Morgan State University lost to South Carolina State 54-7 on Saturday. With this loss the Bulldogs are now the 2024 MEAC football champions.
Morgan State lost the yardage battle, the turnover battle, and ultimately the game as South Carolina State Steamrolled the Bears in their biggest margin of victory this season.
TheBulldogs front seven contained the Morgan running game which had been the strength of this Bears team. Morgan finished the game with 38 attempts for 78 yards averaging 2.1 a carry.
“I was getting in my head about it a little, that’s usually our power… When they were stopping it, I was getting in my head but we just needed to stay focused,” said redshirt freshman running back Jason Collins.
The Bears’ offense had 217 total yards with 2 interceptions both returned for touchdowns and went 4 for 18 on 3rd down. Despite this they were able to have the most time of possession with 34:24.
The Bears’ only score of the day came when the Bulldogs fumbled the ball after a sack from junior defensive end Chibuikem Oguayo. This would set the offense up at the South Carolina five yard line.
Following a holding penalty, sophomore wide receiver Malique Leatherbury took a 11 yard run in for a touchdown making it 26-7.
As the Bears found themselves down 40-7 Junior quarterback Dominique Anthony stepped in during the third quarter to try to bring some life into the Bears offense.
After finding senior wide receiver Andre Crawley for five catches, the Bears’ 16 play drive was cut short when Anthony threw an interception at the goal line. The interception would be returned for a 100 yard touchdown by the Bulldogs’ junior defensive back Diego Addison.
This would be the second Morgan interception returned for a touchdown on the day as Taylor would find the waiting arms of senior defensive back Jaron Washington.
“It just comes down to execution, We go look at the film tomorrow and see what we did wrong. But we just have to come out starting fast and executing fast,” said Crawley.
Morgan’s defense gave up 430 total yards of offense, their highest of the season. The Bulldogs had 29 attempts for 241 rushing yards averaging 8.3 yards a carry. They also had 189 passing yards having 18 completions with 23 attempts.
“We just needed to stop the run, and stop the explosiveness. We didn’t complete the game plan like we should have,” said senior defensive lineman Elijah Williams.
Although their MEAC title and Celebration Bowl hopes have been flushed the Bears season is not over. The final game of the season comes Saturday Nov. 23 as the Howard University Bison come to town.
