Pough bearing down on SCSU offense following defeat by CMU

Bulldogs Coach Oliver "Buddy" Pough 

Orangeburg, SC - Just as in years past, Labor Day was "celebrated" by the South Carolina State football team with a regularly scheduled football practice.

Coming off a season-opening 21-6 loss at Division I Central Michigan four days earlier and facing co-Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference champion Bethune-Cookman Saturday at Daytona Beach, Fla., there's no time to take a break even for a cold-ridden Bulldogs' head coach Oliver "Buddy" Pough.

"We've got a lot of work to do," he said at Monday's press conference. "It's pretty clear that offensively we need to be more productive and I think we understand that. We've got to play better in a lot of positions. We didn't throw the ball nearly as well as we needed to do to be successful in a situation like that. We've got work to do in our passing game along with some run stuff as well."


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B-CU's big win nets ranking in 1st FCS poll

DAYTONA BEACH, FL -- Bethune-Cookman jumped right out of the gate to dominate Prairie View A&M on Sunday in the MEAC-SWAC Challenge at the Florida Citrus Bowl in Orlando.

The Wildcats also jumped out of the gate into The Sports Network/Fathead.com Football Championship Subdivision Top 25 poll. B-CU rolled out to a 42-0 lead in the first half, and never looked back in a 63-14 season-opening rout Sunday.

The poll, released Monday, had the Wildcats at 25th with 377 points. Eastern Washington, ranked first in the preseason poll last week, was still first with 3,653 points.

South Carolina State just missed making the top 25 with 335 points. The Wildcats and the Bulldogs -- 21-6 losers at Central Michigan on Thursday -- meet at 4 p.m. Saturday at B-CU.

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XU's Pieri, Jackson, Reuther sweep GCAC weekly awards

Matt Pieri

Zahri Jackson

Taylor Reuthe

NEW ORLEANS — Xavier University of Louisiana's Matt Pieri, Zahri Jackson and Taylor Reuther swept the Gulf Coast Athletic Conference weekly awards for Aug. 29-Sept. 4.

Pieri and Jackson are the GCAC's inaugural Runners of the Week of the 2011 cross country season. Reuther is the GCAC Player of the Week in women's volleyball for the second consecutive time.

Pieri, a junior from New Orleans and a graduate of Brother Martin High School, ran 5,000 meters in a career-best 16 minutes, 55.71 seconds Thursday to finish eighth out of 83 runners in the Mississippi College Opener at Clinton, Miss. It's the seventh time that Pieri has won a GCAC weekly award.

Jackson, a freshman from Kingwood, Texas, and a graduate of Kingwood Park High School, made her collegiate debut by running 4,000 meters in a school-record 16:27.58 to finish seventh out of 102 runners at the Mississippi College Opener. Jackson broke the Xavier record by more than 30 seconds.

Reuther, a freshman from Metairie, La., and a graduate of St. Mary's Dominican High School in New Orleans, had 12 kills and 15 digs to lead the Gold Nuggets to a five-set victory against Mobile in XU's home opener. Reuther has kill-dig double-doubles in both Xavier matches this season.

Xavier's volleyball team will travel to Mobile, Ala., to play Spring Hill at 7 p.m. Tuesday. Xavier's next cross country meet will be the Four Points by Sheraton Loyola Wolfpack Invitational at Metairie's Lafreniere Park on Saturday. The meet, Xavier's only local competition of the season, will start at 8 a.m.


By Ed Cassiere, Sports Information Director
VISIT: XAVIER UNIVERSITY OF LOUISIANA
VISIT: XULAATHLETICS

WSSU Rams have tough test coming up

Winston Salem, NC - It's a safe bet that when coach Connell Maynor and his staff reviewed the tape of WSSU's 22-17 win over Elizabeth City State they had to be encouraged.

One reason for that would be the crispness of the offense despite the bevy of mistakes. When the Rams weren't getting penalized their offense was very good. They started out scoring on three of their first five possessions of the game, and that's pretty good for an opener.

The task this week will not be any easier because the Rams will play at Virginia Union on Saturday. The Panthers, who are coached by Michael Bailey, who flirted with the vacant AD job at WSSU before Bill Hayes was hired, are 2-0 with two straight shutouts.

The Panthers have beaten St. Aug's and Benedict. On Saturday the Panthers won 27-0 and will look to avenge last year's loss to the Rams.


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2011 John Merritt Classic Battle of the Bands: Tennessee State Aristocrat vs. Southern Human Jukebox

Familiar traits back in SU loss

Baton Rouge, LA - It all started well enough. In the opening minutes of an otherwise gruesome season-opening 33-7 loss, the Southern football team looked like it might actually stand toe-to-toe with Tennessee State.

The defense held TSU on its first possession, and Jaguars quarterback Dray Joseph went to work. Working on scripted, predetermined plays, he connected on each of his first three passes — quick throws on three-step drops to his two best receivers, LaQuinton Evans and Charles Hawkins.

The old feeling was on its way back. Maybe Southern, in its second opener under coach Stump Mitchell, really was on its way back to respectability.

Just like that, the feeling was blown away for good. Joseph’s next pass, though high, fluttered off the hands of receiver Jared Green, then into the hands of TSU defender Joseph Wylie. He promptly returned his interception for a touchdown.  And the rout was on.

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UNO to Face Alcorn State in Tuesday Volleyball Home Opener

NEW ORLEANS - The University of New Orleans volleyball program will play the first of 10 home matches on Tuesday as they host Alcorn State at 7 p.m. at the Human Performance Center.

Tuesday's contest is one of two home matches on the 2011 slate scheduled to take place at the HPC. The remaining home events with the exception of a Nov. 2 match against Southern (N.O.) will occur at Lakefront Arena.

UNO (0-4) enters the week seeking their first win of the campaign after dropping all four contests at the Millsaps Invitational in Jackson, Miss. this past weekend.

With eight freshmen on the roster, second-year head coach Kim Young is letting her young program grow with on the court experience. As the team put more sets under their belt as the opening weekend wore on, the squad showed vast improvement.

Freshman outside hitter Laila Hansen (Chugiak, Ak.) was the top offensive threat through four matches. Hansen accumulated 46 kills for a team-best 3.54 kills per set which included a season-best 17 in a four-set loss to Martin Methodist.

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Laila Hansen - UNOPrivateers.com Student-Athlete of the Week