number of Bulldog players and coaches in the MEAC Hall of Fame:5
Games coached by W.C. Lewis, 10 of which were shutouts (6 wins, 4 losses):11
Number of victories without a loss in nationally televised games on cable under Pough:13
Number of SCSU players named MEAC Offensive and Defensive Players of the Year:14
Undefeated conference seasons since joining MEAC in 1971:18
Victories against Bethune-Cookman, Howard and Morgan State, the most against any single team:26
Losses against Florida A&M, the most against any single team:30
Points scored against N.C. Institute in 1926 during a 99-0 romp: 99
Bulldogs who reached the NFL:109
Total victories under Willie Jeffries in 19 seasons (a school record):122
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