Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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James P. Hersh Asst. Sports Editor History making Last week was sort of an historic week, what with President Ford testifying before a Congressional sub committee and then coming to 'South Carolina, and finally with Carolina's football team capping the week by ending the longest losing streak at the start of a season in the school's history. No one really believed it was possible for the Gamecocks to go throught the year winless, not with Appalachian State and Wake Forest remaining on the schedule, but the win over Mississippi was important in that it gives USC at least one win over a reputable team. It can be compared with the victory a couple years ago which kept Florida State out of the Peach Bo)vl. It seems only appropriate that USC's defense and placekicker Bobby Marino played instrumental parts in the win. The defense, which has given up an average of more than 400 yards rushing per game, held Mississippi to less than 200 on Saturday, while using a few different formations than before. And Marino, who a few weeks ago was one of the more disenchanted players on the team after being benched in the favor of Steve Young, came off the bench to win the game with a short field goal. Win No Fluke What has to be very satisfying for Paul Dietzel and his team is that the win can nardly be labeled a fluke. Carolina dominated the game, as the statistics bear out, and Mississippi's only score came after the Gamecocks fumbled the second half kickoff inside their own 15-yard line , one of USC's four fumbles in the game. In addition, USC had two running backs--Kevin Long and Jay Lynn Hodgin--rush for more than 100 yards, which helped to control the ball, giving the defense more time to rest. Overall Carolina had more than 300 rushing yards, with quarterback Jeff Grantz adding 71 of them. USC went through a frustrating five weeks, and after one week of fruition has to play North Carolina on Saturday. North Carolina is one of the top three teams in the ACC, probably second after its decisive 33-14 win over North Carolina State last week. No time to relax So with one win under their belts, the Gamecocks can hardly relax and are definitely underdogs again this week. But the experts, who had them 17-point favorites against Virginia Tech and anywhere from 14 to 40-point underdogs against Mississippi, are probably going out of their minds trying to figure out USC. Dietzel, and most of his p layers, have insisted after every loss this year that they will not quit, and their ability to beat Mississippi down thereseemed to point ou that they are not ready to concede the season. And now with a win behind it maybe they can come back with a four or five-win season. While Dietzel's statement that "We started our season today," which he made after the Ole Miss game, kind of makes you want to cringe and ask why they didn't .begin it five weeks ago when everyone else did, it has a bit of hope to it. 1-5 better than 0-6 Whatever record Carolina does end up with, it wil have to be disappointing to Dietzel, who thought thi team was the best he ever had here. He still migh believe it is, in fact, he said Saturday night USC coul4 have easily gone into the Mississippi game 4-1, rathe than 0-5. Now, as Dietzel said, USC is only 1-5, but that is still whole lot better than 0-..a MPri Impr shaC BY HAROLD REAMES Of the Gamecock Staff USC saw its defense come to life and remain alive for four full quarters of football Saturday af ternoon as the Gamecocks dulled Mississippi's Homecoming festivities before a crowd of 32,800 at Oxford in a 10-7 victory. The Gamecock defense, which has been injury-riddled and somewhat more than vulnerable to the rush, held its Ole Miss ground game to .179 yards on 46 attempts and shut off a passing attack that featured SEC passing leader Kenny Lyons. Lyons and his replacement, sophomore quarterback Butch Evans. com pleted only two of 13 passes for 44 yards. By far the best offensive showing of the game came when Jeff Grantz directed the Gamecocks on In worse days Paul Dietzel appears d scoreboard at the Virginia However, Dietzel was con Saturday when Carolina go Staff photo by Russ Jefice Win gives Carolina t big lift oved de kdes Ole a 69-yard touchdown drive on their first possession, with sophomore Kevin Long scoring on a pitch from Grantz. who appeared to have regained his form as an ex ceptional veer quarterback. The drive would have stalled, however, if not for a roughing the kicker penalty against the Rebels after a missed field goal attempt by kicker Steve Young. The Gamecocks consistently drove into Ole Miss territory but lost the ball on fumbles and one interception. Long, with 109, and senior halfback .Jay Lynn Hodgin,with 107, both rushed for more than 100 yards while Grantz completed five of 10 passes for 124 yards Four of Grantz' passes went to' tight end Scott Thomas, whose receptions totaled 111 yards. istraught looking at the Tech game two weeks ago. siderably more happy last *t its first win of the season. at. BY BILLY BAKER Of the Gamecock Staff When you bring an 0-5 record to Hemingway Stadium on the campus of the University of Mississippi and completely dominate the Rebels before a Homecoming crowd it can make you forget about the past for awhile. Had the Gamecocks experienced the season that many had forecasted for them, their 10-7 win over Ole Miss would have been just another game. However, there was, just cause for the pan demonium and back slapping that echoed in the USC dressing room after the game. No one was thinking about the previous losses, naturally. fense Miss twice irn the game and averaged 41 yards kicking into a stiff wind. Ole Miss could manage only one sustained drive against the staunch Gamecock defenders. With 1:01 left in the first quarter freshman tailback Michael Sweet raced,around left end for 31 yards to the USC 33. The Rebels then drove to the three, with Sweet and junior fullback Paul Hofer alter nating on dive plays, before Lyons muffed a handoff and linebacker Garry Mott recovered the lost ball for the Gamecocks at the five. The lone Rebel touchdown came after Randy Chastain fumbled on the kickoff return at the start of the second half and the Ole Miss kicker Steve Lavinghouze recovered at the USC 13. Tailback Larry Kramer dove one yard over right guard for the- score. With 2:46 left in the game Grantz and Ron Bass, who was announced as the starting quarterback before the game but did not start, directed a Gamecock drive from the USC 47 to the Ole Miss four-yard line. Grantz, on a keeper, was stopped short of the first down at the four. Only 17 seconds were remaining on the clock when Bobby Marino, who had not kicked USC's previous two field goal attempts, kicked a 21 yard field goal to give the Gamecocks the win. The defense, which had shown signs of lackluster and listlessness in previous games, was a fired-up bunch with numerous standout performers. "We played a lot better mentally today," USC defensive coach Sam Mitchell noted. "We went back and worked on fundamentals. We didn't make many changes, we just tried to do better. It's a good feeling." "This team worked harder this week than any team I have ever coached," Coach Paul Dietzel said before the game. "We thought we could run the dive plays, and we did run a few good ones. And we thought we could fake the dive and run to the outside, and we did that with a little success." Ole Miss Coach Ken Cooper commented, "but we fumbled and made too many mistakes. We were missing assignments and breaking down in all areas of our blocking. "They didn't throw anything offensively against us that we didn't expect to see," Cooper said disappointedly. On the eve of the game Coach Paul Dietzel said, "I just don't know how a football team can be more prepared for a game than we are for this one. Each player gave a hour of his free time each night this past week to study Mississippi on film. We just worked as hard as Dietzel's pre-game comments carried over for a change as the Gamecocks all but embarrassed the Rebels. They rolled up 311 rushing yards and 124 additional yards in the air. Jeff Grantz regained mush of the poise and field leadership that he displayed last year and kicking specialist Bobby Marino was called upon for the second time in his career to bring Carolina to victory in the closing seconds. Conntinued Oin Pae Nline