As HBCU football kicks off this weekend in Atlanta with the Cricket MEAC/SWAC Challenge, South Carolina State head coach Buddy Pough is wary of facing Jackson State this time around with a new head coach.
“I think they’ll be a better football team than the team we played in [the 2021 Celebration Bowl],” Pough said on the college football show “Class Is In Session.” “We’ve had experience against T.C. Taylor’s teams, and it concerns us that we haven’t done that well against teams he’s been a part of.”
Wait… did he say TC Taylor’s team will be better than the 2021 team?? pic.twitter.com/FXy8IBS4Kv
— Brandi (@ImJustBrandi) August 21, 2023
Taylor, the former Jackson State standout wide receiver who was named head coach after Deion Sanders was elevated to Colorado, previously served as offensive coordinator at North Carolina Central. The Eagles went 3-0 mark against the Bulldogs during his tenure.
Taylor was an assistant on the Tigers’ 2021 SWAC championship team that was blindsided by S.C. State 31-10, and Pough believes that JSU will be a different team this time around.
“We know they’ll get after us in ways that the previous team didn’t,” he said.
The MEAC/SWAC Challenge kicks off from CenterParc Stadium this Saturday at 7:30 p.m. EST on ABC.