Motivation will not be a problem this week for South Carolina State.

Unlike the games against Central Florida and Benedict, the objective is not just about trying to have a good showing in a bid for victory. And, Saturday’s Lowcountry Classic matchup against Bethune-Cookman at Johnson Hagood Stadium is not just about playing well in front of the Charleston Bulldog fans.

It’s the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference opener for S.C. State and as S.C. State head football coach Oliver “Buddy” Pough reiterated at Monday’s press conference, it’s a contest the Bulldogs cannot afford to lose.

“I can tell you that our sense of urgency in this matter is pretty intense,” he said.

Although S.C. State (1-1) has won three of the last four meetings against the Wildcats (following a six-year winless stretch from 1998-2003), the memory of that one loss at the 2006 Lowcountry Classic still lingers. The 45-21 thrashing at the hands of Bethune-Cookman was not only Pough’s worst conference loss, but served as an albatross the rest of the season for the Bulldogs’ MEAC title hopes.

Pough is not interested in experiencing such deja vu this year.

“The last thing I want to do is to be back to a ‘gotta win’ mentality,” Pough said. “You’ve got to win every week, but at the same time, when you lose a game here or there in the schedule, you still want to have the ability to say that we’ve still got a chance and our chances lesson considerably this early in the here. So, it’s important. Really important.”

In the recent meetings, S.C. State has managed to slow down the Wyatt-bone (the option offense named after Bethune-Cookman head coach Alvin Wyatt) attack.

After looking at the statistics from Bethune-Cookman’s 28-7 win over Alabama and seeing its two quarterbacks combine for 145 yards and the running game amass 225 yards, Pough expects the Wildcats to use a more balanced attack.

“He’s in a run mostly kind of offense, but he wants to throw the ball about as much as he runs it,” Pough said. “So I guess that’s just part ... he was a wide receiver himself. He always kind of a flamboyant kind of guy. I think he likes to see the ball in their air some. I’m kind of that way myself, so he’s going to probably try to do both.”

Pough acknowledges the 182 rushing yards the Bulldogs defense allowed this Saturday to Division II Benedict College is an area which needs to be shored up.

“I see that tape, I see all kind of stuff that I can do and I’m sure that he’s going to take advantage of some of it,” Pough said. “I’m just hoping that we can figure how to clean up some of that stuff this week.”

Defensive lineman Xavier Littleberry is expected back in the lineup after missing the Benedict College game with a concussion.

Offensively, the Bulldogs will look to build on the vast improvement it showed against Benedict College against a Wildcat defense which collected three interceptions and allowed just 45 rushing yards against Alabama State. Will Ford posted his first 100-yard game of the year and quarterback Malcolm Long threw for 173 yards and two touchdowns.

“We’re still a work in progress,” he said. “I think defensively, we’ve shown ourselves to be capable and hopefully, we’ll be able to continue there. But now offensively, we’ve still got a good bit of learning to do, a good bit of experiencing to do to as coaches figure out exactly what’s best for us and what kind of numbers we ought to have run/pass wise and what kind of style of stuff we ought to continue to do.

“We think that we’ve got the talent in Malcolm and as he continues to develop and gain experience, we’re thinking that hopefully, our offense will come together and improve.”

Kickoff for Saturday’s game is 4 p.m.

PRAISING BENEDICT

Entering last week’s game against Benedict College, the Bulldogs had expectations of a one-sided victory.

Although S.C. State dominated the 42-3 contest, the Tigers did enough to earn Pough’s respect.

“Benedict was a good bit better than I had given them credit for and I had given credit, but they were even better than they were,” he said. “And the places that they were really better and I thought they would be was in both lines. Both the offensive and defensive lines were capable and I thought their plan was good. I thought they did a nice job of sticking to what they had intended to do on their arrival here. They never pannicked. The only time they got out of their element was I guess towards the end of the fourth quarter.”

Benedict will play host to S.C. State in 2009.

You must be logged in to comment.