Central Florida blanks South Carolina State, 17-0

ORLANDO, Fla. -- The phrase “moral victory” is not in South Carolina State head football coach Oliver “Buddy” Pough’s vocabulary. Not surprisingly, he refused to view Saturday’s 17-0 season-opening loss to Central Florida in such a manner. “We’re not in the moral victory business,” Pough said. “We’re a good enough team now where we’ve got to make some type of statement and we haven’t made it yet. The one thing we do know is that we can go in and play defense I think with pretty much anybody. We’ve just got to find a way to make our overall team come together.”

The Bulldogs stopped the Knights on three of five trips to the red zone as Markee Hamlin (#11) had eight tackles and one fumble recovery to lead the S.C. State defense.

Even though the Bulldogs’ third contest against a Football Championship Subdivision foe was less lopsided than last year’s two contests against Air Force Academy and the University of South Carolina, to a man, the outcome was seen as a missed opportunity. “Tough season opener,” Pough said. “When you come into stadiums like this you feel like you might have a chance to at least hang around. “When you do for a while, you feel really bad about not getting it done.”

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Attendance: Bright House Networks Stadium, Orlando, FL: 42,126 (Capacity: 45,301)