How do you spell relief?

In Oliver “Buddy” Pough’s case, it’s V-I-C-T-O-R-Y. Entering this Saturday’s game against Florida A&M, the South Carolina State head football coach was admittedly on edge.

On Monday, a relieved Pough was the picture of calm following the 28-21 victory over the dangerous Rattlers. The win not only concluded a stretch of four straight games played away from Oliver C. Dawson Stadium, but to Pough’s relief, left the Bulldogs tied with Hampton for first place in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference.

“I knew that’s where we needed to be,” Pough said at his weekly press conference. “Is that where I thought we’d be? You’re somewhat hesitant to say this is where you’d be. It was a tough makeup of games. We played two home games, but we only played one (at Oliver C. Dawson Stadium). We were on the road for a month. You get a chance to stump your toe pretty easily. Winston-Salem State wasn’t quite good enough to beat us, but Bethune-Cookman was and it was a home game (played at Johnson Hagood Stadium in Charleston).

“This FAMU game was one where I was really concerned, especially after they saw them on tape against Tennessee State, I’ll be honest with you. They scared the fool out of me. They went down the field almost as effortless as you could possibly imagine. The first three drives, the game is 21-0 before Tennessee State got off the bus. So I was afraid that we were going to get beat Saturday, and I guess that’s the reason for our relief of sorts because of the fact that we were able to be successful.”

Even after watching FAMU erase a 20-0 lead with 21 unanswered third quarter points, Pough insisted the players and coaching staff were still confident in victory. He praised center Raymond “Duck” Harrison who implored his teammates to “Shut Up and Get It Done” and the steely resolve of quarterback Malcolm Long and William Ford, whose 44-yard touchdown run put the Bulldogs ahead for good.

Pough equally extolled the defense which, excluding the Clemson game, has allowed just 57 offensive points in five games.

“This is the best overall defensive concept and playing style that we’ve had,” he said. “We run around better. Our guys seem to be light-legged or something because they do run better to the football than I’ve seen them run and conceptually, we seem to have a better understanding.

“Part of it is the fact that (linebacker) Tony White and (defensive back) Terrance Allen have turn out to be special in their leadership roles and those guys refuse to allow us to relax. And I have to sometimes pull them back a little bit because they’re sometimes tougher on their team as far as creating that sense of urgency sometimes than I am and that has to be pretty tough because I get after them real good.”

Pough expects the intensity level to get even higher for this week’s Homecoming matchup against Norfolk State. Last year’s 20-13 double-overtime loss to the Spartans, as well as the 17-15 Homecoming heartbreaker to Delaware State still burns in the memory banks of the Bulldogs.

“We’re going to be as prepared as we can possibly be,” he said. “We lost to Delaware (State) last year on Homecoming, so we’ve got the Homecoming thing that’s kind of hanging out there that we need to clean up. And we lost to Norfolk (State) last year which was the beginning of our leak in our process last year. The fact that both of those things kind of come together at this point is ironic ... but we need to be sure that we’re on our Ps and Qs here because this team will definitely, definitely beat us. They are good enough to beat us.”

Pough said the Spartans’ record (2-3, 0-1) is misleading since they have played a tough schedule which included losses to Bethune-Cookman, William and Mary and Football Bowl Subdivision member Kentucky and expects head coach Pete Adrian to have a strong gameplan coming off a bye week.

S.C. State leads the all-time series 11-2 and have never lost to Norfolk State in Orangeburg. Kickoff is set for 1:30 p.m. at Oliver C. Dawson Stadium.

POUGH TO SPEAK

AT B-E QB CLUB

BAMBERG - S.C. State head football coach Oliver “Buddy” Pough is the guest speaker at this Friday’s Bamberg-Ehrhardt Quarterback Club.

The meeting begins at noon and usually last about 50-55 minutes. In addition to Pough, B-E Head Coach Kevin Crosby will provide a recap of last week’s game against Calhoun County and provide a little insight on this week’s opponent Bethune-Bowman.

The cost is $6 for members and $8 for Non-Members. The membership fee is $25 and all funds raised are used towards the Red Raiders’ football program. If you would like to join the Quaterback Club membership is $25.00. All of the money raised by the Quarterback Club is used for football.

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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