South Carolina State is a school that happens to have almost the same name as the team that the Arizona baseball team beat in the College World Series, except this school's title does without the word "state" in it. I think this school is from the same state.
I don't know if South Carolinians (which is a weird two words to say aloud) are still upset about the Wildcats' victory in baseball or if this state school hates its stateless-named school from the same state, but for our purposes, we will assume so. Here's some random crap that you might want to know about the South Carolina Bulldogs, but you probably don't.
Fun facts: S.C. State is a land-grant institution of around 4,300 students that was founded in 1897. It is located in Orangeburg, S.C., The Bulldogs have a eerily similar color scheme to that of South Carolina, making us believe they might actually dig their big bros in Columbia. The Garnet and Blue scheme is half that of the Garnet and Black of USC. This is all very weird considering "indigo blue" is the official color of the state. Moving on.
Head coach: Oliver "Buddy" Pough (84-34 at S.C. State)
The leader of the Bulldogs since 2002, Buddy is the fifth most-winningest coach in FCS football. He'd helped the team to MEAC titles in 2004, 2008, 2009 and 2010. S.C. State went 7-4 last season.
Season to Date: South Carolina State is last in the MEAC and SAVANNAH STATE IS IN THE MEAC. OK, that's a bit judgmental. The Bulldogs lost their last game against Bethune-Cookman, so they're the only team in the conference with a losing conference record.Still, the 27-14 loss is a bad sign if S.C. State is hoping to upset the No. 24 Wildcats. Like Oklahoma State, the Bulldogs had penalty problems last week, recording 13 against Bethune-Cookman. They also turned the ball over four times and went 8-for-28 through the air.
That sounds like a recipe for disaster. Orangeburg's newspaper, The Times and Democrat, writes that many of the problems come from the offensive line.
Through two games, what was considered strength in the preseason with all but one starter returning to the fold, the offensive line has been flagged 20 times.
Inexplicable penalties for false starts, illegal formations and delay of games had the Bulldogs facing 2nd-and-15 downs on nearly every second-half possession. Whether it's because of an inability to hear quarterback Richard Cue's low-pitch cadence by the lineman or as Pough hinted of trying to do too much outside of their ability, the penalties are now more than a minor concern.
It's a guarantee that Cue, who threw two picks against Bethune-Cookman, will not be getting any favors from the ZonaZoo (likely until the second half, where upon a blowout or a surprisingly close game there will assuredly be a mass exodus to the Red Bull vokka parties).
If Cue pulls a Wes Lunt and gets rattled in Arizona Stadium, it might be another long night for S.C. State. And if his offensive linemen can't handle a defense that's looking active and aggressive through two games, this might not be a game for very long.
The Bulldogs did, however, win their first game of the year -- a 33-6 victory against Georgia State. There were 12 S.C. State penalties and two turnovers in that game, though the offensive numbers were much more appealing for Bulldogs fans.