A second straight unblemished run to a Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference championship and sixth 10-win season in school history.

A pair of victories over two, Top 25 teams and a record 19 straight wins in MEAC play. The seventh-highest average home attendance in the Football Championship Subdivision schools and third-highest among Top 25 teams.

For all of those credentials, the seventh-ranked Bulldogs (10-1) received Sunday a return trip to Boone, N.C. to face fifth-ranked Appalachian State (9-2) for the second straight year in the opening round of the FCS playoffs.

The news drew some surprise and frustration from some Bulldog players and supporters in attendance in The State Room watching on ESPNews. There was hope given S.C. State’s success on the field and at the gate that the team merited a first-round home game at Oliver C. Dawson Stadium.

Instead, the Bulldogs were the only team ranked in the top eight in the polls sent on the road. Stephen F. Austin, ranked 12th in the Sports Network Poll, was the only team outside the top eight to receive a first-round home game.

“I’m more surprised for our kids, for our program, for our community,” S.C. State head coach Oliver ‘Buddy’ Pough said. “We wanted a home game here. Orangeburg could use the economic impact of what another home game could mean for our town. I’m more saddened for us as a whole than for me in particular.

Pough did have some inkling as to where the Bulldogs would play Saturday prior to the release of the playoff brackets. .

“Early this morning, I got to the office and Appalachian was maddingly downloading our tapes,” Pough said. “So that was an indication that something was awry and I was trying to figure what did they know that I don’t know. After a while, we just kind of figured that was the case.”

Once the reality settled in, the team quickly regrouped and turned its focus completely on Appalachian State.

“You’re always surprised to go back again,” Pough said. “The fact that we’re going there, may be not a bad thing. There’s some familiarity about the whole situation and if you’re going to get it done, you may as well start with the best.”

S.C. State has won seven straight games since suffering its lone setback against the University of South Carolina. It’s coming off a 28-10 win over North Carolina A&T in which running back Will Ford became the MEAC’s career leading rusher and quarterback Malcolm Long added to single-season record for touchdown passes with two, both to career receptions leader Oliver “Tre” Young.

Last year, S.C. State played a hard-fought game at Kidd Brewer Stadium before losing 37-21 to the Mountaineers. The Bulldog actually led twice in the first half behind two touchdown passes by Long and 117 rushing yards by Ford.

Appalachian State rallied behind a school-record 433 passing yards from Greenwood native and Walter Payton Award winner Armanti Edwards. The key play in the game came in the third quarter when Edwards scrambled into his own end zone and fired a third-and-13 completion by Edwards to T.J. Courman which kept the scoring drive alive that extended Appalachian State’s lead to 30-20.

The game ended when Mountaineers’ head coach Jerry Moore, in response to Pough calling back-to-back timeouts in the final seconds, had Edwards throw a 33-yard touchdown pass to Ridge View graduate Brian Quick on the final play.

This season, Edwards has battled through leg injuries while posting historic college numbers as the first quarterback in Division I history with over 9,000 passing yards and 4,000 rushing yards. Since starting 0-2, the Mountaineers have won nine straight games and clinched a fifth straight Southern Conference title with a 19-14 win over archrival Western Carolina despite sidelining Edwards with a leg injury suffered against Elon.

Appalachian State has won 47 of its last 50 games at Kidd Brewer Stadium. A victory by the Bulldogs would set a school record for victories in a season at 11 - the same number of games in succession MEAC teams have lost dating back to 1999.

The winner will face either defending champion Richmond or Elon in the quarterfinals on Dec. 5.

“It’s not about respect,” Long said. “It’s about proving ourselves, trying to show the NCAA that the MEAC is not a weak league as some people think it is. We’re just going to go up to represent the MEAC.”

“We’ve got to go in there ready to play,” Pough said. “The exact reason why? I don’t know if there could be a bigger reason than wanting to win the football game. So we’ve got to get it done.”

Kickoff for Saturday’s game is noon and ESPNU (Channel 161 on Digital Time Warner Cable.

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