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V 8 the GAMECOCK ♦ Friday, August 30, 2002 GAMECOCK DEBUTS nA,Tm . TTOI CROSS COUNTRY at Charleston Southern, 9 a.m. Friday l, (JIN 1A(j 1 L O WOMEN’S SOCCER vs. Birmingham Southern, 4:30 p.m. Friday MEN’S SOCCER vs. Charleston Southern, 7 p.m. Friday Story ideas? Questions? Comments? VOLLEYBALL at Michigan State Classic, Friday-Saturday E-mail us at gamecocksports@hotmail.com FOOTBALL vs. New Mexico State, 7 p.m. Saturday GAME TIME FOOTBALL SEASON BEGINS WITH SATURDAY SHOWDOWN AGAINST NEW MEXICO STATE New Mexico State at No. 22 USC 7 p.m. Saturday Williams-Brice Stadium Radio: WTCB 106.7 FM BY MATT ROTHENBERG THE GAMECOCK Playing New Mexico State to morrow night will surely bring back some pleasant memories among Gamecock players, coaches and fans. After all, it’s been nearly two years to the night that the goalposts came down in Columbia. That night, USC shut out the Aggies 31-0 to break its dreaded streak of 21 straight losses. This year, though, the visitors know what to expect when they enter Williams-Brice Stadium, and they relish the thought of beating a program that has climbed from the depths of obscurity to become one of the nation’s best. New Mexico State’s players also realize they’re not in Las Cruces anymore. “If you can go in there and up set a crowd of 80,000 people, that’s a great feeling,” Aggies re ceiver P.J. Winston said. “As a college football player, you dream of playing in an environ ment like South Carolina. Their fa$s don’t sit down. Two years ago when we went down there, it was rowdy.” NMSU’s coaching staff broke down plenty of game film in the past year to size up this Gamecock squad. They hope to avoid a pre dominantly one-sided affair this time around with the lessons learned from their studies. “They are a little bit different than most people we play,” said Barney Cotton, the Aggies’ offen sive coordinator. “They play with three defensive lineman, three linebackers, three safeties and two corners. Their defense is de signed to run around and make plays. They are great tacklers. They are the best tackling team I’ve seen on tape the last couple of years.” NMSU head coach Tony Samuel echoed Cotton’s comments about Carolina, which is ranked No. 22 in both preseason polls. “They have real good talent on both sides of the ball,” Samuel said. “(Corey) Jenkins played quite a bit last year, so the quar terback is a new guy, but it’s not a guy that hasn’t had experience. “In a perfect world, you’d like to have a tune-up game before you face a team like South Carolina, but that’s the hand we’ve been dealt.” As for the Gamecocks, head coach Lou Holtz gave credit to the opposition while stressing the importance of the mission at hand. “They were only a couple of minutes from an undefeated sea son in their conference,” Holtz said of the Aggies in 2001. “You better stop the option; you better stop the run. At the same time, you are very vulnerable to the play action pass. “I’m anxious to see (our) football team play. We might be very good; we might be very, very good. We might be very bad. It depends on how we react in game-like situations.” Senior defensive end Dennis Quinn described how the USC de fense plans to attack the Aggies’ offense. “They run the option a lot, so we’re prepared to stop the option and the run,” Quinn said. “First, we’ve got to stop the run, and once we control the line, we’ve got to get a pass rush down.” Although there is always room for improvement, Holtz says, he likes his team’s chances. “We are pleased with what we’ve done, but we’re not satisfied with where we are,” he said. “We went from 0-11 to 19th in the coun try to 13th in the country. Now we have to see if we can do it after los ing all those good athletes.... If we are all healthy, on the same page, play in the game the way we prac tice, then we will be a very solid football team.” Comments on this story?E-mail gamecocksports@hotmail.com PHOTO SPECIAL TO THE GAMECOCK Rashad Faison (No. 11), Matthew Thomas (No. 15) and Andrea Gause (No. 19) will get to run out on the field at Williams-Brice Stadium again Saturday, when the Gamecocks, ranked 22nd In the nation. Dlav host to New Mexico State in their season onener FOOTBALL 2002 This year’s special .__.;. .» "-f^PT^SIW PHOTO BY AARON HARK/THE GAMECOCK Daniel Weaver’s last-second field goal lifted the Gamecocks to a 31-28 win over Ohio State In the Outback Bowl last season. He’s an All-SEC candidate this season. Kicking game crucial for USC BY BRAD SENKIW THE GAMECOCK The USC special teams unit hopes to pick up right where it left off last season. Carolina knocked off Ohio State in the Outback Bowl thanks to the last-second, 42 yard field goal that kicker Daniel Weaver pushed through the uprights. “It was a big moment for me and the team to end the season in a great way,” Weaver said. “We like always finding some way to win at the end.” Weaver, an All-SEC candidate, returns for his junior season with high expectations, and he hopes to build on his season-ending suc cess. The place-kicker was 13-for 17 in field goals last season, with his longest being a 43-yarder. “This year, I want to improve on last year’s mistakes,” Weaver said. “I always want to be perfect, so that’s what I aim for.” The punt team will be led by senior punter Tyeler Dean, an other All-SEC candidate. Dean is aiming for more fair catches and an average of 45 yards per punt, up