A sullen, misty-eyed head football coach Oliver "Buddy" Pough did his best to maintain his composure before the media Saturday in the Oliver C. Dawson Stadium conference room.

With Howard having already defeated Norfolk State, all South Carolina State had to do was hold its 16-14 lead over 12th-ranked Delaware State with 2:58 remaining. A win would have created a three-way tie for first place in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference championship.

Instead, a turn of events sent the Bulldogs’ title hopes flying through the uprights. After recovering a fumble by quarterback Cleveland McCoy, Delaware State drove the football to the SCSU 21 with 2.6 seconds remaining, where Peter Gaertner’s 38-yard field goal handed the Bulldogs a 17-16 loss.

A week after spoiling Hampton’s Homecoming, SCSU (4-4, 3-2) suffered the same heartbreak before one of the smallest Homecoming crowds (15,388) since the stadium’s renovation in 1994. Despite for the third straight week amassing over 400 yards and getting 100-plus rushing yards from Will Ford (161 yards) and McCoy, SCSU could not produce touchdowns to go with the yard production.

"We should have scored on the drives when we had the opportunities," McCoy said. "One play here, one play there. We didn’t get the chance to get it in. Maybe if we had scored, we would have won the game."

Stephen Grantham connected on three field goals, but missed a critical 34-yarder with 9:32 remaining in the game. McCoy had the Bulldogs’ lone touchdown on a 12-yard run, but had the game’s lone turnover when he was stripped of the football by free safety Ryan Robinson and recovered by defensive tackle Ron Spinner at the SCSU 43.

Delaware State quarterback Vashon Winton then completed a 23-yard pass to preseason MEAC Offensive Player of the Year wide receiver Shaheer McBride, which helped set up Gaertner’s game-winning field goal.

"We continue to sometimes shoot ourselves in the foot and not capitalize on situations when we ought to do more," Pough said. "Then we have some of the untimeliest penalties at the worst of times and then we have one turnover. That’s all I can think of and that one turnover basically is what beat us in the football game. What can I say? We lost the football game."

Delaware State (7-1, 6-0) struck first with a 13-yard touchdown pass play from Winton to McBride. McBride caught three passes on the 16-play, 89-yard drive which was extended by a 14-yard run on a fake punt by linebacker Kevin Conner.

The Hornets kept the football for 11:37 in the first quarter. With its time limited on the field, the Bulldogs could only muster 44 total yards, 32 coming on a McCoy run.

SCSU turned the tables in the second quarter by controlling the football and rushing for 151 yards against the MEAC’s top rushing defense. A 21-yard run by McCoy kick-started a 10-play, 55-yard scoring drive capped by a 25-yard field goal by Stephen Grantham to cut Delaware State’s lead to 7-3 with 8:42 remaining.

After the defense forced another Hornets’ punt, SCSU embarked upon its longest scoring drive of the season. Starting from their own 5, the Bulldogs ran the football 11 of the next 12 plays in moving into scoring position.

An 18-yard run by Ford set the tone as SCSU methodically marched downfield for the go-ahead score. Jonathan Woods entered the game and had two runs of 12 and 14 yards to keep the drive going.

A 12-yard run by Ford set up another touchdown run for McCoy. From the 13, McCoy faked the inside option and broke through two tackles en route for the score with 1:58 remaining in the second quarter.

SCSU resumed its running attack to open the second half. Driving the football on their first two second-half possessions into Hornet territory resulted in two 37-yard field goals by Grantham to extend the Bulldogs’ lead to 16-7.

As the third quarter ended, Delaware State moved the football to the SCSU 32. Facing a fourth-and-one at the start of the fourth quarter, Winton capitalized on a free play as SCSU was drawn offside by completing a 31-yard pass to McBride at the one-yard line.

Adam Shrewsbury dove into the end zone with 14:33 remaining to cut SCSU’s lead to 16-14.

The Bulldogs responded by moving the football 13 plays to the Delaware State 20. Once again, the drive bogged down as McCoy’s third-down pass to Dustin Dubose went incomplete. SCSU settled for another field goal, only to have Grantham miss from 34 yards.

Delaware State was forced to punt with 6:43 remaining, leaving SCSU with a chance to either add to its lead or run out the clock. The Bulldogs appeared to have the momentun after McCoy completed a 20-yard pass to Phillip Morris on a free play as the Hornets were caught offside to the Delaware State 46.

A holding penalty on Johnny Culbreath moved the football back to the SCSU 44. From there, the Hornets forced the turnover and put the Bulldogs entering another November looking to end the season on a winning note.

"We’re 4-4 and it’s a tough situation at best," Pough said. ‘We’ll get to the drawing board again in the morning. Kids are resilient. We’re really resilient as coaches. We’ll get up in the morning and see what we can get done."

Bulldog notes

Saturday marked the first Homecoming loss for SCSU since 2002 against Bethune-Cookman. It also dropped SCSU to 40-6 in games in which it led at halftime and marked just the second time it took place in conference play. Both losses have come at the hands of Delaware State ... Should Norfolk State or Delaware State earn the automatic playoff bid, it will mean four different schools (Bethune-Cookman, North Carolina A&T and Hampton) have reached the postseason since Pough’s arrival in 2002 ... Saturday was the first loss at Oliver C. Dawson Stadium since 2004 when Coastal Carolina rallied to defeat the Bulldogs 24-23 ... Linebacker Tony White had 11 tackles and two sacks. Entering Saturday’s game, the Hornets had allowed just four sacks all season ... The Bulldogs have won 15 consecutive games in the month of November.

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