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, GAME SCHEDULE CONTACT US WOMEN’S GOLF at Mercedes-Benz Collegiate Championship . in Knoxville, Tenn., today Story ideas? Questions? Comments? WOMEN'S TENNIS at Rolex Regional Tournament in Winston E-mail us at gamecocksports@hotmail.com Salem, N.C., Thursday « use FOOTBALL B GAME 7 # (M^SEC, 33 eUSC - (4-3,1-3 SEC) ‘ “I feel like an idiot right now because I don’t have any answers for what happened, how it happened, why it happened. I just know where it happened and who it happened to.” LOU HOLTZ use HEAD COACH 77 Dondrial Pinkins threw a 77-yard touchdown to Matthew Thomas in the third quarter. It was the longest touchdown catch in Thomas’ career and Pinkins’ second-longest scoring pass. 108 LSU running back Alley Broussard rushed for 108 yards, making him the first to gain 100-yards this season against the Gamecock defense. Justin Vincent added 77 yards as well. 41:43 The LSU offense controlled the ball for 41:43 in time of possession. USC was on offense for only 18:17. LSU punted only three times, all in the second half. BY JIM ROCHE THE GAMECOCK • B|§?| Not even USC head coach Lou 1. Holtz could muster up any i ‘Y answers for USC’s disap- H pointing 33-7 I9SS to No. 10 1 LSU in front of a season-high attendance 1 of 82,525 at Williams-Brice Stadium on I Saturday. “I’m just disappointed in the way we I tackled and in our lack of enthusiasm,” I Holtz said. “A lot of things can happen I during a game, and the enthusiasm was I not there. That’s the first thing we have I to address.” In a game that was highly anticipated I as a defensive matchup, LSU (6-1,3-1 SEC) | held the Gamecocks (4-3,1-3) to zero rush- I ing yards off 17 carries, while LSU rushed 1 for 263 yards on 52 carries. LSU played I three true freshmen, including Alley I Broussard, who ran for 108 yards off 19 I carries, and Justin Vincent, who carried I the ball 16 times for 77 yards and two I touchdowns. LSU also dominated the I clock, having the ball for more than 40 | minutes of the game. The Tigers took off with an early lead H as LSU quarterback Matt Mauck hit 1 Devery Henderson for a five-yard touch- HH down pass early in the first quarter, but Ryan Gaudet’s extra point failed, making | the score 6-0. In the second quarter, Mauck found Eric Edwards for a four- j yard touchdown pass that took up almost j] 10 minutes of game clock. Later in the |^| half, Vincent scored a touchdown to give the Tigers a 19-0 lead at the break. Carolina only had the ball three times in the first half for 10:13, and that time re sulted in three punts. USC found some light in the third ♦ FOOTBALL, SEE PAGE 8 Lack of rushing game leaves Gamecocks dazed and confused BY BRAD SENKIW THE HAM ECOCK The first play from scrimmage said it all in the Gamecocks 33-' loss to LSU on Saturday Demetris Summers took the handoff from Dondrial Pinkins and was hit for a five-yard loss by several Tiger de fenders. It was downhill from there, as the Gamecocks totaled no rushing yards, com pared to LSU’s 263 yards. “Coach had us prepared, and we jus didn’t come out to play how we’re sup posed to,” offensive lineman Jeff Barnes said. “You’ve got to go in week-in-week out and try to dominate the front. We weren’t able to that this week.” It was LSU who did all the dominating with its defensive line, holding a Caroline team that was second in the SEC with ar average of 187.7 rushing yards per game Summers, who came in averaging 75.! yards on the ground per game, finished with a measly 16 yards on eight car ries. Daccus Turman, who tallied three touchdowns last week against Kentucky, only took one handoff the entire game for one yard. Barnes Pinkins, one “It was a step back, and when you take a step back, you’ve got to come out with three or four steps forward. That’s all you can go. It’s the SEC; you’ve got to come out and play hard” JABARI LEVY use OFFENSIVE LINEMAN comeback. Thus, the ground attack suffered. “We go in every game aiming for the 200 mark, to get 200 yards rush ing, and I’m shocked we weren’t able to get that or get any,” Barnes said. “It’s just a big shock to me.” ui me ueuer rusmng quar terbacks in the conference, lost 26 yards on the ground, taking away what little yardage the Gamecocks picked up rushing. It was apparent that, after falling be hind 13-0 early with LSU controlling the clock, the Gamecocks were going to be i forced to air it out to have a chance of a Another ottensive lineman, Jabari Levey, said he was disappointed because the offense had seemed to be clicking af ter the Tennessee and Kentucky games. “It was a step hack, and when you take a step back, you’ve got to come out with three or four steps forward,” Levey said. “That’s all you can do. It’s the SEC. You’ve got to come out and play hard.” On the other side of the ball, the LSU offensive line did come to play and blew the Gamecocks off the line several times. The Tigers’ running game, which was in question with two fresh men expected to carry the load because of injuries, exploded behind solid blocking to score three rushing touchdowns. Alley Broussard’s 108 yards marked the first time any running back Levey has broke 100 yards this season. “I didn’t believe that anybody could run the football like that on us on a con tinuous basis,” Holtz said. “They didn’t do anything different than what we’ve seen all year. I’m talking about sweep, iso, zone, those three plays.” After seeing the discrepancy in the rushing game by the two teams, Holtz gave no explanation for LSU’s domination. “I think right now I'm sort of numb,” Holtz said. “I feel like an idiot right now because I don’t have any answers for what happened, how it happened, why it hap pened. I just know where it happened and who it happened to.” A game like this couldn’t have come at a worse time for the Gamecocks, who were making strides with the offensive production and stopping the run and third-down plays on defense. After last season’s loss at LSU, the Gamecocks dropped their last five games. This sea son, Carolina must find a way to regroup and learn from the situation. “They just beat us, and we got to live with it and move on to next week and start thinking about Vanderbilt,” Barnes said. Comments on this story?E-mail gamecocksports@hotmail.com