NORFOLK, Va., Oct. 13, 2021 — This Saturday’s Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) battle between the South Carolina State (SC State) Bulldogs and the Morgan State Bears will take center stage this Saturday — in more ways than one.
For one, it’ll be a clash between two MEAC foes still searching for an identity midway through the 2021 season. The Bulldogs currently hold a record of 1-4, with the win coming against Bethune-Cookman two weeks ago. This will be South Carolina State’s first conference contest; meanwhile, the Bears haven’t tasted victory yet, entering the game at 0-5 overall and 0-1 in the conference after being shut out 27-0 by Howard last weekend.
SC State head coach Buddy Pough said of the Bears, “They’re trying to win and we’re trying to win. We’ve won one game between us. It’s not pretty for either one of us at this point. If we’re going to be anything close to the kind of football team that we’d like to be, we’ve got a lot of work to do on both sides of the ball, starting from up front, but that’s just the beginning of the process. We’re at a point now where we’re trying to figure out exactly what we need to do to be better.”
On facing the Bulldogs, Bears head coach Tyrone Wheatley said, “There’s nothing worse than an animal in a corner. They’re at home and they have to defend their home territory. They have to protect themselves. There’s nothing more dangerous than a wounded animal. That wounded animal is very, very vicious.”
The other significant factor about the game is that it will get added national attention with the premiere of the MEAC’s football pregame show, MEAC Countdown to Kickoff, presented by Coca-Cola, airing two hours before kickoff on South Carolina State’s campus. Hosted by Hall of Fame broadcaster Charlie Neal and Nicole Hutchison, the hour-long pregame show will not only focus on the football game, but it will also feature information on the history of the participating institutions, current events, updates from around the conference, interviews with coaches, student-athletes, athletics directors, presidents and chancellors and alumni, and news and analysis about the day’s featured game.
MEAC Countdown to Kickoff, Presented by Coca-Cola, will premiere at 1:30 p.m. on ESPN+.