ORLANDO, Fla. -- There’s always that one vehicle that stands out for multiple car owners as most deserving of pristine treatment.

Considered the prize of the collection, it receives constant maintenance yet its usage is saved for only special occasions.

For South Carolina State, its "prized car" is running back William Ford. Since spring practice, the Bulldogs have limited the number of carries and hits the Travelers Rest native has taken in practice.

The goal was to avoid a repeat of last season in which Ford played through various physical ailments dating back to preseason camp. Now that the season-opener is here, the coaching staff is ready to get Ford running again.

“He has been healthy the whole season, most of the spring,” S.C. State head football coach Oliver “Buddy” Pough said. “He had a little bit of a knee deal last year all season long and hopefully, that won’t reoccur this year. But running backs have just so many carries in them regardless what the heck they are and how good they are. We just didn’t want to use a bunch of them in practice.”

It’s not hard to imagine what the coaching staff believes a healthy, hungry Ford can do. After ending last season by rushing for a single-game school record and Football Championship Subdivision season-high 322 yards against North Carolina A&T, Ford is hoping opponents are asking themselves the same question.

“Finishing off with N.C. A&T and coming into this season healthy is a good motivation,” he said. “I’ve been feeling great in practice. Over the summer, I’ve been feeling great. I feel like I’m in the best condition I have been in since I’ve been here. So I feel like I’m in great shape so far.”

Preseason camp has not been all fun and games for Ford. New running backs coach Danny Lewis is determined to tap into all of Ford’s potential with the goal of making him a complete, all-around running back.

“He stresses the little things, the things you take for granted,” Ford said. “He’s been making me work on my pass-catching, my blocking. He’s trying to get my game to go to another level.”

Focusing on the mental aspects of football has helped Ford become more focused and less prone to take any play in practice or in the game lightly. That’s why Ford is not concerned about having to work off any game rust entering today’s season-opener against the University of Central Florida.

“It’s been a good learning experience,” Ford said. “I’ve been working hard. Every play I take, if it’s one rep the20whole entire day, I try to make that the best rep I can make it and go hard every time I go out.”

Along with good health, Ford should be motivated to play in an expanded passing attack under new starting quarterback Malcolm Long.

“It should be a big boost, “ Ford said. “I feel like I can make a couple of people miss in the open field and he’s got a good arm and he’s a good quarterback. It should work fine.”

“He’ll have a chance to match up really well with our new style passing attack,” Pough said. “I think it’ll create some space with him that we didn’t necessarily have last year because people are going to have to cover us differently than they have in the past. So hopefully, he’ll benefit from that in getting some big yardage games.”

Ford would want nothing more than a second straight 100-yard game against a Football Bowl Subdivision team (Ford rushed for 112 yards in last year’s game against the University of South Carolina).

“It’s always in the back of the head where you feel like you should have been (Division) I, but you fell short,” Ford said. “So it’s motivation to play better than you usually do.”

South Carolina State at Central Florida 6 p.m.

AT STAKE:

It’s the kickoff to the 2008 season for the Bulldogs and the second straight y ear it will face a Football Bowl Subdivision team in the opener. S.C. State is seeking its first-ever win against a FBS school in three tries, while the Knights look to extend its home-winning streak to seven.

LAST YEAR’S RECORDS:

SCSU (7-4, 6-2 in the MEAC); Central Florida (10-4 overall, 7-1 in Conference USA; conference champions)

SERIES RECORD:

The first ever meeting between the two teams

ALL-TIME RECORDS:

SCSU (376-243-28); Central Florida (165-158-1)

FIRST SEASONS OF FOOTBALL:

SCSU (1907); Cenral Florida (1979)

HEAD COACHES & RECORDS:

SCSU’s Oliver “Buddy” Pough (47-21 overall, 33-12 MEAC) 7th season; Central Florida’s George O’Leary (96-91 overall), 5th season at Central Florida

DID YOU KNOW:

SCSU head football coach Oliver “Buddy” Pough led Fairfield-Central to a Class 3-A title in 1996 ...Central Florida head coach George O’Leary was the head coach at Georgia Tech from 1994-2001 and co-shared an ACT title in 1998. ... Pough is 5-1 in games played in the state of Florida as head coach... SCSU has three former players (Deacon Jones, Marion Motley and Harry Carson) inducted in the Pro Football Hall of Fame, more than all the Palmetto State’s Football Bowl Subdivision, Football Championship Division and Division II programs combined...Central Florida has played on the Football Bowl Subdivision level since 1996.

Since moving up from Football Championship Subdivision, t he Knights are 15-0 against those same teams. They are 1-8 against Palmetto State teams, 10-6 against teams from the MEAC (10-5 against Bethune-Cookman and 0-1 against Florida A&M) and 19-11 against teams from historically black colleges....Under Pough, the Bulldogs are 42-6 when leading or tied at halftime and 4-15 when trailing...Bright House Networks Stadium seats 45,000 and just opened last year...Central Florida has three Palmetto State players on the roster, WR J.T. McArthur (Laurens) and defensive ends David Williams (Lexington) and Jarvis Geathers (Andrews). Geathers is the son of former NFL lineman James ‘Jumpy’

Geathers, who played at Wichita State under head coach Willie Jeffries and nephew of former S.C. State defensive lineman Robert Geathers....S.C. State defensive linemen Keyon Brooks and Josh Ivey and wide receiver Richard Christie and Central Florida center Ian Bustillo all attended Killian High School in Miami, Fla. Bulldog tight end Octavius Darby and Knights’ wide receiver Kamar Aiken (out with a broken foot) both attended Chaminade High School also in Miami. S.C.

State running back Anthony Campbell and Central Florida defensive end Rashidi Haughton graduated from Hialeah High School.

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Football Preseason Top 10

1. Tuskegee

2. Delaware State

3. Jackson State

4. South Carolina State

5. Southern

6. Norfolk State

7. Grambling

8. Virginia Union0D

9. Albany State

10. Alabama A&M

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