Pough says SCSU will "hold the course"

By THOMAS GRANT JR., T&D Senior Sports Writer

There was no panic in South Carolina State head football coach Oliver "Buddy" Pough’s voice during his weekly press conference.

Following Saturday’s double-overtime loss to Norfolk State, he did not announce any wholesale changes in light of the Bulldogs finding themselves in the same predicament as last year in facing a "win or go home" scenario in each of their remaining six games.

Instead, Pough took a cue from President George Bush by stating he plans to "hold the course" as he believes the program, despite its current place in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference standings, is still going in a championship direction.

"I believe in what we’re doing," he said. "I just think we’ve got to get better at it."

"The one good thing I can tell you is that is we’ve just started to really get a good solid group of guys in here I think can carry us for a while," he continued. "I know the very last thing we want to here is wait until next year. But I can tell you that this time we will at least be a solid team for years to come.

"We’re not building a team for today. We’re building a team for the times and I think this team will be good for some time."

Photo: SCSU Head Coach Oliver "Buddy" Pough.

To that end, SCSU (2-3, 1-1) held an impromptu practice session Sunday, much of it spent correcting 19 missed assignments committed by the offense during the 20-13 setback. Many of those miscues committed in the "Red Zone" were related to the various changes made on the offensive line with newer, younger starters and a lack of execution, something Pough took full responsibility for during his weekly press conference.


"Norfolk beat us," he said. "I could put it on all kinds of stuff. We didn’t play well, but I didn’t think we played all that poorly. We made some mistakes, but we had a chance to win the football game every kind of way there was but didn’t quite get it done. So, it’s on me and that’s what I do here. The only thing I can tell you is that we’ll work to get better next week and see what happens."

Entering Saturday’s home game against equally-struggling Florida A&M (2-3, 1-2) ranked last in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference in scoring offense (12.6 points per game) and pass efficiency (82.6 rating) and next to last in passing offense (116 yards per game). Along with injuries which will keep out for a second straight week running back Travil Jamison (groin) and wide receiver Terrance Smith (knee), SCSU was unable to stretch a Spartan defense which often crowded the line of scrimmage with 6-8 players.

Pough said the Bulldogs have to show more consistency throwing the football and he hopes to still use freshman Malcolm Long (who was 1 of 2 passing for 39 yards and an interception) in spot duty alongside Cleveland McCoy.

"We’ve got to get him the experience of being in a football game so that we don’t get into next season with a totally new game who hasn’t taken any reps at all," Pough said. "So it’s important that we get him a few series a game - one in the first half and one in the second half. If things are going good, then we’ll probably play him either a third series. If things really go good, then we’d like to play him for a quarter. But, we haven’t got to that point yet. Most of the situations have been where we’ve been kind of behind the eight ball and haven’t been able to free-wheel as much as we’d like. But the first opportunity we get to play him a good length of time, we will."

The offense is not the only area where execution has been a problem for SCSU. Place-kicker Stephen Grantham has missed 9-15 field goals this season and had his fourth blocked kick of the season during overtime.

Despite the numbers, Pough downplayed the Florence native’s difficulties and was confident he could turn things around.

"He’s struggling from time to time, but that’s part of it," Pough said. "Kids miss field goals. You heard of Bobby Bowden? You heard of Wide Right? You know it happens. The best thing I can tell you is that these kids don’t try to miss them. They do the very best they can to make them. It’s tough sometimes under the microscope when that things all on you. But, we’ll be alright. We’ll get better."
Pough also defended his secondary and their coverage on the halfback option throw from Daryl Jones to Jamar Johnson in the second-overtime which proved to be the game-winner.

"The play in overtime was a play that could possibly hurt a young, overaggressive guy," he said. "The guy that got hurt in that situation had three great plays in that game. He had balls knocked down. He was in one-on-one coverage a lot and they’ve got some pretty good receivers. We were in zone at that time and they fooled him and our free safety couldn’t get over to help.

"It happens. You want to do good and sometimes people turn the fact that you want to do good so bad that you’ll be a little bit overaggressive against you and that happens."

Getting those areas up to par with a Bulldog defense which has allowed an average of 13.3 points per game in non-Football Bowl Subdivision games is important if SCSU is to make a second-half run.

"One of the things you do in a situation such as this is you focus on the next task at hand," Pough said. "You create the situation of being able to continue to fight for a conference championship and we think we can. I think as long we’ve got breath left in our body, as long as our guys are the kind of people that they are, we’re going to always give a solid effort, a full effort, to achieve what’s best at that particular task that we’re approaching at that time. It’s not very hard with the type of kids that we have to motivate them.

"Let me tell you something. The one thing I can tell you is that we played as hard as we could play on Saturday. Now we might not have done some things right, He may have made some mistakes and that kind of stuff. But I guarantee you, you won’t hear anybody say that those kids didn’t give a good effort. That’s all you can ask for and they’ll do it again this week."

BULLDOG NOTES: A decision is pending on whether to redshirt BANDIT Marshall McFadden, out since the first half of the Bethune-Cookman team. Meanwhile, the Bulldogs hope to slowly bring back offensive tackle Nygel Pearson, who’s missed over a month with a broken hand and will most likely wear a cast...Saturday’s game against Florida A&M is "Youth Day" with youngsters will be charged at a special rate. It’s also being aired nationally on tape delay by ESPNU (Channel 160 on Digital Time Warner Cable) starting at 10 p.m. SCSU is a perfect 12-0 in games aired nationally on cable and 6-0 when aired by either ESPN2 or ESPNU, which has aired five of the Bulldogs’ contest since its inception in 2005.