South Carolina State had plenty to play for against hapless Howard

Howard, which hasn’t won a Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference game since 2007, continued its rough ride downward with a 54-14 drubbing by South Carolina State at Orangeburg, S.C.

Bulldogs coach Oliver “Buddy” Pough had something else to play for, too: He didn’t want stumble on a big day for his former mentor Willie Jeffries, as South Carolina State honored its all-time winningest coach by renaming the playing surface at Dawson Stadium in his honor on Saturday.

“Anytime you play in front of your coach, you want to put your best foot forward,” Pough said before game time. “We’re also ushering out another class of seniors. These guys have been really successful. They’ve had back-to-back 10-win seasons and trying to work on another nine-win season and have been really special to our program. So we want to send them out on a good note.”

South Carolina State (7-2, 5-1 MEAC) did just that, extending an ugly run on offense for Howard.

The Bison, who came into the game ranking 112th out of 117 FCS teams in yards per game, put up just 179 total yards. (That was actually an improvement, however, from last week when they put up just 78 against Norfolk State.) South Carolina State’s Devin Wherry’s 67 rushing yards were more than the entire opposing team.

Meanwhile, it didn’t matter which of three quarterbacks Howard employed — Terry Bradden, deposed starter Randy Liggins and Casey Council — he was no match. South Carolina State picked off four passes, including two by Bradden, a redshirt freshman who came off the bench to lead Howard with 175 passing yards and a touchdown. Bradden’s pick to Marsh McFadden was returned 40 yards for South Carolina State’s first score. Joe Thomas also took a Howard fumble back 11 yards for a fourth-quarter touchdown.

[South Carolina State to honor new College Hall of Famer Willie Jeffries.]

Malcolm Long threw for 275 yards and two touchdowns, becoming South Carolina State’s career leader in total offense. (He needs just three scoring passes to break the school record for a career and four to surpass the mark for total touchdowns.) Bulldogs running back Chris Merrill also scored three times. Blake Erickson set a new school record for career field goals, and tied his own single-season mark of 14 from last year. The Bulldogs hadn’t scored as many points since a 56-0 win over these same Bison in 2008.

Things don’t get any easier for Howard (1-8, 0-6), which gave up 50 for the fourth time this season — and for the third time in the last five games. Up next: undefeated MEAC frontrunner Bethune-Cookman on Nov. 13. The Bison are already assured of their sixth straight losing season and fourth under head coach Carey Bailey.

South Carolina State next plays at Morgan State, in a Thursday ESPN game from Baltimore.