S.C. State football brings home Jake Gaither National Championship Trophy

S.C. State football brings home Jake Gaither National Championship Trophy

By THOMAS GRANT JR., T&D Senior Sports Writer Tuesday, December 15, 2009


Winning the mythical “2009 Black College Football National Championship” was not a primary goal for South Carolina State when it started training camp back in August.

After the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference champions officially received the honor, placing first in the final SBN Sports Black College Football poll Monday, the news was sweet music to the ears of head coach Oliver “Buddy” Pough.

“Anything you get a chance to put that by your team’s accomplishments for the year, it sounds good,” he said. “It sounds very good.”

A year after getting edged out by Grambling in the poll, S.C. State (10-2) found the voting in its favor this year in beating out Southwestern Athletic Conference champion Prairie View A&M by 13 points in the poll. Despite losing in heartbreaking fashion two weeks ago 20-13 to Appalachian State in the opening round of the Football Championship Subdivision playoffs and the Panthers beating Alabama A&M 30-24 in the SWAC championship game this past weekend before a nationally-televised audience, the Bulldogs still managed to maintain the top spot in the SBN Sports BCF poll they’ve held since beating Grambling 34-31 in the season-opening MEAC/SWAC Challenge.

Claiming the SBN Jake Gaither National Championship Trophy for the first time since 1981 caps a season of individual and team achievements for the program in its eighth season under Pough. In repeating as MEAC champion by finishing with an unblemished 8-0 conference record for a second straight year, S.C. State also set a new MEAC record for consecutive conference victories (19), defeated two Top 25 FCS opponents (Grambling, Florida A&M) and ranked as high as seventh in the national polls.

All-American running back William Ford set new MEAC and school career rushing marks, quarterback Malcolm Long became the school’s first-ever 2,000-yard passer and wide receiver Oliver ‘Tre’ Young and place-kicker Blake Erickson each established single-single records for catches and field goals made, respectively.

“The fact that we had this body of work over the season, the fact that we have played as well as we had in the two losses, we’re down 10-7 at the half to the University of South Carolina (before losing 38-14) and we go down to the wire with a good Appalachian State team, gives the opinion that we were a pretty good football team.”

While Pough acknowledges the program’s ultimate goal is winning the FCS national championship, ranking as the top team among his black college football peers signifies another progression in the pursuit of that title.

“This is a tremendous honor in the fact that we can say that we are the best Division I HBCU team for a year and I think you’ve got to take that into account,” Pough said. “So hopefully, that will give us another accolade or honor or whatever we can use to say what we’re about as far as people getting involved in our program whether it’s recruiting players, sponsors or whatever. It gives you more credibility.”

S.C. State will be honored during the 36th Annual SBN Sports Black College All-American Awards Weekend, February 12-14, in Orlando, Florida. American Urban Radio Networks will also be honoring the 24-member SBN All-American Team, SBN’s Coach of the Year and SBN’s Offensive and Defensive players of the Year. Special invited guests include former SBN Black College All-Americans, Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie (Arizona Cardinals), Kendall Langford (Miami Dolphins) and Antoine Bethea (Indianapolis Colts).

T&D Senior Sports Writer Thomas Grant Jr. can be reached by e-mail at tgrant@timesanddemocrat.com or by phone at 803-533-5547. Discuss this and other stories on-line at TheTandD.com.

Nerjyzing Diversity in the Video Gaming Industry

Company CEO takes HBCU football to next level
By Marcia Wade Talbert - November 20, 2009


Some people sit and watch on the sidelines, while others play the game. Jacqueline S. Beauchamp plays the game. Not satisfied with the dearth of diversity in the video gaming industry, in 2004 Beauchamp partnered with three colleagues to start Nerjyzed Entertainment Inc. to not only put more African American players in games, but also to increase the number of developers in the field.

“I kept saying for about two and a half years [that] someone needs to… bring some different products and different experiences to the market segment,” says the former Motorola executive. Then she realized that she was that someone.

With the release of “The Black College Football Experience: The Doug Williams Edition” Nerjyzed has done what no other company has done before: It has created the first game published by a black-owned interactive digital media company for high-end video game consoles.

Over the years, Beauchamp, now Nerjyzed CEO, and her three co-founders-- all graduates of HBCUs--were able to raise $8 million in seed money and hire 45 programmers and video game developers to work toward their goal of creating a sports video game that focuses on the football leagues of Historically Black Colleges and Universities.

The endeavor has been five years in the making and the Baton Rouge, Louisiana-based company has seen its share of ups and downs. But now, after the game’s autumn release, Beauchamp, 47, a former manager with experience working at Motorola and IBM, is ecstatic that BCFx is finally taking up shelf space at Wal-mart, GameStop, and Amazon.com.

BCFx features more than 40 teams from HBCUs that battle on the football field using not only their players but their drumlines. It also has interactive halftime shows complete with drum majors, cheerleaders, and bands. The drumline portion of the game allows players to compete against other players in a rhythm-based competition. Using a drum pad, gamers can choose to perform one of over a 120 songs ranging from artists like Beyoncé to Frankly Beverly and Maze.

