Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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msMsmm m Check out how the ML women's soccer team's last scrim- N.Y mage went Saturday San vs.UNC-Greensboro. San Phil Singleton's i\ir*^ preview \ SHAWN SINGLETON | After another summer of beating the feds and avoiding improper relations with incoming freshmen, USC's Most Dangerous Man hflQ rofiimoH fnr flnnfVm-r paign of gripes and complaints for your reading pleasure. I was drinking at the new-andimproved liquor store when I started reading everyone else's preseason NFL picks. Some of their picks made sense and others were just pure idiocy. So, I will try my luck at picking division winners and Super Bowl contenders over the next couple of weeks. Of course, these are my opinions, and therefore, they are the correct ones. If anyone disagrees, the complaint department is still in the same place. It's 6:58 p.m. and with over a week before opening day, most NFL teams are still wondering where their sparks are. Nearly every team's postseason chances rely on the play or health of one or two players. This theory couldn't be better tested than in the NFC East, where eastern teams with western eyes and serpent's breath look to dismantle each other. The New York Giants will try fn llifiir rlnrioinn H+lo Kut WW UWtVilU WAAVAA VUV1C71WM W1VIVy UUW their chances took a major hit when All-Pro cornerback Jason Sehorn blew out his knee. If they can come together and stop fighting with one another, they could repeat. Washington must get breakout seasons from Gus Frerotte, Michael Westbrook and Dan Wilkinson. In Dallas, Emmitt Smith must prove he still has a career and Leon Lett has to get off the white stuff. By the way, Michael Irvin has signed a deal to promote Ginsu knives with O.J. Simpson and Lorena Bobbitt. Arizona and Philadelphia could surprise this year and compete for a WllH onnf WifV? minlifu nf opwu ? T xv** vnt vjuaui<j ui the defenses here, look for this division to be nastier than anyone who doesn't wash a dress after sex. The NFC Central could be the NFL's best right now. Four teams made the playoffs from this division last year and that could happen again this year. Look for Minnesota to break out of the pack this season, but their defense must be more than The John Randle Show. Speaking of the Packers, Green Bay must get Dorsey Levens signed, and Reggie White needs to know his role and shut his mouth. Tampa Bay must be able to pass the ball to succeed. Scott Mitchell is the only thing keeping Detroit from being better than mediocre, and the main attractions in Chicago are Sammy Sosa and a dead broadcaster. TCnoiKr 4.1 4.1 wrr Woof x xuiuijr, tilde S U1C 11X" " tow, which is so wild that only one team actually plays in Pacific Time. The Carolina Panthers are my pick out of this division. The additions ofWilliam Floyd, Doug Evans and the re-acquisition of Kevin Greene should push them over the top. The key to their success, however, is Kerry Collins, who might as well have been spotted at a KKK rally in front of the Statehouse last Saturday. San Francisco is the league's version of a big bully who was exposed as a one-dimensional passing team last year by the likes of Kansas City and the two Bays. Garrison Hearst rushed for more than 1,000 yards last year but I could run for that much against St. Louis, Atlanta, New Orleans and a weakened Carolina defense. TUn AQprs wpro 0-0 Ion* ..ooi. liiv/ ^ u last ^cai against teams that finished at or above .500 and must improve on that if they want to reach (only) their second Super Bowl this decade. Atlanta will be competitive, but only if Chris Chandler stays healthy. The southern fraternity known as the New Orleans Saints takes hazing more seriously than football, and the Trans World Dome will see another loser. Just watch McGwire shatter the home run record instead. ) } B from Thursday . Mets 3 Francisco 10 i Diego 8 adelphia 1 College v college press EXCHANGE Lots of people with nothing better to do are holding their collective breath in Columbus, Ohio, all because a certain All-American linebacker is taking three summer school courses that will determine whether he can play college football this season. Ohio State star Andy Katzenmoyor ic foplrlincr rrnl-f mucin onrl ATT^Q VI lu VUVUlXAJlg 111 UUiV UUV1 1U1/U awareness, separately of course. It used to be all a college athlete had to do was spell his name correctly to earn a passing grade. The NCAA is a little stricter now, but, just for the record, spelling "Katzenmoyer" would be no easy task for a Nobel laureate. The linebacker needs to pump his grade-point average to 2.0 in order to be eligible this season, and a lot is riding on whether he makes it. Ohio