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James P. Hersh Asst. Sports Editor A gentle kick 52-14. It's not good to kick a dying dog, but some comment has to be made about this football season, which is becoming old extremely fast. After the em barrassing loss to Duke and Paul Dietzel's resignation, most Carolina fans would have been happy if the football season would have gone away and let everyone alone. But then came 52-14 and with it the realization that this season isn't dying--it's growing. 52-14. Fortunately the game was played at Georgia. After the Duke game at Williams-Brice Stadium the USC team was pelted with ice and obscenities from the home crowd for having the audacity to get outscored 20 14. Imagine 52-14. But just wait. Houston (49-12 over Virginia Tech Saturday) is coming. The football team--from the head coach down through the lowliest benchwarmer--is filled with eternal op timists. "We're still going to have a good season," they said after the Duke loss and the Dietzel resignation. And there were those who still believed. Then came 52-14. Impossible to be optimistic No one likes to be criticized, and football players, or coaches for that matter, are no different than anyone else. But it's hard to find anything good to say about a 52 14 loss or this football team in general. Jay Lynn Hodgin had another good game, but overall this season has been a disaster and it's hard to figure out why because before the season USC looked like it would be as good as last year, when it had an excit-ng and good C-bam. And even when it lost last year it was easy to find something good to say. Jeff Grantz would have an outstanding game, or Dana Carpenter would make a lot of tackles, or something. It was easy to be an optimist. This year? How can you be optimistic about 35-20, 20-14 and 52-14? No way. It's easy to understand the defense having trouble. They're playing a lot of young players and are bound to have a hard time. But would it be too much to expect to see the opposition punt once a game? Georgia didn't punt at all. They did run for 502 yards, a school record joining Georgia Tech in setting school rushing records against the Gamecocks' permissive defense. The fallen Heisman It's not so easy to explain away the offense's, and especially Jeff Grantz's, trouble. Grantz was built up into a Heisman Trophy candidate by USC's sports in-r formation office. Last year he looked different than other USC players, especially quarterbacks, have looked in the past. He was good. But this year, after two seasons in the USC football environment, even he looks a bad. Against Georgia he ran for 20 yards and completed i two passes, one to wide receiver Mike Farrell, the other ' to a Georgia defensive man. So much for the Heisman. Before the season Dietzel called this team the best r he's had at Carolina, but since then he's managed to t coach it to an 0-3 record and, sorry to say, there's no light at the end of the tunnel. Houston comes here next ~ Saturday (0-4) before Virginia Tech (1-4 and Eureka!). But then come games at Mississippi, with North a Carolina and at North Carolina State; there's no light s showing at all in those three games. It's amazing, but before the season Carolina would have been given a chance in any of those games. But amazing things have 1 happened in the last nine years of Carolina football, too. When Dietzel made his resignation as coach public t after the Duke game, he said his doctor, who maybe p foresaw something like this season, advised him to quit s coaching immediately. Wise man, that doctor. s Geor 3rd d BY GEORGE MORRIS Gamecock Staff Writer ATHENS, GA.-Led by a bevy of talented runners, Georgia set a school rushing record of 502 yards and buried Carolina 52-14 before a crowd of 50,200 at Sanford Sta dium. Ten different Bulldog runners carried the ball, all of whom averajed better than four yards per carry. The best of these was Glynn Harrison, who pounded out 136 yards in 15 attempts. ~ Also excelling was quarterback Matt Robinson, who appears to have won the signal-calling berth in his first start. Robinson gained 64 yards on 11 carries and completed 2 of 3 passes. Carolina coach Paul Dietzel considered the game one of his worst experiences in college ,ootball. He said: "This was not one of my greatest lays. This would have to rank as the longest afternoon ever in my life. We played as poorly as I can ever remember us playing. Georgia got beat last week and came back like wildmen. We got beat last week and we didn't do anything about it." "We just couldn't put anything together. When things go bad they go real bad. When you get beat hat bad it isn't just the breaks, you Just got beat." What Dietzel found especially listurbing was the ability of Robinson to pick up good yardage Autumn baseball Carolir USC's nationally-ranked )aseball team will put on a three game fall exhibition series against k local amateur team Oct. 3,7 and 1, it was announced last week. The Gamecocks, 48-8 last season md cxpected to be even