For at least the next seven days, South Carolina State head football coach Oliver “Buddy” Pough can sleep easy at night.

After escaping unscathed a grueling two-game, seven-day Florida swing which ended with victories over Grambling Sept. 6 in the MEAC/SWAC Challenge in Orlando and Bethune-Cookman this past Saturday in Daytona Beach, the nationally-ranked Bulldogs (2-0, 1-0) enter the bye week feeling very fortunate.

“It was a tough stretch, but we got through it now,” Pough said Monday. “So whatever they say doesn’t break you, will make you stronger. Right now, what we went through as a football team will make us a better football team in the long run.

“I’m excited by the fact that we got through this stretch. I had nightmares of us being 0-2 going into this stretch. You play Grambling and Bethune-Cookman on the road. That possibility was out there pretty good. Now the fact that we’ve got that by us, let’s go on and see if we can get really going and finish up strong.”

How successful the Bulldogs are in solving some of their offensive woes prior to returning to action Sept. 26 at Oliver C. Dawson Stadium could determine the team’s fate. Although S.C. State leads the MEAC in scoring offense, and 289 rushing yards after two games is 49 more than at the same point last year following games against Division I Central Florida and Division II Benedict College, Pough has seen too many scoring opportunities go wasted.

“We’ve beaten some pretty good teams, but it’s not been real dominating in any kind of shape, form or fashion,” Pough said. “So at this point, we’ve like to be a better football team and we always strive to be that way. So anything that we can put in our process to give us a chance to improve, then we kind of embrace it. So, we look forward to seeing how good a team we can be coming out of an open week.”

Pough is especially concerned with the offensive line, particularly the status of starting center Casey Fortune. The Bulldog senior underwent an MRI Monday morning on his left knee injured in the second half of the 24-3 win over Bethune-Cookman. Backup Sam Timothy relieved Fortune in the second half and, aside from one high snap to quarterback Malcolm Long, did a sustainable job, according to Pough.

There are few concerns with the defense which has collected six sacks and eight turnovers in the first two games. Even with linebacker Donovan Richard leaving the game with a shin and leg injury, the Bulldogs managed to hold the Wildcats to 14 rushing yards.

“I think our defense is playing good,” he said. “We gave up some points (31) against Grambling, but at the same time, I thought we were greatly improved overall versus Bethune. Now, I think that had to do with something with what Bethune was doing. I think Bethune hurt themselves some with some of the things going on with them. We’ve improved some. It’s going to be a little bit of an experiment to see how much. We’ve got Winston next game. Winston’s pretty good on offense. So we’ll see exactly what those guys do against them before we get the big test in three weeks.”

The test Pough referred to is a second meeting against the University of South Carolina in Columbia Oct. 3. In anticipation, the Bulldogs plan to introduce some elements of the Gamecocks’ offensive and defensive schemes during practice over the next two to three weeks.

S.C. State will also try to further improve an already strong special teams. The unit has been responsible for setting up the Bulldogs’ first score in each of its two games and Saturday produced an 86-yard kickoff return TD by Tre Young and a career-best 39-yard field goal by Blake Erickson.

“I think we’ve got a chance to be the best we’ve been on special teams,” Pough said. “We can kick it. We can punt it. We can return punts and kicks. I think we’ve got all the ingredients to be really good on special teams.”

FCS SURPRISES

Early in the season, North Carolina A&T has provided the biggest turnaround in Football Championship Subdivision play. With last Saturday’s 17-13 win over Norfolk State, the Aggies are 2-0 overall and guaranteed to post their most conference victories since 2005.

(A scheduling conflict forced Oct. 17 opponent Delaware State to forfeit the game).

“I had no idea they would beat Norfolk,” Pough said. “That’s a little bit scary. I don’t know if Norfolk overlooked them or what. But I can tell you what. That surprised me.”

Conversely, Pough expressed somewhat shock at the 0-2 start of Appalachian State. The Mountaineers fell at home to McNeese State 40-35 to start 0-2 for the first time since 2003.

“The first loss (29-24 to East Carolina playing without All-American quarterback Armanti Edwards) you kind of halfway expected,” Pough said. “You take Armanti Edwards out, you take the three-time Player of the Year, out of the process...that can tell you in football how important one guy can be. It’s obvious this guy is the best player around. I think it has to do more with the fact that they haven’t had Armanti Edwards. They’ll get him back and get rolling.”

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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