S.C. State's Pough: 2016 was rough, but Bulldogs have building blocks for 2017

ORANGEBURG, South Carolina -- The South Carolina State Bulldogs football team made it a goal before this season to reach Saturday’s Celebration Bowl in Atlanta.

That dream and winning a conference title to get there wasn’t realized, though, as 2016 turned out to be a tough roller-coaster type season, resulting in a disappointing 5-6 record.

Instead of playing this weekend, the Bulldogs instead saw N.C. Central represent the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference. The Eagles — a team the Bulldogs didn’t face in MEAC play — dropped a 10-9 game to Grambling State, kicking off the college bowl season.

As S.C. State head coach Buddy Pough and his team look back to assess how things turned out — what went wrong and what went right — now is also a good time to look to the future of the program.

This Bulldogs season played out as follows: three straight “money” games that resulted in losses to FBS teams at Central Florida, Louisiana Tech and Clemson to start the season, then three straight wins in MEAC play, followed by three straight losses in MEAC play, before finishing the season with back-to-back wins in MEAC play.

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