By THOMAS GRANT JR., T&D Senior Sports Writer
Just because South Carolina State was idle last week did not mean Joe Blackwell took it easy.
As the team's offensive line coach and offensive coordinator, Blackwell has spent the past 11 days trying to pinpoint those areas which have kept the Bulldogs' offense from putting up points this season. Although SCSU is the second-best rushing team in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference, averaging 209.2 yards per game, it's ranked last in scoring (12.5 points per game) and passing efficiency (86.7).
Yet despite those low numbers and the frustration of watching SCSU go 1-4 on scoring opportunities inside the 10-yard line against Winston-Salem State on a night it amassed 493 total yards, Blackwell is not ready to push the panic button - as long as the Bulldogs continue to win.
"They're some things we're doing really well right now and some things that we're doing that's not so well," Blackwell said following Wednesday's practice. "We had a big night against Winston as far as yardage, first-down plays and conversions on third down. But we had way too many turnovers. That's something we can't have here and then the bottom line, we didn't get the ball into the end zone.
"But, the biggest stat we check around here is wins and losses and to be honest with you, the thing we care about more than anything else is Ws and this season is going to be graded on how many Ws we get. It's not about whether we're the best offense in the league or the worst. The bottom line, we can be the best offense in the league and if we don't get to where we want to be and that's winning the league, then it's a failure. We can be the worst offense in the league and win the league and we'll be happy. But now, we don't want that. Our goal is to win the conference and we're getting better."
During the bye week, Blackwell and SCSU head football coach Oliver "Buddy" Pough focused on cleaning up the team's execution inside the "Red Zone" and correcting those areas which have held back the passing attack. While acknowledging quarterback Cleveland McCoy must become more proficient throwing the football, Blackwell said his value to the offense goes far beyond passing numbers.
"One of the things we looked at was what are we asking (McCoy) to do," he said. "Are we asking him to do too much? Are we not asking him to do enough? Are we asking him to make throws that he can make and that's one of the things we spent a lot of time this week looking at and getting him more comfortable. To be honest with you, if he doesn't have the interception in the 'Red Zone' last week and the fumble in the end zone, he probably would have had his best game of his career last week. He threw for a lot of yards (204 yards), but he made a lot of good decisions.
"There's a lot of other things that he does that don't show up in the stats. He's such a threat running the football. Why we're able to run the ball so well is a lot of people are scared to load up on us to stop the run because they're so scared of getting him in space. It's kind of like last year when we played Hampton. They had a hard time dealing with him in space. (University of South) Carolina had some trouble with him in space. A lot of people do. And there are things he does for us that don't show up in the stat book. Like it, love it, leave it, he's our guy and we love him and we believe in him and he's the guy that's going to take us where we want to go."
Ask Blackwell what's holding back the passing game and he immediately points to the injury list. The offensive line, a stable group during Blackwell's four seasons at SCSU, has lacked cohesion this season as he's had to shuffle around players due to the loss of tackle at the start of the season and injuries and ailments suffered by center Raymond Harrison (hand) and guard Devon Dawson (flu).
A major silver lining for the Bulldogs has been the play of redshirt freshman Johnny Culbreath, whom Blackwell said "has a chance to be as good as anybody we've had since I've been here upfront".
Injuries and suspensions have especially decimated the wide receiving corps. Blackwell pointed out wide receivers Terrance Smith, Tre' Young and Dustin DuBose and tight end Octavius Darby have yet to play a single game together - while not even counting the absence of wide receivers Chase Robinson (foot) and Tron Jackson (knee).
Which is why Blackwell said getting healthy from a physical standpoint will turn things around more quickly than making any significant personnel changes.
"We looked at what we're doing, we looked to see if we were trying to do too much and then the last thing we did was we wanted to take everything that we had not executed well and correct it and get better at it." he said. "We want to get better at our pass efficiency. The thing we have to do is we have to be efficient throwing the ball. We're running the ball right now kind of ahead of schedule where we were last year. If you take the two Division I games (Air Force Academy and the University of South Carolina) out, we're running the ball about 280 yards a game which is 40 yards up from where we were last year. What we've got to do in our passing game is be more efficient.
"Some of that's (McCoy) and some of it is not. Some of it is a call and some of it is dropped balls. There's a couple of things that have played into that and I don't want to stick that on Cleve now. But it's something we work on every day. When Terrance Smith was not playing at (University of South) Carolina, that hurt. Trey Young being out hurts. But we've got to get better throwing the ball. We know that. We've been working on that, but we've got to be efficient at it and we've got to take what people give us."
By getting healthy and keeping the current starting offensive line intact, Blackwell believes the Bulldogs will begin to live up to the high expectations they've set for themselves.
At least that's what Pough hopes will happen this Saturday against Norfolk State.
"They're some things you see in practice you say 'You know, maybe this will get us going'," he said. "But you don't really know until you get to a game and this is the kind of game we'll know."
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