University of South Carolina Libraries
Gamecock Sports Schedule "Vj| ■ Swimming vs. College of Charleston, Fri., 6:30 p.m. ■ Volleyball at Alabama, Fri., 7 p.m. ■ Women’s soccer at Ole Miss, Fri., 7 p.m. ■ Football vs. Arkansas, Sat., 1 p.m. —-- ■ Friday, October 13, 2000 03IHCCOCk Page 9 < l Carolina returns home to face Razorbacks . * % Sean Rafforo The Gamecock South Carolina running back Derek Watson makes a move against the Mississippi State defense. Watson and the Gamecocks are going for their sixth win of the season Saturday when they take on the Arkansas Razorbacks. by Michael Haney The Gamecock South Carolina will look to become eligible for a bowl Saturday as they take on the Arkansas Razorbacks at Williams-Brice Stadium. The Gamecocks (5-1, 3-1 SEC) are current ly tied for first place in the SEC Eastern Division with the Florida Gators. Carolina found a way to win last Saturday against Kentucky, edging the Wildcats 20-17 in Lexington, Ky. Arkansas (4-1, 1-1 SEC) is coming off of a 52-6 drubbing of out-manned Louisiana-Monroe. Carolina is looking to avenge a 48-14 blowout last year against the Hogs in Fayetteville, Ark. The Razorbacks scored early and as often as they could as they cruised to the victory, one that has the players focused this week. “I think they ran it up on us,” senior linebacker Andre Offing said. “I don’t know if it was something with the coaches or what. But we’re going to try not to let that happen again. “They talked a lot of smack and it was hard taking that abuse,” Offing said. “We had a lot of embarrassing moments last year, and that was the worst of them all.” Carolina’s defense will try to continue its mo mentum from last week, when the unit held the high-powered Kentucky offense scoreless in the second half. Carolina’s defensive unit is ranked 12th nationally and 14th in scoring defense. Carolina has two injured starters heading in to the game Saturday. Starting offensive left tackle Travelle Whar ton and starting strong safety Rashad Faison both have shoulder injuries. Faison was injured in last Saturday’s game, while Wharton was injured at Tuesday’s practice. USC head coach Lou Holtz has said both should play depending on their per formances in practice this week. Arkansas hasn’t been doing well on the injury front so far this season. The Razorbacks lost their first and second string tailbacks in their game with Alabama earlier this year. Cedric Cobbs, who was an All-America candidate as a sophomore, separated his shoulder against Alabama and had to undergo season-end ing shoulder surgery. Cobbs had rushed for a team leading 291 yards and four touchdowns in just three games this fall before getting injured. Fred Talley broke his wrist against the Crimson Tide and is the team’s third leading ground gainer on the year. Talley resumed practice this week and may see limited action this weekend. Freshman tailback Brandon Holmes will see his first start of the year. He has led the offense in rushing the past two games. “Brandon is going to start the game and we are going to try to get him going,” Arkansas head coach Houston Nutt said. “He is a big back and I think he is just going to get better.” Offensively, Arkansas is one of the SEC’s highest scoring teams, with its 32.6 per game av erage ranking second in the conference and 21st in the nation. The Razorbacks are also averaging 5.2 yards per offensive play. Razorback quarterback Robby Hampton has thrown 11 touchdown passes and is completing more than 57 percent of his passes. Arkansas also features one of the SEC’s top receiving corps. Boo Williams is regarded as one of the premier receivers in the SEC. He is aver aging nearly 23 yards per reception and 73.4 yards receiving per contest. Three of Williams’ four touchdown receptions have been for more than 50 yards (79, 75, 54). Rachard Smith leads the team with 22 receptions for 216 yards and one touchdown. On defense, the Hogs are very aggressive and physical. Arkansas is ranked second in the SEC and eighth in the nation in pass defense (149.8), Football see page n Gamecocks hoping victory over Arkansas will lead to bowl bid ■ Team's last bowl was '95 Carquest by Rick Johnston The Gamecock y With a win in tomorrow’s game against the Arkansas Razorbacks, the South Caroli na Gamecocks will win their sixth game of the season, giving them the number of wins needed to be eligible for a postseason bowl game. The last time Carolina was close to go ing to a bowl was 1996, when the Gamecocks went 6-5. Despite a rumored invitation to the Independence Bowl, the Gamecocks did not play in the postseason play that year. Carolina’s last bowl appearance was in the 1995 CarquestBowl in Miami, which saw the Gamecocks win their first bowl game in nine tries with a 24-21 triumph over West Virginia. Although there is still plenty of football to be played this season, here is a look at the bowl games that Carolina may be going to. The Southeastern Conference has a bid in seven bowl games, including a Bowl Cham pionship Series bid to the SEC Champion. The bowl schedule was taken off of NCAAFootball.net and the conference match ups were taken from CNNSI.com. On December 29, Nashville’s Adelphia Coliseum will host the HomePoint.com Mu sic City Bowl. This bowl will feature a team from the SEC facing the No. 4 team from the Big East Conference. Also on December 29 will be the Chick-Fil-A Peach Bowl at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta, Ga. This game will feature a team