State is ranked No. 1 in the nation in preseason polls, and one of the bigger reasons is Katzenmoyer, last year's Butkus Award winner. The Buckeyes need him the way carnivores need teeth He is such a menace that opposing senior writer WILLIAM FOLKS In 1991, linebacker Eric Brown led \ cocks with 101 tackles. What's so si about that? It hasn't happened sine every single season in which USC h football as a member of the Southeas ference, a defensive back has led th tackles. Coincidence? Not hardly. The point is, arm-tackling, while have worked against pre-SEC regulars Tennessee State, Louisiana Tech, an( Carolina, won't win many games agai like Florida, Georgia, and Tennessee. I Gamecocks are 3-15 against those o since joining the league in 1992. "Tackling is a want-to thing," USC coordinator Wally Burnham has saic got to get in there and face the issue, we're going full-speed, half-speed, whs 11 of us have to go to the ball." TVl Q r\rnKl nm9 fiim rvl OTrnrc o i xxxv puwicm; viiij iwu piajcio o< pable of "facing the issue" with any co last season: safeties Ben Washingtoi turo Freeman. Washington has since gradua Freeman's season-ending knee injury ago has left USC's defense without its c ing tackier from 1997 (not to mentio around athlete, top interception artist tional backbone). "There's no doubt we're going to mis said USC senior cornerback Kevin Br was the reason I came to Carolina to b and I've seen the kind of sacrifices he's this program over the last three yeari Time for { M Break out your No. 2 pencils and take this quiz on the upcoming college football season. Grades will be posted next week. college press EXCHANGE Summer seems to be overstaying its welcome, perhaps because the nation is obsessed with the Roger Maris home run-record chase, not to mention the daily drama of the National League wild-card race. But don't be fooled, students. The harbingers of autumn are popping up on campuses across the land. Listen closely and you can hear the gentle hiss of grades being inflated. Or maybe the Delts are tapping a keg. bo crack open those loose-leal binders and sharpen those pencils. It's time for a quiz on the upcoming college football season. And please, scholars: No spitwads. Question: Is this being graded? Answer: Yes, Mr. Katzenmoyer. Q: How does the new superalliance work? A: Simple. The top two teams in the nation will meet in the Fiesta Bowl Jan. 4 in Tempe, Ariz. Q: But what if only one team goes unbeaten? Who gets the other bid? And what if no one goes unbeaten, as happened in 1993? How will the superalliance sort that out? A: It will use a complicated formula where the major polls and computer rankings and strengths of schedules are multiplied by the average SAT score for the starting lineup of each team, minus ?he number of chicken wings con Spc rarld watc teams design their game plans around si avoiding him. K That there is tension over whether w Katzenmoyer passes those three cours- h es says something about either his intelligence or the increasing demands of what traditionally has been known as 0, the blow-off class. By all accounts, g( Katzenmoyer is smart enough and a] shouldn't have allowed himself to be p, put in such academic straits. This is ^ about effort, not intelligence, coach John gl Cooper has said. That would seem to point the finger at the sad state of the puff course. ^ You might ask: who's to judge anyone's course load, you who took science fic- 1 tion, languages of the world and origin 11 of mountains in college, you who had ai perhaps the easiest senior year on record? And I might answer: an expert, a that's who. I submit for your inspection " the mountains course, which included A a fossil-hunting trip near the Wiscon- ? sin Dells, but, alas, no rides on the Ducks. C It's a bit hard for anyone who has D mined a university course directory for that diamond in the rough to under- a have to w w ? die Game- t ~ ?***% gnificant * fHr JriK * | Blllyed n and a/ ^ nine days n top alland emo- Defensive end John Abraha will lead the Gamecock defe isArturo," ooks. "He Brooks and redshirt freshm egin with man have to man the corr i made for ^SC this season, as senior H 3? switches from cornerback to ph )op quiz 01 sumed on a weekly basis by the right 01 guard. fc Q: So there will be controversy again in the postseason. Is this a bad thing 1) for college football? c< A: No. And it's not a bad thing for II society, either, if it keeps ESPN ana- si lyst Lee Corso off the streets. is Q: Speaking of ESPN, last year the S cable network tried to hype its games h by promoting "Judgment Day" in col- h lege football. What gimmick is on tap this fall? A: "Appeals Day," with live cover- S1 age of Notre Dame's effort to get the 11 Joe