bosshogg
July 18th, 2007, 08:54 AM
By THOMAS GRANT Jr.
T&D Senior Sports Writer | Wednesday, July 18, 2007
Leave a Comment | Default | Large
There's an added pep in the step of Oliver "Buddy" Pough these days.
Having undergone hip replacement surgery during the offseason, sauntering around the practice gridiron without a golf court will be a little more pain-free for the South Carolina State head football coach.
"This hip that I have right now is my good hip," he said. "I'm back to walking and getting myself in shape for (training) camp so that I can go out and be effective in what I do."
As for the overall 'health' of the team entering his sixth season at the helm, Pough is equally optimistic despite a brutal three-game stretch to open the season with two road games against Division I foes Air Force and the University of South Carolina.
"We're hoping that this is going to be our best football team," he said. "You sometimes have these real big ideas about how you can be and what you think you can do. But it's our toughest schedule and a little bit unusual in that first year of playing a Division I school, a Bowl Division school, that we would have two of them that first year. You would think that you'd rather start out with one, but things just kind of worked out to get two different and exciting styles of games and we just felt like that for the good of the program, we were going to do that this time."
For all the excitement surrounding those historic contests, Pough believes the game which takes more precedence will take place betweem the Air Force and USC games, when his team goes against Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference rival Bethune-Cookman in Daytona Beach, Fla. Last year's 45-14 pasting by the Wildcats was not only the worst loss suffered during Pough's tenure, but placed the Bulldogs at a disadvantage for the conference title and automatic playoff bid it never overcame in finishing 7-4 overall, 6-2 in the MEAC.
T&D Senior Sports Writer | Wednesday, July 18, 2007
Leave a Comment | Default | Large
There's an added pep in the step of Oliver "Buddy" Pough these days.
Having undergone hip replacement surgery during the offseason, sauntering around the practice gridiron without a golf court will be a little more pain-free for the South Carolina State head football coach.
"This hip that I have right now is my good hip," he said. "I'm back to walking and getting myself in shape for (training) camp so that I can go out and be effective in what I do."
As for the overall 'health' of the team entering his sixth season at the helm, Pough is equally optimistic despite a brutal three-game stretch to open the season with two road games against Division I foes Air Force and the University of South Carolina.
"We're hoping that this is going to be our best football team," he said. "You sometimes have these real big ideas about how you can be and what you think you can do. But it's our toughest schedule and a little bit unusual in that first year of playing a Division I school, a Bowl Division school, that we would have two of them that first year. You would think that you'd rather start out with one, but things just kind of worked out to get two different and exciting styles of games and we just felt like that for the good of the program, we were going to do that this time."
For all the excitement surrounding those historic contests, Pough believes the game which takes more precedence will take place betweem the Air Force and USC games, when his team goes against Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference rival Bethune-Cookman in Daytona Beach, Fla. Last year's 45-14 pasting by the Wildcats was not only the worst loss suffered during Pough's tenure, but placed the Bulldogs at a disadvantage for the conference title and automatic playoff bid it never overcame in finishing 7-4 overall, 6-2 in the MEAC.