from the SEC against a team from the At lantic Coast Conference. On December 31, the Sanford Indepen dence Bowl in Shreveport, La., will feature the No. 6 team from the Big 12 Conference and a team from the SEC. If the season were to end today, either Texas or Texas A&M would serve as the Big 12 representative. New Year’s Day, the traditional day of big college football games, has three bowl games the Gamecocks might be able to at tend. One is the Outback Bowl in Tampa, Fla., which will feature an SEC team playing against the No. 3 team from the Big Ten Con ference. If the season were to end today, ei ther Purdue, Minnesota or Michigan would serve as the Big 10 team. Another New Year’s Day affair will be the SBC Cotton Bowl in Dallas, Texas. This game will showcase an SEC team com peting against the No. 2 team in the Big Twelve. This will be the loser of the Big Twelve Championship game, which would currently pit Kansas State against Oklahoma. The last New Year’s Day bowl game is the Ourhouse.com Florida Citrus Bowl in Or lando, Fla. This will pit an SEC team against the number 2 team in the Big Ten, a spot cur rently held by Ohio State. The best case scenario, however, would have the Gamecocks winning the SEC Cham pionship game, giving them an automatic berth in the BCS. This year, the SEC Champion is will play in the Nokia Sugar Bowl, which will take place on January 2 at the Louisiana Super dome in New Orleans. The SEC Champion, provided they are not the top two teams in America, will face a BCS at-large team. The sports desk can be reached at gamecocksports@hotmail.com. Ninth-ranked men’s soccer team prepares for home game against strong Furman team by Casey White The Gamecock The ninth-ranked South Carolina men’s soc cer team (8-1-2) will be looking to build on a successful start to the season this weekend at ‘The Graveyard” when they take on the Furman Paladins. The Southern Conference team has an over all record of 11-2 and has yet to lose an away game during this season. They claimed their most recent victory over Wofford Wednesday night, defeating the Terriers 2-1. The Paladins boast an extremely strong de fense that has managed to hold their opponents to only 10 goals this season, while the offense kicked 44 into the net. The backbone of the de fense is All-South goalkeeper Scott Blount, who has allowed only nine goals against his record ed 33 saves for 4 goals against average of 0.82. The Furman offense has also posted out standing numbers this season, as they have taken twice as many shots as their opponents with an average of 3.7 goals per game. The stronghold of the offense is junior All American John Barry Nusum, who is on the way to being Furman’s all-time leading scorer. The forward from Bermuda leads the Paladins in points with 26, including 10 goals and six as sists. The Paladin freshmen are certainly con tributing to the cause this season as well. Lead SOCCER SEE PAGE 10 Sean Rayford The Gamecock Gamecock midfielder David Testo tries to elude a sliding Clemson defender during the two teams’ 0-0 tie on Sunday. The Gamecocks’ next opponents are the Furman Paladins. Volleyball road trip continues with games at Auburn, Alabama by Charles Tomlinson The Gamecock The Gamecock volleyball team will embark on another road trip this week end, facing Alabama Friday and Auburn Sunday. Both matches will be televised, and the Auburn match will be the SEC Match of the Week. Alabama is 154 and 5-1 in SEC play after a victory over Mississippi State Sun day. Head coach Judy Green is leading the team for her fifth year. Last year, the Crimson Tide had their first winning sea son in five years, finishing with a 17-15 record. All of last year’s starters have re turned this season. “There is no doubt in my mind that this is by far the most talented group in my tenure,” Green said. “I feel like this group has the mindset and desire to make the next step for this program.” Senior outside hitters Michelle Green and Monica Morales form the intimi dating offense for Alabama. Green, a first team All-SEC selection, led the Crim son Tide and the SEC in kills as a junior. This season, she leads the Tide with 300 kills and has also racked up 167 digs. Morales, a fifth-year senior, leads the team in digs with 188 and has con tributed 219 kills this season. Sophomore middle blocker Shelly Adamcik has the highest total of block assists for Alaba ma with 52. Senior setter Allison Lange, along with sophomore setter Bridget Studnic ka, have contributed solid defense to the Tide this season. Freshman Erin Price has proven to be a new strength for Alabama. She has already contributed 73 kills and 29 block assists this season. Alabama leads the all-time series with USC 10-7. However, USC has emerged victorious in five of the last seven meet ings. “Alabama is a real aggressive team,” said USC junior defensive specialist Liz Price. “They’re defensively really, really good, so our hitters have got to be on, and our passers have got to be on, and we’ve just got to go for the win in both games.” After defeating Georgia State Wfednes day night, Auburn is 10-8 with a SEC record of 1-5. Last season, the Tigers fin ished second in the SEC Western Divi sion with a 19-11 overall record and an 8-7 SEC record. This is coach Kevin Ren shler’s first season in charge of the squad. USC hopes to earn their fifth straight win over Auburn on Sunday. On the outside, the big names re turning for Auburn are senior Brooke Volleyball seTpage ti