There was no attempt Monday by South Carolina State head football coach Oliver “Buddy” Pough to play down Saturday’s home showdown with Hampton.

During Pough’s weekly press conference, he did not mince words about the game’s importance to the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference standings. He even alluded to last year’s rallying cry of “win or stay home” in describing the ramifications of this year’s outcome against the Pirates.

“We’re the last two teams without a loss in the league and that makes it imperative that we win,” he said. “In their particular case, if they should win, then I think it’s pretty much over. Even if they lose a game from this point on, I don’t see anybody that can beat them.

“The team that loses will be at the mercy of the other team from that point on because of the fact that the team that wins will not have a loss and will possibly go through the league with an unscathed record.”

S.C. State (5-2, 3-0) has won the last two meetings against Hampton (5-1, 4-0) and is 3-3 under Pough after going winless prior to his arrival. However, Pough believes this year’s Pirates are a more formidable squad due to a roster which prominently features Football Bowl Subdivision transfers.

“They are the big dog right now in our league,” he said. “They’ve probably played better than all of us at this point and they’ve got a good comparison in the last couple of weeks. Norfolk State comes down here and gives us all we can handle and we end up winning by one point (24-23 on Oct. 11). They handled Norfolk pretty handily up there this past weekend, so it appears that they may be playing better than us right now. So, I’m sure they’re expecting to come in here and do the same thing to us. All indications are that they are the better team right now. So, we need to really get ourselves ready to go because these guys might come in here and embarrass us.”

Another factor is the Pirates’ quick strike ability on offense and special teams. This was exhibited in Saturday’s 35-17 win over rival Norfolk State during which Jeremy Gilcrest returned a punt 60 yards for a score, quarterback Herbert Bynes threw a 70-yard touchdown bomb to Florida State transfer Damon McDaniel and University of Tennessee transfer running back LaMarcus Coker turned a screen pass from Bynes into an 80-yard touchdown.

“Gilcrest (who had a 72-yard punt return TD in last year’s 28-24 win by S.C. State) might be as explosive a player there is in this league right now between he and (Florida A&M’s) LeRoy Vann,” Pough said. “The Kevin Teel kid (who had a 32-yard touchdown reception in last year’s meeting) is a really good player and he’s returned a kick for a touchdown. (Coker) is as explosive as anybody in the conference and then you add the fact that the Bynes kid seems to be playing well means you have to have some kind of idea as to what the possibilities are each play because if not, there’s no place on the field where they can score from and you need to be aware of it.”

Ball-controlling the offense with conference-leading rusher Will Ford (who needs 76 yards to move into ninth place on the MEAC’s all-time rushing list) and Travil Jamison is seen by Pough as a “best case” scenario. He pointed out, however, the Bulldogs are ranked last in the conference in time of possession because of their ability to also score quickly.

S.C. State did have a bye this past Saturday, giving it an extra week to prepare for Saturday’s showdown. It was timely in that it not only allowed the players to refresh themselves both physically and mentally, according to Pough, but it comes as the Bulldogs begin a stretch where they will play three games in 12 days.

“We’ve been just so busy preparing every week that you use every bit of mental focus as you have over a period of time,” Pough said. “So, (the bye) gave us a chance to kind of get away a little bit, kind of rest ourselves away from it, relax a little bit. Now that we’ve got that done, hopefully everybody’s back and ready to go and excited and refreshed.”

Kickoff for Saturday’s game is 2 p.m. at Oliver C. Dawson Stadium.

Saturday’s Game

is Youth/ROTC Day

The S.C. State Ticket Office are offering ticket discounts for this Saturday’s game at Oliver C. Dawson Stadium.

As a part of Youth/ROTC Day, all youth 17 and under or college students with an ID card can purchase a ticket for $10. All general admission tickets will cost $20.

With both the University of South Carolina and Clemson idle this week, Pough encouraged fans both locally and statewide to come out and support the team.

“I’d like to invite all the fans in our neighboring areas, the Columbia crowd, the Charleston folk, to please come out and see us play because it would be an opportunity to see a nice affair this weekend. It’s ‘Youth Day’ for us. We’ve got all kinds of deals on tickets. It would be nice if we could fill this place up this weekend and I think we might have a chance to. So I’m looking forward to seeing just what kind of crowd we can have for this game.”

For more information, contact the S.C. State ticket office at 803-536-8579 or 1-800-298-9157 or click on the S.C. State advertisement at www.thetandd.com.

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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