Box Score
Ford wins conference rushing title

GREENSBORO, November 22, 2008 – After S.C. State wrapped up an undefeated season in the MEAC with a 55-0 win over N.C. A&T at Aggie Stadium Saturday afternoon, senior Running back Michael Ferguson could have pointed his index finger in a lot of different directions.

He could have blamed an injury-plagued offensive line. He could have blamed a young offensive. He could have complained about a midseason coaching change. Or he could have raised concerns about a passing game that averaged just 58.9 yards per game over the final eight weeks of the season, forcing him to play against 8-and-9-men fronts.

Ferguson could do all of those things. But if he did, it wouldn’t be Ferguson like. Instead, he summoned the same vigor and determination he used to fight off defenders for four seasons as an Aggie to fend off the bubbling emotion that was so apparent in his face to not talk about records, but about not being able to help the Aggies win more.

“I just can’t believe it’s done. It’s seems so incomplete,’’ said Ferguson. “We should have had a few more wins. I didn’t think I had a great season. Injuries held me back. I wish I could have done more. I wish we could have won a little more.”

Ferguson came into the season needing 906 yards to become the Aggies all-time leading rusher. He looked well on his way to earning that honor after rushing for 408 yards over the first four games of the season. But an ankle injury during the fourth game of the season at Hampton, slowed Ferguson down for two weeks.

When he returned, he came back to an offensive line that had been hampered by injuries. The Aggies passing game also fell off, allowing opponents to load the box with defenders to stop the Aggies running game. The result is Ferguson came up short of the mark. He will finish his career as the Aggies sixth all-time leading rusher with 2,524 and 16 touchdowns. His yardage total makes him just the sixth Aggie in school history to rush for more than 2,500 yards in a career. Ferguson is also just the sixth Aggie to rush for 1,000 yards in a season.

“Michael Ferguson is a team guy,’’ said Ragsdale. “We wanted to get the record for Ferg, but he will tell you in a minute he would rather have wins. He’s going to take the onus for anything that goes wrong. That’s just the type of guy he is. The great thing about him is takes things to the heart. That’s what competitors do.”

Ferguson and 10 other seniors played their final collegiate game on Saturday. Ferguson had another tough day with 31 yards on 22 carries. Meanwhile, the Bulldogs offense prospered. William Ford won the MEAC rushing title with 161 yards and a touchdown on 23 carries. Teammate Travil Jamison added three touchdowns, and quarterback Malcolm Long threw for 181 yards and two touchdowns on 12-for-19 passing.

The Bulldogs will now wait to see where they will play in the Division I FCS playoffs next week as the MEAC Champion representative.

The Bulldogs, who wrapped up the conference title last week, came out like a team that might be looking past an Aggies team that has struggled lately. S.C. State fumbled the ball twice in the first quarter and led just 7-0 at in the end of the first quarter thanks to an 81-yard punt return by Philip Adams.

But the Aggies offense could not take advantage of the S.C. State mistakes as a stifling Bulldogs defense held the Aggies to just 41 yards of total offense, including minus-5 yards passing. It was the worst passing performance in Aggies history.

With the Aggies offense stymied, the Bulldogs offense eventually got into gear. On a 3^rd-and-10 from the Aggies 28-yard line, Long scrambled to right and lofted a pass to the end zone that Matt Washington had time to wait for to come down because he was so wide open for a 14-0 Bulldogs. After N.C. A&T went three-and-out; the Bulldogs put together an 11-play, 71-yard drive that ended with a Jamison 2-yard touchdown with 15 seconds remaining in the half.

“I did not feel comfortable at all after the first half,’’ said Pough. “I thought we played poorly. We made too many mistakes. We got after them a little bit; we got a couple of breaks and got it going pretty good. Once we got it going, we just wanted to get out of here healthy.”

S.C. State’s break came early in the first half. Long found Phillip Morris open on an out route. It appeared N.C. A&T defensive back Quay Long had brought him to the ground at the Aggies 30. But Morris fought off Long and kept running. The officials ruled he was not down and Morris was credited with a 36-yard touchdown reception.

The Bulldogs had a 27-0 lead at that point and were unstoppable the rest of the game as totaled 511 yards of offense.

Now the Aggies have to go into another off-season trying to figure out how to get the program back to the top of the MEAC. Ragsdale said the Aggies need a lot of offensive and defensive linemen to guard against injury.

“I’m losing a lot when you think about the fact that Ferguson will not be here next season,’’ said Ragsdale. “But my focus is on getting about 30 linemen,’’ said Ragsdale. “Realistically, we need to bring in about 10 to 12 solid linemen.”