Moore verdict overturned. S1 Q: Why is Sept. 5 shaping up as an enormous day in college football ^ across the country? c A: There are five games pitting pre- ^ season Top 25 teams. In the East, N" 1 Ohio State plays at No. 11 West Vir- 61 ginia, No. 10 Tennessee visits No. 17 ^ Syracuse and No. 21 Southern Mis- j( sissippi ventures to No. 13 Penn State. In the Midwest, No. 5 Michigan plays l. at No. 22 Notre Dame. And out West, No. 18 Washington visits No. 8 Arizona State. n Q: Why is Ohio State so worried u about its season-opening trip to Mor- a gantown? A: Ever see "Deliverance?" w Q: Penn State coach Joe Paterno re- ^ cently said the Big Ten shouldn't give "unreasonable" concessions in its ongoing effort to lure Notre Dame. What does he mean by that? v; A: Some in the Big Ten believe the following could be construed as "unreasonable": a guaranteed slot for the k Fighting Irish in the Rose Bowl in evennumbered years; scheduling byes T agaif st Michigan and Ohio State in b; >RTS hingOhi ;and all the suspense surrounding i atzenmoyer's future. We know gimmes hen we see them. And we see three ere. i Let's look at his classes: ? Golf. This has an A written all 1 /er it. You replace your divot, wear ans-A-Belt slacks and spend ungodly mounts of money on equipment that robably won't make you any better, ftiat else is there to know? OK, you lck up to the instructor by saying the lost exciting moment in your life was atching OSU alum Jack Nicklaus win le 1986 Masters. You grip it and rip , which is pretty much what Katzenloyer does on the football field. You * : ce this hole. ? Music. Again, an easy A. Here's sample multiple-choice question from le final. Ginger Spice is: .) a deodorant. ) the former member of an untalent J pop group. ) a seasoning. 0 like, I care. The correct answer, of course, is D; lthough, if this is as big a blow-off m?Ve ? m is one of the best at his position nse in 1998. an Andre Good- Junior Ray Green v ier positions for tion, free safety (wh< omer Torrance ly strong safety. . 1 r\r\n t i iyyo coi dd-numbered years; and five downs >r the Fighting Irish offense. Q: Speaking of JoePa, he needs onr two more victories to become the sixth )ach to reach 300 wins for his career. the Nittany Lions beat Southern Misissippi in the opener, the milestone i likely to come against Bowling Green . ept. 12 in Happy Valley. Paterno as said he planned to coach "four or ve more." More what? A: Decades. Q: It wouldn't be August without peculation over the next round of coachlg changes. Who's under the most presare to produce this season? A: Brad Scott of South Carolina, hich has struggled to improve in the laded (Florida, Tennessee and Georia) SEC Eastern Division. And John lolrfl nf ni/lnVinmo knffAf nnr\ nnnn_ xcuv^ \ji vyjcvicuiuiiia iiau uciici will oiajiir than later. Q: Why do Big Ten insiders believe lis will be Hayden Fry's last year at >wa? A: The Hawkeyes open with Neraska in 1999. Q: Will Fry be missed? A: Sorely. In an age of political corictness, the tall Texan speaks his mind nabashedly and colorfully. And he will Iways be remembered for racially injgrating the Southwest Conference rhile coaching at Southern Methodist 11966. Q: Why did Army join Conference rsA? A: It couldn't resist that natural rialry with Houston. Q: How bad is the Big East? A: It lost its four bowls last year but ept Rutgers. speaKing 01 tne Dig Dast, nas emple ever considered dropping footall? Louisiana Tech at Nebraska; Sat. Michigan St. vs. Colorado St.; Sat. Florida State vs. Texas A&M; Mon. o State lit course as my rather developed instincts tell me, any of them will do. ? AIDS awareness. This is a more serious topic, but easy and a little like riding a bike; once you learn, you never forget. Or, to put it in terms a football player could easily embrace, it's like being a quarterback. You need protection. Katzenmoyer is confident hell make the grade and be ready for the Buckeyes' opener Sept. 5 at West Virginia. "You'll see number 45 out there," he said. Or else, I suppose. Can you imagine the poor sap who would have the you-know-whats to fail the state's star football player? Ohio State could learn Katzenmoyer's fate sometime this week, but you can bet the football department has been keeping tabs on his progress this summer. If Katzenmoyer was hooking it off the tee, Cooper probably put down the bag and gave a lesson before looking for the ball. In Ohio, football is big. What happens to Katzenmoyer will have a lot to do with what happens to the Buckn' I ?c til i. * SPECIAL TO THE GAME^ . in the conference and made as any tear rill play Freeman's posi- Scotl ere he has some game ex- Andre 0 id player DEFENSE page 9 up to the man An sprain. lege footb A: Intentionally, at