A South Carolina State-ment — It all adds up to the 2009 National Championship
By Ron Gerrard

Under the direction of Head Coach Oliver "Buddy" Pough, South Carolina State has become one of the elite teams in the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision (FCS).

There are times when numbers can be deceiving or don’t even add up; however, this is not one of them. The South Carolina State Bulldogs assembled a team that impressively took the lead and went wire to wire (pre season to post season) in the SBN Black college football poll this past season and made a statement by winning SBN’s National Championship.

In SBN’s pre-season poll, Grambling State was the favorite to defend their 208 title and the Bulldogs were chosen as bridesmaids. However, from the opening game it was apparent that SC State had their eyes clearly focused on the prize. They kicked off their season in Orlando, Florida, against the G-men and sent an early message by defeating the Tigers 34-31. South Carolina State quarterbacks Malcolm Long and Derrick Wiley combined to throw three touchdowns and a late interception by Semaj Moody helped the Bulldogs survive a late Grambling rally.

The Bulldogs were 10-1 during the regular season losing only to Southeastern Conference (SEC) member South Carolina, while compiling a perfect 8-0 record in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC), a carbon-copy of their conference record in 2008. The ten victories the 2009 Bulldogs posted was also the sixth time an SC State team has earned as many wins in a season and matched the best ever marks of the 1976 and 1980 teams.

Two-time All-American runningback Will Ford posted back-to-back one-thousand yard season for the Bulldogs and became the all-time leading rusher in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference.

Head Coach Oliver “Buddy” Pough fielded a squad stood at the top of the MEAC in six offensive categories and was number one in four defensive departments. Thirteen team members were selected to the All-MEAC postseason roster and Pough repeated as the conference’s Coach-of-the Year. They even established a new attendance record playing before 85,134 loyal fans during five home games. Despite the lofty numbers, the Bulldogs could not secure home-field advantage in the first round of the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) playoffs and though the game was closes as expected, they fell to Appalachian State 20-13.

The setback did not put a damper on the entire season as SBN's panel of national voters agreed that South Carolina State was worthy of hoisting the SBN/Jake Gaither National Championship Trophy for the first time since 1981. “Anytime you got a National Championship behind your name it’s a real fine occasion,” Pough says. “We’re excited about the fact that we won it and are looking forward to the ceremonies down in Orlando.”

In describing his championship team, Coach Pugh pointed out that it was a very well balanced. “Offensively we’re balanced in a way where we could always keep people off balance. We never gave an indication if we would run or throw, and we could do both with pretty good proficiency.”

“Defensively I thought we were a real aggressive style defense,” Pough says. “In almost all the games we played, our defense held it’s own. The defense could mix it up…they could get after you, but they could also play cover. Our kicking game was good too. Blake Erickson (14 of 17 on field goals) was the leading kicker in the history of the university. It was a well rounded team,” he says. “No particular phase ever let us down and we could lean on all phases at times to carry the load.”

One man they leaned on was senior running back William Ford who became the all time leading rusher at SC State and in the MEAC. Ford ended his collegiate career with 4,672 yards and 35 touchdowns. “It was just a blessing. Hard work and timing pay’s off,” he says. “I told coach I never believed that I’d be the number one rusher in the conference but God had plans for me. Coach gave me the opportunity. He’s one of the best coaches that I’ve ever been around playing football. I also had a good running back coach in Daniel Lewis and it’s just all been a blessing.”

In 2009, SBN All-American wide receiver Oliver "Tre" Young set the South Carolina State record for career receiving yards (2, 156), career catches (135), and yards in a single-season (995).

Will Ford was not the only member of this championship team to establish career records. Senior wide receiver Oliver “Tre” Young set the school record for career receiving yards (2,156), career catches (135), and yards in a single season (995). This past season he and junior quarterback Malcolm Long were beneficiaries of Ford’s success the prior year as defenses would key on the Bulldogs running attack. Long took what they gave him and grabbed a bit more, becoming the school’s first single-season 2,000 yard passer.

The Bulldogs offense was successful, in part, because of the young men in the trenches. Fellow linemen and those in-the-know were insightful enough to single out and honor junior tackle Johnny Culbreath with the MEAC Offensive Lineman of the Year award. Culbreath led the blocking for the offense that accounted for 4,160 yards, with 1,745 on the ground, and finished first in the conference in pass offense 219.9 yards per game, total offense of 378.4 yards-per-game and a scoring offense that averaged 32 points per game.

The future looks bright for the Bulldogs. “Johnny Culbreath has been a good player for us for a couple of years and he’s got another year to go,” Pough says. “Actually our entire offensive line comes back in tact next year, and we’ll get another kid or two who we’ve red shirted this past year so that offensive line group as a whole with Culbreath being the guy that you think about more than anybody else, I think has got a chance to be special.”

On the defensive side of the ball, linebacker Julius Wilkerson was a major contributor all season long. He recorded 15 tackles in the playoff game against Appalachian State, seven were un-assisted. It was a game that impressed Pough. “Julius had maybe as good a game against Appalachian State as any game I’ve seen in a while.”

Linebacker David Erby also stepped-up, Pugh says. “I don’t know if there was any particular phase that was the main stay of our defense because our secondary was pretty good with corner back’s Marquais Hamilin and Rafael Bush, and then our defensive front started to play very well with defensive tackles Matt Key and Jayson Ayers.”

Some of the best news is that the South Carolina State football program will have its architect and leader, Head Coach Buddy Pugh, back on the sidelines for the foreseeable future. “We’ve actually got a new deal done,” Pough says. “So I’m hoping that I can be here for the duration…which is another five years.” It's a good bet that SC State players and fans hope that’s the case as well.