Buddy Pough has seen his fair share of homecoming victories as a player and as a coach at South Carolina State University.
Larry Scott’s Howard Bison will attempt to make the legendary coach’s last homecoming game in charge of the Bulldogs one to forget Saturday afternoon at Oliver C. Dawson Stadium in Orangeburg.
“They’re a big, good-looking football team, and they play to the identity of who they are,” Scott said of SCSU during Monday’s MEAC coaches’ conference. “They’re going to run the football, so you better be able to fill gaps, tackle, and get off of the field on third down. Offensively, they’re athletic, big, and physical. We know they’re going to be stoked and super excited for this weekend; we’ve got to be ready to match that energy.”
The Bison are coming off a 17-10 win at Delaware State that wasn’t decided until grad student defensive back Ray Williams intercepted an option pass in the waning minutes of the fourth quarter, while Pough’s Bulldogs had a rougher time of it in a 62-28 loss to MEAC leader North Carolina Central.
“I don’t have any other way to explain it other than we didn’t play well,” Pough said. “We’ve got to get up and go for homecoming. At this point, we’ve got to see if we can pick it up for Howard. They’re a really, really good team. Coach Scott has done a fantastic job. It wasn’t but an eyelash difference between them and Eastern Michigan and Northwestern, so we’ve got our work cut out for us.”
Scott, in return understands the significance of facing Pough in his last homecoming as head coach.
“I don’t think I have to give them a hoo-rah speech; It’s a new week for Coach Pough, and we expect them to play their best football,” he said. “Like Coach [Trei] Oliver said earlier, Coach Pough will smile and laugh with you and still beat you. We know what that team is fully capable of when they’re hitting on all cylinders.”
