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USC Schedule ■ Women’s basketball vs. Australia, Tuesday ■ Rugby vs. Clemson, Tuesday Gamecocks Play Hard, Fall Short, 20-3 Gators put Carolina on chopping block Above, Phil Petty unleashes a pass facing pressure from Florida's Eugene McCaslin during Saturday's game. Right, Ryan Brewer breaks loose for a 38-yard scamper. USC lost to the Gators, 20-3. by Shawn Singleton Senior Writer Florida overcame its own erratic, lack luster performance and an inspired per formance by the USC defense Saturday to defeat South Carolina, 20-3. Quarteiback Jesse Palmer, starting in place of Doug Johnson, who had been in effective against Vanderbilt last Saturday, played the entire game. He threw just five of 19 for 63 yards, with one intercep tion in the first quarter. But the Canadi an native righted the ship before halftime with a backbreaking 28-yard touchdown pass to Darrell Jackson. "It was his first start of the season, and he was a little nervous and overthrew some balls," Florida coach Steve Spurri er said. With the win, the Gators (9-1, 7-1 Southeastern Conference) took home the SEC Eastern Division crown for the sixth time in the past eight years. They also kept their national title hopes alive as they pre pare to play rival Florida State next week. Even though it wasn’t as impressive as Spurrier might have wanted, the win, combined with Tennessee's loss at Arkansas, will likely move Florida up in the Bowl Championship Series standings. The Gators' defense, which held Van derbilt to just 239 yards in a 13-6 victo ry last week, stepped up again against USC, which owns the league's worst offense. The Gamecocks didn't get a first down until the second quarter and gained only 246 yards for the game. For USC (0-10,0-8 SEC), the strug gles continue. The loss extended the Game cocks' record losing streak to 20 games. The loss came a day after the death of coach Lou Holtz's mother, Ann Marie, in Holtz's hometown of East Liverpool, Ohio. QB Phil Petty, in his first start after missing five games with a partially tom medial collateral ligament in his knee, had his best game of the year, completing 15 passes of 31 attempts for 164 yards and no interceptions. USC didn’t commit a turnover in the game. The Gamecocks ran the ball 35 times for 141 yards and were led by Ryan Brew er, who carried the ball 10 times for 75 yards. Brewer was also USC’s leading re ceiver, catching five passes for 45 yards on the way to 129 yards of total offense for the day. The first quarter was dominated by defense, as the Gamecocks held Florida scoreless. Sheldon Brown's first-quarter interception set up the first scoring chance for South Carolina, but the drive stalled, and Steve Florio missed a 27-yard field goal, hooking it wide left. Florida got a drive going toward the end of the quarter behind the running of Earnest Graham, who carried the ball 24 times for 114 yards in the game. But the drive ended when Jeff Chandler missed a 42-yard field goal. Spurrier was so upset with his team's first-half performance that he once swiped at the ball with his foot after a stalled dri ve. Despite their coach’s tirades, howev er, Palmer and Jackson finally combined for the only touchdown Florida would need, a 28-yard strike with 13:45 left be nmmmsTmem. v iiyu fore halftime. The game’s turning point came on a controversial chop block penalty before the half. The penalty, supposedly whis tled onBrewer, wiped out a 19-yard touch down pass from Petty to Brian Scott that would have tied the score at 10. A livid Holtz ran onto the field in protest, but to no avail. Florio missed an ensuing 50-yard field goal, and the teams went into the locker room with the Gators up, 10-3. "The penalty was a real turning point in the game for us, but 1 don't know who got chop-blocked," Spurrier said. "I was looking at the ball." In the second half, the Gator defense shut down the Gamecocks, limiting them to