A model of consistency is the best way to describe the South Carolina State football team under head coach Oliver "Buddy" Pough.

The Bulldogs finished a sixth straight season with seven or more victories after defeating archrival North Carolina A&T. In the process, SCSU also extended its winning streak in the month of November to 18 games and finished now lower than tied for second place in the conference for the fifth straight season.

What the Bulldogs had hoped to avoid repeating was losing out on another Football Championship Subdivision playoff appearance. For the fifth time in six years, SCSU came short in its efforts to win the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference title outright and watched another team selected to the 16-team field.

This year, it was 10th-ranked Delaware State which earned the automatic bid in large part as a result of its 17-16 win at SCSU and will face state rival Delaware in an historic opening-round game.

Despite not meeting lofty preseason expectations, Pough took away more positives than negatives from the just-completed Centennial campaign.

"We won about 70 percent of our games," he said during his final press conference Monday. "It never gets old when you're being successful. How do you measure success? I don't know. If you're not a member of the Colonial Athletic Association (which sent five teams to the playoffs) right now, I don't know if anybody is successful.

"All I can tell you is that we had a pretty good little team. We've got the foundation in place to continue to be a decent team. Once we get over the hump and get into the playoffs, we'll see what happens there. But I'm not going to apologize for the fact that we're 7-4. I'm going to say thanks to these guys who played hard and gave us the opportunity to be successful this year. There's a lot of people who'd take where we are."

Pough pointed to the Aggies' 6-40 record since entering the 2003 regular-season finale against SCSU with a 10-1 record and the conference champion. He believes the Bulldogs' winning consistency should be highlighted more rather than their near-playoff misses and is confident the team will eventually take that next step.

If not for a pair of missed field goals against Norfolk State and Delaware State, Pough believes the Bulldogs could have gone 9-2 this season with the lone losses to Football Bowl Subdivision teams Air Force and the University of South Carolina. At the same time, he acknowledged the MEAC offers no room for error compared to the CAA when it comes to earning an at-large post-season bid.

"It's one of those kind of deals where the margin of error is so thin for us," he said. "When you're in a situation where you don't have any room for error and that's where our league is right now. It makes you play a little bit differently than some other leagues. If we were in a league where you have a chance to lose a few games...I'm wondering what do you have to do to handle it. But I don't think you can operate when you've got no margin for error and that's basically what we have right now and I'm a little bit worried about that. But, let's face it. I thought our kids played their hearts out the entire year. We played as hard as we could play."

An immediate focus for next season is recruiting a top cover man at defensive back to replace Bailey Brinson. Pough did hint about possibly moving a current wide receiver to the secondary, but declined to ide.jpgy the player.

The Bulldogs do have University of Auburn transfer athlete Anthony Campbell available after sitting out this past season. Pough called him a "breath of fresh air" whose versatility at playing multiple offensive positions and returning kicks and punts makes moving a current player to defense a viable option.

Although place-kicker Stephen Grantham tie Cedric Oglesby's school record with 11 made field goals, his 12 missed attempts has Pough wanting to add a second place-kicker to the roster. He's also opened to the possibility of utilizing punter Aaron Haire of Orangeburg-Wilkinson, who set a single-season school record by averaging 41.9 yards per kick, for place-kicking duties and plans to sign another quarterback in order to go three-deep at that position.

The departure of record-setting quarterback Cleveland McCoy and Devin Frederick of O-W switching positions leaves just freshmen Malcolm Long and Dewaine Clark entering spring practice. With Long the heir apparent, Pough said it's important for the Gaffney native to begin asserting himself now as a team leader.

Out the 15 graduating seniors, the Bulldogs only lose five starters in McCoy, Brinson, linebacker LaTavis "Trap" Henderson and offensive linemen Derrell Pringle and Nate Richardson. SCSU is also expected to return linebackers David Erby and Marshall McFadden and wide receivers Tron Jackson and Chase Robinson who missed all or most of this season with various injuries.

UPON FURTHER REVIEW, INSTANT REPLAY "NEEDED" IN MEAC

Following a regular-season which saw a pair of conference game marred by controversial calls and overall displeasure expressed by fans and coaches with the officiating, Pough said the time is now for the MEAC to utilize instant replay.

"We need in this league more than anybody," Pough said. "The lower level leagues, supposedly those of us in the Football Championship Subdivision style probably need it more than the big leagues."

Earlier this season, the MEAC suspended three football officials for one game after making inaccurate calls during the Bethune-Cookman/Norfolk State game. Following Delaware State's 25-17 victory over Morgan State a few weeks later, the MEAC ruled the officials made a mistake when they ruled Bears' running back Courtney Anderson had fumbled the football before he crossed the goal line, resulting in the Hornets' Akeem Green 99-yard touchdown return.

Pough also cited this past Sunday's NFL game between Cleveland and Baltimore in which officials ruled that Browns' kicker Phil Dawson had went through the uprights after hitting the curved extension and bouncing back on the field.

"I didn't see it but for there to be a ball that was kicked and it went through the goalposts and came back and they couldn't review it was almost a travesty which took place in an NFL level game. So if those guys get it messed up from time to time, you can imagine some of the problems that we have, especially with the things that these coaches do now to try to gain an edge. So yes, we need instant replay.

"Now whether or not we can afford it or not, I don't know. But we need it BAD!!!"

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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