times. Q: Who has the best cheerleaders? A: Beside Notre Dame's? Q: Is there really a player called Ben Gay? A: He was considered the top prep running back in Texas last year, but there was a problem when he enrolled at Baylor. The NCAA considers him a partial academic qualifier, which means he can't play as a freshman, though he may eventually regain a fourth season of eligibility if he makes progress toward a degree. Baylor is sore about the ruling, and is appealing. Q: Is Kansas State for real? A: Ask Nebraska on Nov. 14. Q: K-State hasn't beaten the mighty Cornhuskers in a while, has it? A TV* r\ 1 r?fif firv*n iV V* r? r*r*n? a /I ttrno n. a 11c last time it nappciicu was four days after Richard Nixon's first presidential election victory. Q: After belittling Tennessee for making repeated appearances in the Citrus Bowl, is Florida coach Steve Spurrier more humble after spending New Year's Day there? A: Just like Bill Gates is poorer after taxes. Q: Texas running back Ricky Williams is also a prospect in the Philadelphia Phillies' organization. Michigan quarterback Drew Henson is also a prospect in the New York Yankees' organization. Florida State quarterback Chris Weinke played in the Toronto Blue Jays' organization. Is there anybody out there who can't play baseball? A: Michael Jordan. Q: Whom did Michigan call to perform the 5,500-seat expansion of Michigan Stadium? A: Bandwagon Enlargements Inc. I EE2ES Nate says Air Force, BYU, UNLV, New Mexico, San Diego St., Utah and Wyoming formally withdrew from the Western Athletic Conference Wednesday. lebacker eyes and, by extension, what happens to the mental state of a few hundred thousand Ohio State fans. He is the latest in a long line of great Buckeye linebackers, from Randy Gradishar to Pepper Johnson to Chris Spielman, and so there is much attention. The intense focus on his summer-school courses already has hit the Columbus Dispatch editorial page. But, there is a bigger issue here than undue attention on Katzenmoyer, and let this be a warning. If blow-off courses become difficult, the American educational system as we know it could fall. Next thing you know, those easy jock majors won't be so easy anymore. Sport & Leisure Studies suddenly will require a chemical engineering course. Organizational Studies won't teach the proper organization of the sock drawer anymore. Psychological Services will cancel the lecture on mood rings. A concerned world awaits Katzenmoyer's report card. iach Scott taper down ntact work tfor NATHAN BROWN i the season opener slightly more than a ray, South Carolina's football team pretaper down its contact work. Head Coach ott said Thursday that the Gamecocks tysical workout on Wednesday, consistore than 80 snaps of live, full-contact le team went out in shoulder pads and t Thursday and will have a kicking prac'riday. re a little fatigued, both physically and r," Scott said. "Well start to back off of contact work a little bit as we prepare week's opener." rday's practice will be a dress rehearsal all State game. The team will go through in 100 plays working on game situations line and kicking scenarios, and will even 5 an overtime , period. Coach Scott said >leased with the progress the team has er the past week. vtj impruveu uur menial iu ugliness anu ty to run the football," Scott said. "We've much improvement over this week as n I've been around." ; praised the play of middle linebacker ffing, saying he has developed into a sol. Freshman Jonathan Martin has moved ; No. 2 fullback position, as fellow freshtione Nesmith is sidelined with a knee all season Q: But weren't all those diehard maize-and-blue attired fans grumbling about Wolverine coach Lloyd Carr before last season? A: They also thought Chris Webber was a wonderful guy. Q: Why are some Evanstonians up in arms over Northwestern's decision to play its Oct. 17 Homecoming game under the lights? A Fun could break out after 7 p.m., in violation of a local ordinance. Q: If the Big Ten and Pac-10 champs finish 1-2 in the superalliance formula, they would play for the national title in the Fiesta Bowl. In that event, the Rose Bowl could wind up with Kansas State against Virginia Tech. What could be worse for the fabled bowl in Pasadena? A Brazil 0, Italy 0, in the 1994 World Cup final. Nothing could be worse than that. Q: Florida State has finished in the top 5 in the polls 11 consecutive times. Why should we believe the Seminoles will do it again this year? A . ~ 11 rv. niia ia tiic laatcat uveiaii team we've ever had," coach Bobby Bowden says. Q: Coaches are always bragging about their runners' "yards after contact." What do they mean? A: At Penn State, they mean Curtis Enis' rushing total after an agent contacted him.