Coach Oliver "Buddy" Pough had South Carolina State Bulldogs in mid-season form against a great Grambling State Tigers program.Bulldogs take measure of Grambling, 34-31, in MEAC/SWAC Challenge
There was already some sense of foreboding going through South Carolina State head football coach Oliver “Buddy” Pough entering Sunday’s MEAC/SWAC Challenge against Grambling. “I got scared when I got out of my car in Orlando on Friday afternoon when we got here because it was smoking,” he said. “It had been cool at home the last week, so we really hadn’t had any real hot weather for a while. So I knew that we might be in a little bit of trouble with the elements and when we came over here today, it was really hot when we walked on the field.”
Pough’s concerns became more legitimate as Bulldog players like quarterback Malcolm Long missed most of the second half due to heat cramps. On the same day he surpassed DeShawn Baker for second place on the school’s career rushing list, Walter Payton Award finalist William Ford saw limited action after injuring his left shoulder on the first play of the second half. Despite those adversities, the 16th-ranked Bulldogs still managed to hold off 25th-ranked Grambling 34-31 in a matchup of the top two teams in black college football. Backup redshirt freshman quarterback Derrick Wiley accounted for 118 total yards and one touchdown, all in the second half in relief of Long, to earn ESPN and “Challenge” Player of the Game honors.
Semaj Moody nabs win for SC State at MEAC/SWAC Challenge
Two weeks ago, catching passes was Semaj Moody's job on the football field. "Why'd Semaj move to DB?" South Carolina State Coach Buddy Pough asked, chuckling. "Because he couldn't catch."
Turns out he could, and when it most counted, too. Moody, who said he played cornerback for the first time in his collegiate career on Sunday, made a game-winning interception with fewer than 90 seconds remaining in the MEAC/SWAC challenge. He picked off Grambling State quarterback Greg Dillon at South Carolina State's 10-yard line, allowing the Bulldogs to run out the clock and keep a three-point lead. "That was Coach, good call," Moody said after the game. "All defensive line, DBs, everybody was just where they were supposed to be. I ran at the QB. ... It was a play that needed to be made and I made it."The interception ended the Tigers' comeback bid. The Bulldogs won the opener 34-31 before 21,367 at the Citrus Bowl.
SC State prevails in Black College showdown
South Carolina State used a national stage to show that it is one of the best teams in Black College football - if not the best. The Bulldogs continued the MEAC’s dominance in the MEAC/SWAC Challenge Sunday by holding off Grambling State 34-31 in a nationally-televised game from the Citrus Bowl in Orlando. Malcolm Long passed for two touchdowns and Travil Jamison rushed for two more to lead South Carolina State (1-0) to the MEAC’s fourth win in the five-year history of the Challenge.
Legendary Coach Willie Jeffries, S.C. State University BulldogsSunday Conversation with Willie Jeffries
When Willie Jeffries watches the MEAC/SWAC Challenge between South Carolina State and Grambling, he’ll have a rooting interest for both programs. Much like the late Eddie Robinson is synonymous with Grambling, Jeffries is seen as the face of the Bulldogs eight years after his retirement. He also served eight months in 2005 as the Tigers’ athletic director.
These days, Jeffries remains a man on the go from speaking engagements, to contributing to charitable causes. In an interview with T&D Senior Sports Writer Thomas Grant Jr., Jeffries talks about his post-retirement, S.C. State football and Coach Rob:
Q. In the eight years since coaching your last game at South Carolina State, you’ve been one of the hardest-working men in retirement. What is a typical day like for you?
Path to sports glory isn't always on the field
After a solid run playing linebacker at Duke University, where he lettered in his final season, Robert Vowels anticipated joining the helmeted warriors who knocked heads for big bucks on Sundays. Being cut by a pro-football team took the starch out that plan. Nevertheless, he got up, dusted himself off and made the transition from star player to studious pupil. He earned his law degree and, over time, parlayed his education into a series of upwardly mobile executive positions within college sports.
As he told the 350 or so juniors and seniors who attended the ESPN 101 Career Panel this week, reality may have cut short his on-field dreams, but having a Plan B kept him in the game. "Once you get punched in the face the first time, you have to make some choices," said Vowels, vice president for educational affairs for the National Collegiate Athletic Association.
It was a pin-drop moment in a session replete with such moments at the Walt Disney World branch of Boys & Girls Club in Pine Hills. When Vowels spoke, the crowd — consisting largely of hoopsters, footballers, and Stuart Scott wannabes from Evans, Jones, and Oak Ridge high schools in Orlando — listened intently. The session, among the activities orbiting the Disney-sponsored MEAC/SWAC Challenge football game, which pits two historically black colleges, was meant to familiarize sports-minded students with other pursuits.
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