Beauchamp spoke with Black Enterprise about Nerjyzed’s false starts, the support the company received from HBCUs, and explained why it is important to honor NFL legends who have roots in black college teams.

BlackEnterprise.com: Why did it take such a long time to obtain the certification to produce the games on Xbox and Sony Playstation consoles?

Jacqueline Beauchamp: Our product is very different. We have integrated two of the top tier genres in the video game industry into one product: football and head-to-head, rhythm-based competition on one game. We were the first to be able to do that.

The integration of two different genres [created] a different class of product, which took a little bit longer than we had anticipated. It was just a little bit more challenging. There were some rules that actually changed in the middle and we literally had to go back and redo a number of things that we had previously met the requirements on.

What other hurdles did you have to overcome to produce the video game?

The process for obtaining licenses from the schools took a little bit longer than what we would have really liked. Those institutions are very accustomed to licensing their brands for t-shirts and cups but licensing for a video game was very new. So we had to spend a little bit more time in educating them and getting them comfortable with the entire video game industry model. Once we got to that point the processes for getting the licenses and closing contracts went a little bit faster.

How much in sales do you need to make in order to consider the project successful?

Success for us is going to be achieved [by reaching] $14 million in revenue. Now we are in the process of making sure that everybody is set, ready, and prepared for the Christmas push on marketing and promotions, and making sure we have enough inventory in the [retail] channel, which is why I’m spending direct time with retailers like Walmart.

What role did HBCUs play in getting the game launched?

The Historically Black Colleges and Universities have supported the roll out of the product. They have participated with us in some of our TV show airings, and allowed us to come on their campuses and promote the game. Their bands got involved in recordings, and we recruited their cheerleaders and band members to do motion capture [to create animation in the game]. So they were an integral part in not just creating the product, but helping to promote it and drive sales and we’re providing royalties [from the game back to them].

Why is the game called the “The Doug Williams Edition”?

He’s been the first in so many categories -- first African American quarterback to not only start in and win a NFL Super Bowl but then to be named MVP [of the game]. Doug is a huge proponent and spokesperson for Black college football. He and James Jack Harris, [who both played for Grambling State University,] just announced the formation of the National Football Foundation’s College Football Hall of Fame.

There are so many greats that came from these institutions—like Jerry Rice and Walter Payton -- and a lot of people really don’t know that they did. We want to pay respect to all of these individuals that have made an enormous impact on not just collegiate football, but on the entire game of football, even at the NFL level.

BCFx (Black College Football Xperience) Kicks off Its “HBCU Fall Game Tour” at Fort Valley State vs. Clark Atlanta

Microsoft’s first Gold Certified Game Developed by an African American company Combining Sports and Rhythm Based Music for the Xbox 360 Console


WHO: Nerjyzed (pronounced Energized) Entertainment Inc.

WHAT: BCFx “HBCU Fall Game Tour” Kick Off – Fort Valley State vs. Clark Atlanta.
Students, alumni and gamers get an opportunity to preview this historical game celebrating the one-of-a-kind excitement experienced at HBCU football games.

WHEN: Saturday, August 29, 2009
Event time: 3pm – 11pm ET
Game time: 8:00pm ET


WHERE: Fort Valley State University
Fort Valley Stadium
1005 State University Drive
Fort Valley, GA 31030-4313

Fort Valley State’s first home game in the new stadium against Clark Atlanta sets the ground for BCFx (Black College Football Xperience) “HBCU Fall Game Tour” this Saturday, August 29th at the Fort Valley Stadium in Fort Valley, GA. Coinciding with the upcoming release of the eagerly anticipated Black College Football Experience (BCFx) – The Doug Williams Edition for the Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft, this launch marks a 12 week HBCU campus and classic games week tour followed by Miles vs. Tuskegee at Legion Field-Birmingham, AL and Bethune-Cookman vs. South Carolina State at Municipal Stadium-Daytona Beach, FL respectively. The tour is designed to expose HBCU students and fans of Black College Football to experience BCFx through the Nerjyzed Xperience Pavilion by allowing them an opportunity to preview BCFx before it comes out in stores this September.

The Doug Williams Edition of BCFx is a “cultural lifestyle” entertainment video game experience that puts you in the heart of the pageantry and excitement of Black College Football. The game features competitive football gameplay, real-time interactive halftime shows and head to head drumline competition. Along with an exciting gaming experience, BCFx has a Legacy Museum to educate and salute the incredible history of Historically Black Colleges and Universities and their great football legends. Nerjyzed celebrates many firsts with this title. This innovative product is the first video game combining sports and rhythm-based music games, and the first football title using the Unreal 3.0 engine.

Nerjyzed Entertainment, Inc. is a privately held African-American owned interactive digital media entertainment company headquartered in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Founded in 2004, Nerjyzed captures, creates and transforms unique experiences by pushing the boundaries of technology and innovation to develop and publish interactive software, films and music that reflect the urban experience and provide opportunities and inspiration to a diverse audience. For more information about Nerjyzed and its exciting line of products, visit www.nerjyzed.com.

Media contact: Lisa Sorensen - Office: 646-330-5458 Email: lisa@ls-pr.com