Just call it "Homecoming II" this weekend at South Carolina State.

With several former Bulldogs greats returning to campus this Saturday as part of the school's season-long Centennial celebration and Seniors Day, the atmosphere around Oliver C. Dawson Stadium should be comparable to the "Homecoming" celebrations two weeks ago.

And while this contest does not carry the same significance from a Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference championship standpoint as the last home outing against Delaware State, SCSU head football coach Oliver "Buddy" Pough is taking the same approach towards facing the Bears.

In other words, winning the game is the primary focus and not the game-related activities.

"Morgan's like all of us," said Pough during Monday's press conference. "They've got some incentive of sorts to continue fighting. We all play for pride more than anything else. Anytime you walk on that field, regardless of what the meaning is, you play to the best of your ability. Morgan and South Carolina State I'm sure will do that this Saturday."

Entering last Saturday's game against Howard, Pough was very much concerned about his team's spirits following the one-point loss to Delaware State. He would find it on the opposing sidelines at Greene Stadium in the form of what he saw were disrespectful actions by the Bison players.

"They challenged us," he said. "They talked all week about how much better they were playing and how physical they were on defense and all of the things that they've done to improve their team. It almost got to the point where they disrespected us a little bit in the fact that, let me tell you something, we were the best football team and we knew it. It was just that we had some hard times and sometimes, I think when teams are trying to really improve their lot, they sometimes forget about the pecking order of things and push some buttons that they might not push.

"They push a button for us in pre-game that awoke us more than anything else. They came after us. They kicked balls into our drills. They did some things that we felt like disrespected us some in our pre-game activities and it just aroused our guys in a way that we went out and got after them. I'm happy to say that we played about as good as we could play there for a while and maybe some other people ought to do that to us."

The end result saw the Bulldogs post their highest point total in two years and most lopsided victory this season. Two early interceptions by LaTavis Henderson and Bailey Brinson helped set up two early scores as SCSU ran off 31 unanswered points en route to the 59-21 rout.

SCSU will clearly have a very motivated Morgan State team on its hands. For the second straight year, the Bears need a victory in the regular-season finale to clinch their first winning season since 2003. They are also seeking just their second victory in Orangeburg since 1979 in a series which SCSU holds a commanding 26-5-1 advantage.

Pough does not expect Morgan State to use the past history as motivation a la Navy against Notre Dame.

"These guys are not into what happened in the past," he said. "These guys are basically like what they can do with what they see on film this year, right here. Morgan I'm sure they're looking at us as this is an opportunity to go out and have a winning record and they have a chance to show that they are the kind of the football team that they want to be.

"I don't think they give a toot about what happened before."

All 15 seniors playing their final home game this Saturday were still in high school the last time Morgan State defeated SCSU in 2002. Fifth-year seniors like Henderson, running back JoJo McFadden and quarterback Cleveland McCoy were are a part of Pough's first recruiting class at SCSU and have helped the program finish no lower than second place since 2004.

"It's been a nice group of guys who've done some good things for us," he said.

Saturday is also expected to be a big day for redshirt sophomore running back William Ford. The MEAC's fourth-leading rusher is 22 yards shy of giving SCSU its fourth straight season with a 1,000-yard running back.

"It's been a consistent 1,000 yards," Pough said. "Some games, you get a guy who's rushed for a bunch of yards, you just keep him in there and let him pile a bunch of yards. His 1,000 yards are a legitimate 1,000 yards. He had (over) 100 yards against (the University of) South Carolina. He had (over) 100 yards against Hampton. He had (over) 100 yards against all the good teams on our schedule. We played Delaware (State), he had over 100 yards. The only game he probably didn't have a good game in was the Norfolk (State) game and the very first play of the game he got hurt and that threw him off his game a little bit. But, by and large, he's as good a running back there is in this league and I could have gotten him another 100 yards easily."

Ford will get to face the MEAC's second-leading rushing defense and share the field with the conference's rushing leader in the Bears' Chad Simpson. The Morgan State senior was named MEAC Offensive Player of the Week for the third time this season after rushing for 215 yards and a touchdown in the 24-16 loss to Norfolk State.

SCSU center Raymond "Duck" Harrison was named Offensive Lineman of the Week after leading after helping the offense amass more than 400 yards for the fourth consecutive week. The Columbia junior had five pancake blocks, four domination blocks, six cut blocks and graded out at 91-percent against Howard.

Not looking back or ahead

Although the losses to Norfolk and Delaware State will keep SCSU out of the playoffs again, Pough insists he would coach both games in similar fashion.

"The Norfolk game was one where we didn't execute some of the things that I thought we could execute," Pough said. "We just didn't quite get it done. But that's passed us now and I don't particularly want to rehash that this week.

"The Del. State game. The very last thing I need to do is bring that back to the forefront because it's painful enough now. The fact that it would have been a conference championship for us. The only thing I can tell you is that we didn't quite get enough done and if I had to do it over again, I don't know how much different I would have done. We just need to execute better."

What Pough does plan to do different is take a one game at time approach and significantly tempering any preseason talk about winning the conference or reaching the Football Championship Subdivision playoffs.

"I think tell you already, the focus next year is going to be week-to-week without necessarily trying to make anything happen until the end," he said. "I don't think we'll go in talking about championships or that type of stuff. I think we'll talk about each one of our opponents individually and as well work through the schedule, then we'll figure out where we are at the end."

n T&D Senior Sports Writer Thomas Grant Jr. can be reached by e-mail at tgrant@timesanddemocrat.com or by phone at 803-533-5547. Discuss this and other stories on-line at TheTandD.com.

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