just 101 yards of total offense. Petty was sacked three limes in the second half and five times overall. On offense, the Gators turned to their ground game, handing the ball off to Gra ham and Bo Carroll in the third and fourth quarters. After a short punt by USC’s Court ney Leavitt, it took Florida just five plays and 55 seconds to score its second touch down on a 4-yard run by Earnest Graham. The key play was a 14-yard run by Gra ham with a face-mask penalty that put the ball on the Gamecock 8-yard line. Chandler finished the scoring with a 29-yard kick through the uprights after a 15-play, 68-yard drive that consumed nearly eight minutes of the clock. The Gamecocks will try to salvage their season when they host Clem son next Saturday. Tickets are still available. Petty's performance positive by Jared Kelowitz Sports Editor In Carolina’s competitive loss to "Quarterback University," it was the man at the helm for USC who was the focal point. The game against No.4 Florida was quarteiback Phil Petty’s fust game since a five-week hiatus caused by a knee in jury. Before Saturday, USC had used six starting quarterbacks, but after Pet ty’s reassuring performance, there shouldn’t be much of a quarterback controversy next week. "Well, I’ll tell you one thing — we’ll never use a handful of quarter backs anymore, just one or two," USC coach Lou Holtz said after the Gators’ 20-3 win. "I was very impressed with Phil Petty’s performance. He made some nice passes and smarter decisions. Some things just take a little time.” Petty hit on 15 of the 31 passes he attempted and didn’t throw a single interception. Not only did he throw the ball with success, but he also made some great runs at key moments. One example was a 12-yard scamper for a first down on a USC drive late in the third quarter. "It felt pretty good to be back out there," Petty said. "I think having two weeks to prepare really helped me to get ready at the level at which I want ed to play." Another positive aspect of the game for Carolina was the performance of Ryan Brewer. The freshman tailback from Ohio had shown flashes of bril liance in past games this season, but Florida was his first start at tailback. Brewer rushed for 75 yards on 10 carries, for an average of 7 1/2 yards per carry. "Ryan Brewer does all the little things right," Holtz said. "He blocks well. He catches well, and he’s smart. He doesn’t have great speed or elu siveness, but there is a spot on any foot ball team in the nation for a player like Ryan." One aspect that has been solid all year for the Gamecocks has been the play of their defensive line and line backing corps, and Saturday’s contest was no exception. Linebackers Kenny Harney and Corey Atkins recorded 10 and six tackles, respectively. Harney also had the Gamecocks’ only sack on the day, for a loss of 12 yards. Atkins wreaked havoc in the Gators’ backfield, making two tackles for a total loss of five yards. "I think we played pretty well, con sidering these guys are such a great foot ball team," Atkins said. "We were able to get pretty good penetration into their backfield and got them for some big losses." "I think after a game like this, the entire team is confident and ready to start preparing for Clemson," Atkins said. Men's soccer falls to Brown, 3-2 by Kyle Almond Staff Writer USC’s men’s soccer team dropped its final game of the regular season Sunday, 3-2, to No. 19 Brown. All seemed lost for the Gamecocks after they fell behind 3-0 late in the second half. But the team responded with two goals and seriously threatened to tie the game in the waning minutes. USC attacked non-stop until the final seconds, and it took an exceptional defensive stand by Brown to escape with a victory. “The character of this team, the fighting power of this team, and the way they fought back, I was tremendously proud of them,” Carolina head coach Mark Berson said of his play ers. “That’s the type of athlete we want to recruit