Clemson 54, SC State 0

September 20, 2008

CLEMSON, SC – South Carolina State never got untracked against Atlantic Coast Conference power Clemson Saturday and took a 54-0 loss to the Tigers in the first meeting of the two teams at Memorial Stadium.

The Bulldogs, who suffered their worst loss since a 64-9 setback to North Carolina A&T in 2000, were limited to minus 10 yards rushing and 152 total yards in dropping to 2-2 on the season.

Coach Buddy Pough’s team, which suffered its second shutout of the season – both at the hands of Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) teams – was hurt by turnovers and ill-timed penalties in the loss. The Bulldogs committed four turnovers and were penalized 18 times for 134 yards.

“It (the game) was pretty ugly on our part,” said Pough during the post-game interview. “We found out early that we couldn’t handle them inside. They took away our running game and were just better than we were.

“We will suffer for a while, then put this behind us and go on,” he continued. “But, we can take some positives from this. Defensively, I thought we played well at times and despite the miscues by Malcolm (QB Malcolm Long), he made some good throws at times and I think he will learn from this.”

Clemson, which led 30-0 at the half, got three touchdowns from running back James Davis, who finished with 95 yards on 11 carries. He had two scoring runs of one yard and one of five yards in the contest.

Tiger quarterback Cullen Harper completed 15 of 24 attempts for 151 yards but suffered two early interceptions, which SC State could not capitalize on.

For SC State, Long connected on 22 of 35 attempts for 162 yards, with the three interceptions. Oliver (Tre’) Young had seven catches for 70 yards to lead the Bulldog offense.

SC State returns to the gridiron next Saturday when Pough’s team travels to Winston-Salem State.