stronger iext spring, will play the Columbia lets of the Central Carolina eague. "Our guys are looking forward to he series," head baseball coach sobby Richardson said. "The Jets ave a number of players that >layed at South Carolina and a umber of our guys play for them luring the summer. "The two teams are rather close, and anytime you get good friends >1aying each other you should have good series. We are looking orward to breaking up the nonotony of fall practice and crimmages." Richardson will put his new ecruits on display for the first line. Junior college transfers teve Cook and Gary Hancock are utfield prospects, Marc Van leaver is an Infielder and Greg [eatley a catcher. Gary McLean, pitcher-Infielder, Is the only high chool signee. The Jets have complied a 36-9 re rd in the Central Carolina League ra their two years of existence. In 973 they won the CCL title in a 'layoff series with the Chapin Iraves and lost the title In 1974 via be same route. "Obviously, without the USC layers that play with us in the ummer we won't be at full trength," Jets' head coach Teddy leffner said. "With Earl Bass and Va hand 1 efea't==5 Jay Lynn Hodgin despite good USC defensive pursuit. Several times in the contest Robinson appeared trapped for no gain on the option play, but a good fake of a timely pitch constantly frustrated the Carolina defenders. "Robinson did a good job; he's a pretty clever quarterback. We had a man right on top of him all day but he seemed to run rightpast us," Dietzel said. The loss was the worst a Dietzel team had ever suffered during his career at Carolina. The last time a Gamecock team was trounced as badly was a 42-0 Ina i 1.ST I in 1961. a to play 0 Bobby Richardson Raymond Lavigne as starters and Tommy Luckstone as a relief and spot starter we feel we have one of the top amateur teams In the Southeast. "But those three are playing for USC and we will have trouble in the pitching department. Billy Moore and Jeff Butts will have to do the job as starters for us with Bobby Kleinknecht, catcher Eddie Hill and infielder Tommy Moody mainstays on the Jets' team. All played at Carolina. "We may get George Beam and Drew Choate but we're not sure," Heffner said. "Choate played some for us last year and Beam played with Chapin. Also, Mike Johnson and Robby Rogers may be able to [S USC 2-14 Marvin Bass coached USC at the time. Carolina took the opening kickoff but was forced to punt after four plays.- Georgia began to rol im mediately. Taking the ball on their own 49, the Bulldogs put the first points on the-board 10 plays later when Horace King ran for the score from two yards out. The Gamecocks lost their big chance to stop the drive when Georgia had a third down and eight on the Carolina 35. At this point the Bulldogs surprised USC with a play out of the unusual "diamond for mation." Georgia gained six yards on the play, and got the necessary first down on the next play. Georgia scored again on the first play of the second quarter and a rout already appeared to be on. Carolina,however, finally began to move the ball. Primarily on the efforts of Jay Lynn Hodgin, the Gamecocks narrowed the score to 14-7. The last chance USC had to get into the game was a big break. In one of his few mistakes of the af ternoon, Robinson fumbled and Charlie Barber recovered on the Georgia 29. On third down however, Jeff Grantz was hit while attempting to pass. Carolina recovered his fumble, but Steve Young's attempted field goal was partially blocked. Taking over on the 20, Georiga drove the lentht of the field in 11 plays, and led at the half 21-7. Continued on Page Eight mateurs play but we're not sure. Mike is in graduate school at Georgia." The Jet's pitching staff is further, depleted by the loss of a pair o hurlers who are in school at Newberry and Spartanburg Junior College. "With the Gamecocks' hitting I guess we'll just have to slip out one night and move the fences back," Heffner said. "But most of our guys we're picking some up from the rest of the teams in the league, were on our trip to Alaska. "And the competition can't be any better than it was up there. They had eight Hank Smalls hiting and an Earl Bass throwing every game." The league sent an all-star team to Alaska and played Fairbanks and Anchorage, the nation's top two teams in the recent National Baseball Congress tournament in Wichita, Kan. "We're trying to get the same thing from this series with USC as we did In that trip to Alaska," Heffner said. "We want recognition. We play good baseball In this league and all we want Is a chance to show It. "We won't be at full strength against USC, but we'll still put a good team on the field. We want people to come out and If they like the way we play to come back next summer and support the Jets and the rest of the league as well. "We're shooting for a program similar to Fairbanks or An chorage. It'll take time, but If we can get some support we can have a team In Columbia that can compete at Wichita and have a chance of winning the nationals."