here at the University of South Carolina.” The game, which was Senior Day at The Graveyard, was evenly matched for the entire 90 minutes. Each team got a fair share of shots and scoring chances throughout, but Brown edged USC in total shots on goal, 14-12. Brown started the scoring at the 38:34 mark with a goal by forward Scott Powers. Powers dribbled down the left side of the box and drilled a low shot into the right comer of the goal past a diving Henry Ring. The 1-0 score stood until half time. In the second half, the Gamecocks continued to come up short on several scoring opportunities. A header by Alex Bal asco off a Carolina free kick was stopped at the goal line by a Brown defender and cleared from danger. USC also failed to convert on six comer kicks. Powers added another goal for Brown with 22 minutes left, and senior forward Mike Rudy chipped in a third goal for the Bears less than two minutes later to increase the lead to 3-0. South Carolina’s persistence finally paid off late when sophomore forward and USC leading scorer Joey Wbrthen con verted with 7:43 left in the game. His deep shot ricocheted off the left goalpost and into the back of the net, stunning the Brown goalkeeper and inciting hope of a comeback into the home crowd. Then, with a little less than three minutes remaining, USC freshman Jordan Quinn blasted a free kick into the goal to cut the deficit to one. With momentum clearly on its side, Carolina pushed the ball up and created thrilling chances late. However, when time expired, the Gamecocks found themselves on the losing side. USC’s final regular season record is 10-7-2. The NCAA makes its tournament selections today. “We have a tough schedule,” Berson said, “and 1 think that the NCAA will certainly take that into account. “I think we still have a chance. It’s not as good a chance as if we would have won this game or tied this game, but I’m very optimistic at this time. We just have to wait and see what happens on Monday.” NATIONAL FOOTBALL CONFERENCE East Division W L Home Road Div Str Washington 5 4 3-2 2-2 2-3 L-2 Dallas 5 4 4-0 1-4 3-1 W-l New York Giants 4 4 2-2 2-2 2-2 L-l Arizona 3 6 2-3 1-3 2-2 W-l Philadelphia 3 7 2-3 1-4 2-3 W-l • Central Division Detroit 6 3 4-1 2-2 2-0 L-l Minnesota 6 4 3-2 3-2 2-3 W-3 Tampa Bay 5 4 3-1 2-3 0-2 W-3 Green Bay 4 5 3-2 1-3 2-2 L-3 Chicago 4 6 2-3 2-3 2-1 L-l West Division St. Louis 7 2 5-0 2-2 4-0 W-l Carolina 3 6 2-2 1-4 1-3 L-l San Francisco 3 6 2-2 1-4 1-3 L-5 Atlanta 2 7 1-4 1-3 2-2 L-l New Orleans 2 7 2-4 0-3 2-2 W-l • if AMERICAN FOOTBALL CONFERENCE East Division W L Home Road Div Str Miami 7 2 2-2 4-1 2-2 L-l Indianapolis 7 2 5-1 2-1 2-2 W-5 New England 6 2 3-1 3-1 2-1 W-2 Buffalo 7 3 4-2 3-1 3-2 W-l New York Jets 2 6 1-4 1-2 0-3 W-l Central Division Jacksonville 8 1 3-1 5-0 4-1 W-6 Tennessee 7 2 4-1 3-1 5-0 W-4 Pittsburgh 5 3 1-2 4-1 3-1 W-3 Baltimore 3 6 1-3 2-3 2-3 L-l Cleveland 2 8 0-4 2-4 1-6 W-l Cincinnati 1 9 0-5 1-4 1-4 L-5 West Division Seattle 6 2 3-1 3-1 1-1 W-3 Kansas City 5 4 4-0 1-4 2-1 L-2 Oakland 5 4 3-2 2-2 1-2 W-l San Diego 4 5 2-3 2-2 2-3 L-3 Denver 3 6 1-3 2-3 2-1 W-l Weekend’s Top News NFL Scores • RAMS 35, Panthers 10 • BILLS 23, Dolphins 3 • Vikings 27, BEARS 24 (OT) • Titans 24, BENGALS 14 • SAINTS 24, 49ers 6 • Colts 27, GIANTS 19 • EAGLES 35, Redskins 27 • Browns 16, STEELERS 15 • BUCS 17, Chiefs 10 • JAGUARS 6, Ravens 3 • RAIDERS 28 , Chargers 9 • CARDINALS 23, Uons 19 • COWBOYS 27, Packers 13 • Wisconsin RB Ron Dayne breaks NCAA career rushing record • Virginia Tech routs Miami to stay unbeaten ESPN/USA Today Football Top 20 1. Florida State 10-0 2. Virginia Tech 9-0 3. Florida 9-1 4. Nebraska 9-1 5. Wisconsin 9-2 6. Texas 9-2 7. Tennessee 7-2 8. Alabama 8-2 9. Kansas State 9-1 10. Michigan 8-2 11. Marshall 10-0 12. Georgia Tech 7-2 13. Penn State 9-2 14. Michigan St. 8-2 15. Mississippi St. 8-1 16. Mississippi 7-2 17. So. Mississippi 7-3 18. Minnesota 7-3 19. BYU 8-2 20. Texas A&M 7-3