from last year’s 43 yards per punt. He will be joined by Kevin Saylor as the new long snapper. “We have a couple of new guys on the punt team, and through camp and last spring, they’ve looked real good,” Dean said. “I’m confident now that we shouldn’t get any (punts) blocked.” Joey Bowers will be handling any punts within 40 yards. Head coach Lou Holtz be lieves the kicking game will once again be a key to the Gamecocks’ success. “In order to take it to the next level, you’ve got to be solid in the kicking game,” Holtz said. “Tyeler Dean and Daniel Weaver are both capable of hav ing big seasons for us. “We’ve got to win the kicking game each week. That’s impor tant with the kind of schedule we have to face.” The big question going into this season is, who will return kicks and punts for the Gamecocks? The dismissal of Derek Watson leaves senior Ryan Brewer as USC’s only experi enced return man, but Brewer has been slowed by offseason an kle surgery. Carolina could receive help from a couple of track team members in James Adkisson and Jared Farabee. Receiver Chavez Donnings should get an opportunity to return as well. Holtz’s main concern is hav ♦ SPECIAL TEAMS, SEE PAGE 9 Who has the edge? New Mexico State (0-0) at No. 22 USC (0-0) use's pass against the NMSU defense: ^ ^ \AN TAG E NMSU SS Siddeeq Shabazz was all-conference last season, but he can’t be the whole secondary. USC QB Corey Jenkins, still doubted by some as a passing threat, has a perfect chance Saturday to start silencing those critics. USC’s rush against the NMSU defense: Injuries have put in doubt the effectiveness of USC FB Andrew Plnnock and TB Ryan Brewer, but it shouldn’t matter against the Aggies, who have an inexperienced front seven that should be overmatchedby the USC line. NMSU’s pass against the USC defense: Carolina’s secondary is a question mark after losing three starters to the NFL. But NMSU is unsettled at QB. Buck Pierce will get the start, but Paul Dombrowskl is expected to see playing time as well. NMSU’s rush against the USC defense: NMSU’s massive line could help establish the Aggies’ option attack, but the Gamecocks have the speed to counter. TB Walter Taylor will start for NMSU, but it will be only his third career start in four years. Intangibles: The Gamecocks are at home playing a season opener against a team with far less talent than them. The goalposts won’t come down this time, but expect USC to have its way with the Aggies once again. ! — rnMPii pn ry kyi p ai Mnwn and matt potucwopd^ 1._....—_-____I Blame Budfor baseball’s woes > MATT ROTHENBERG GAMECOCKSPORTS@HOTMAIL.COM Baseball commissioner Selig should step down. Well, another Major League Baseball player strike might or might not be upon us right now. Everybody seems quick to blame either the players or the owners or both, yet many fail to point the finger at someone else: the com missioner, Allan H. “Bud” Selig. Yep, I’m blaming Bud. I don’t think he gets enough credit for his bad ideas. In September 1992, Selig was elected Chairman of the Major League Executive Council — es sentially, the “interim commis sioner.” Shortly thereafter, he said of MLB’s problems: “Network (TV) ratings of games are down, and more than half the teams are los ing money. And the major prob lem is the huge salaries the play ers are getting.” Ten years later, nothing’s changed. As chairman, Selig presided over the 272-day player strike from 1994-95. I find it ridiculous that a guy who was still an owner then man aged to keep hold of all of major league baseball. Didn’t a conflict of interest ever cross his mind then? It sure didn’t in 1995, when he took a loan from Minnesota Twins owner Carl Pohlad — an illegal ac tion that was clearly a conflict of interest. Selig wasn’t dismissed. At the annual winter meetings that year, when the owners passed Selig’s interleague play concept, Selig said, “We’re doing things that, frankly, our fans want.” Uh huh, sure Bud. That’s why only 15,874 fans showed up at a Devil Rays-Marlins game in Tampa, and only 27,441 in Kansas City for a game against the Padres this past June. Interleague play seems to have worn out its welcome since it be gan in 1997. Nobody, short of some passing local interest, gives a rat’s ass about those games. Who wants to see the Mets play the Yankees and the Giants play the A’s? A lot of people do. Who wants to see the Tigers play the Pirates or the Phillies play the White Sox? Not me, and not many others. Selig was formally elected com missioner on July 9, 1998. Fittingly, he was the head of the search committee for a commis sioner. All he had to do was look in the mirror. After the 2001 World Series, when he decided two teams — most likely Minnesota and Montreal — were to be eliminat ed, all hell broke loose. Now I see how he paid back his loan to Pohlad: By relieving the old billionaire of his personal money pit. Smooth move, Bud. Real smooth. Some owners swayed Selig to move for contraction. It should be_j noted those owners included the New York teams, Boston, Texas and Houston — teams whose rev enues are helping those smaller clubs. Today, Minnesota occupies first place in their division, and the Expos might land in the top half of their division. Selig calls it an “aberration.” I don’t think contraction’s needed. Move them, give them more time, just don’t say, “Hey, thanks for what you’ve done for baseball, it was nice knowing ♦ ROTHENBERG, SEE PAGE 9