A year ago, South Carolina State was quite literally in 'unchartered skies' flying over 1,000 miles to Colorado Springs, Colo. to face Air Force Academy.

It was not only the Bulldogs' first-ever matchup against the Falcons, but first Football Bowl Subdivision opponent. The unfamiliarity showed in the 34-3 trouncing at the hands of Air Force Academy.

S.C. State will once again open the season at an FBS school. In Central Florida, the Bulldogs' head football coach Oliver "Buddy" Pough have a shorter road trip and more familiarity with the opponent.

"I knew we know a little bit more about Central Florida than we knew last year about Air Force," said Pough as his Monday press conference. "Air Force's staff was new and we had no idea - well, we had some idea from (Air Force head coach Troy) Calhoun's past coaching positions, but we really didn't know what they were going to do and we think we have a better idea now.

"Central Florida has a new defensive coordinator (Dave Huxtable), but he was on the staff last year. So we don't think they'll change that much. We think what they do mostly is Coach (George) O'Leary's anyway. Regardless, we feel like they'll be pretty similar to what they've been."

Whether that familiarity, the experience from last year's two games against Air Force Academy and the University of South Carolina (a 31-3 loss) and a more versatile offense with quarterback Malcolm Long will translate into a better performance against an FBS opponent depends on how well the Bulldogs match up with the Knights' defensive line.

"We'd like to score some more points - more points than we did last year," Pough said. "It's no telling what we might have been able to do defensively if we had been able to maintain the ball a little bit better, if we had been able to score more points. Hopefully now, the experience of having those kind of situations before will give us the ability to do better now.

"Whether or not that's the case, I don't know. The thing that worries you is that Central Florida just upfront is just daggum good. They played Mississippi State last year in the Liberty Bowl and heck, I think the two teams could have played for two weeks and not scored a touchdown. So, it was one of those kind of situations where you really, really get a feel for just how good they are as a defensive and offensive front."

Even if the Bulldogs can give enough time for Long to find his wide receivers, UCF returns all four starters to a secondary with 35 career interceptions in 134 career starts.

"That will give us some problems," Pough said. "They are a really strong secondary and they tackle, they beat up your receivers, they're really our aggressive and you can tell what they understand conceptually what they're trying to accomplish. They always seem to be able to be able to hide some of the thoughts that they're trying to accomplish in their scenes. It's going to be a treat to see if our guy (Long) can have some success against that secondary."

On defense, it appears S.C. State will most likely not have the services of senior WILL linebacker Tony White. The Seneca native was scheduled to see a hand specialist to determine the extent of his left hand injury suffered during Friday's practice.

Stepping in place of White will be sophomore Julius Wilkerson, who saw significant action last season at MIKE linebacker.

UCF 'NOT LIFE OR DEATH'

Although S.C. State has aspirations of pulling an upset on the road, Pough is taking a realistic approach towards his team's two FBS contests.

"We want to beat Central Florida, it's not life or death whether we win that game or not," he said. "We want to go down and we want to play good and we want to have an opportunity. We want to give our guys a chance to be in the football game late and if we get lucky to steal a football game."

Pough has a more of a sense of urgency when it comes to upcoming games against Benedict College (Sept. 6) at home and Bethune-Cookman (Sept. 13) at the Lowcountry Classic in Charleston.

"Benedict and Bethune are life and death for our (butts)," Pough said. "Both of those games will send to me some sort of notice of vulnerability on our part and I don't need that. We don't need that. Our team doesn't need that.

"Now Clemson, it goes back to the Central Florida game. We need to go up and show ourselves really well. You go out to win a game like that as a pretty heavy underdog, you know you've done something special. But you understand that too."

THE WEEK AHEAD

The Bulldogs were off Monday and will resume practice Tuesday at 3:45 p.m. They will hold two more practices Wednesday and Thursday at the same time before leaving for Orlando Friday morning.

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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