The reigning Celebration Bowl champs may only be two games into their 2026 season but they've also done a great job at showing why last year's HBCU National Championship was no fluke. Chennis Berry has built a dominant program top-to-bottom over in Orangeburg; a team that doesn't take losing well and doesn't do a whole lot of it to begin with. South Carolina State, now 2-0, appears to be steamrolling towards another stellar season. Another MEAC ***** le and trip to Atlanta may be waiting down the road and, while of course the work to get there will be difficult, there can be no debating that the Bulldogs are the top of the mountain in HBCU football at this very moment.
SC State came out of the gates blazing hot with a 87-0 victory over Savannah State (Berry's alma mater). In that game they were about as finely tuned a machine as you can get in all three phases. They racked up 627 offensive yards and amazingly enough not one individual player had more than 100 on their own in any singular category. Josh Shaw ran for three scores in that game and it wasn't even half of the total rushing touchdowns they had that day. Keely Watson completed eight passes and nearly half of those went for TDs as well. On the other side 29 different defenders logged at least one stop and three of them were responsible for takeaways. Just to stamp it they got a blocked punt returned for a score as well.
Division II opponent or not, that's the type of performance that just can't be ignored and it was followed up by another smothering performance against Florida A&M on Sunday in the Orange Blossom Classic. Down in Miami the Bulldogs steamrolled again in their 31-13 victory. The defense in particular was lights out as they held the Rattlers to -1 rushing yards. Yes, negative rushing yards for the whole game as well as a mere 4-for-17 on third down. Had it not been for a flurry of penalties, SC State could have won by a heck of a lot more.
The roster is brimming with talent and it starts with running back Mason Pickett-Hicks who is averaging 156.5 yards per game. Pickett-Hicks ran for 210 yards against FAMU last weekend and was essentially unstoppable on his 17 rush attempts. He found the end zone twice and was named the MEAC Offensive Player of the Week. SC State also boasted the conference's Defensive Player of the Week with junior defensive lineman Jordan Dollard. Dollard was a game-wrecker on Sunday, posting 4.5 tackles for loss and 1.5 sacks. He had six stops total.
Those two are just a few of the playmakers the Bulldogs have at their disposal. Front to back Berry's team is loaded and, although the sample size has been small, it certainly seems like they are again the team to beat. Who, if anyone, might be able to do it?
#state #bulldogs
SC State came out of the gates blazing hot with a 87-0 victory over Savannah State (Berry's alma mater). In that game they were about as finely tuned a machine as you can get in all three phases. They racked up 627 offensive yards and amazingly enough not one individual player had more than 100 on their own in any singular category. Josh Shaw ran for three scores in that game and it wasn't even half of the total rushing touchdowns they had that day. Keely Watson completed eight passes and nearly half of those went for TDs as well. On the other side 29 different defenders logged at least one stop and three of them were responsible for takeaways. Just to stamp it they got a blocked punt returned for a score as well.
Division II opponent or not, that's the type of performance that just can't be ignored and it was followed up by another smothering performance against Florida A&M on Sunday in the Orange Blossom Classic. Down in Miami the Bulldogs steamrolled again in their 31-13 victory. The defense in particular was lights out as they held the Rattlers to -1 rushing yards. Yes, negative rushing yards for the whole game as well as a mere 4-for-17 on third down. Had it not been for a flurry of penalties, SC State could have won by a heck of a lot more.
The roster is brimming with talent and it starts with running back Mason Pickett-Hicks who is averaging 156.5 yards per game. Pickett-Hicks ran for 210 yards against FAMU last weekend and was essentially unstoppable on his 17 rush attempts. He found the end zone twice and was named the MEAC Offensive Player of the Week. SC State also boasted the conference's Defensive Player of the Week with junior defensive lineman Jordan Dollard. Dollard was a game-wrecker on Sunday, posting 4.5 tackles for loss and 1.5 sacks. He had six stops total.
Those two are just a few of the playmakers the Bulldogs have at their disposal. Front to back Berry's team is loaded and, although the sample size has been small, it certainly seems like they are again the team to beat. Who, if anyone, might be able to do it?
#state #bulldogs
4 days ago
