Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

Below is the OCR text representation for this newspapers page. It is also available as plain text as well as XML.

'Che Gamecock Sports Extra Tide in search of national title GAME 5 September 30 at Alabama 2 P.M. This season, the Alabama Crimson Tide are the defending __ Southeastern Conference Football Champions. Riding on last season's suc cess, and a strong 2000 ros ter, the Tide are likely to claim the SEC title once again in the 2000 season. They will definitely be one of South Carolina’s great est challenges this fall. This season, the Crim son Tide have lost two of their strongest players from last nffpntivp. linp man Cliris Samuels and run ning back Shaun Alexander. Both were involved in the NFL draft; Alexander go ing to the Seattle Seahawks and Samuels going to the Redskins as their third over all pick. Throughout the history of their football program, Alabama has spawned 35 first round NFL picks. Nonetheless, many powerful players are returning to the Alabama squad this season. Freddie Milons, who led the team in recep tions and punt returns in 1999, was a 2000 Pre-Season Playboy All-America player and the most valuable player of the 1999 SEC Championship. Reggie Myles, who has the starting slot at free safety, is counted on to be a big contributor to the Tide during his jun ior year. Mike DuBose, the 1999 Southeast ern Conference Coach of the Year, is re turning to the Crimson Tide for his fourth year. Last season, DuBose led the team to a 10-3 overall record and a trip to the 2000 FedEx Orange Bowl. The Crimson Tide has an all-time Tide are ranked fifth among the NCAA's top programs, with 734 total wins. They also hold the greatest number of all-time Bowl victories with 28 victories. Nevertheless, the Tide have been ex tremely successful. But all of the Crim son Tide's success does not satisfy Du cose. "If we were where we needed to be, we would have finished 13-0 last year and won a national championship," Du bose said. DuBose also shows a great deal of forward thinking for the Tide. The Tide was ranked among the na tion's top five in recruiting in about every poll. "We're developing a program that will allow us to compete for a cham pionship on a yearly basis,"Dubose said. The last time Alabama won the NCAA Football Championship was in 1992. The Alabama Crimson Tide pose a great threat to all of their SEC opponents this season with their top-notch players and the philosophy of coach DuBose. "We will win," DuBose said, "but we want to win with class. I am aware of the expectations here. That's a con stant. The way you do things can change." by George Simpson The Gamecock record of 8-1 arrainst South Carolina. The Head coach Mike DuBose motivates the Tide. Miss. State from page 3 has a lot of confidence. "Look for big things in Starkville this season," said start ing quarterback Wayne Mad kin. "Our players are close, and we respect every opponent we play. The confidence that we can be successful has always been there. We’ve just been steadily improving." All-SEC comerback Fred Smoot thinks this year’s defense can match last year’s per formance. "The defense is faster this yeai, oinuui baiu. lueueve we are even more talented on de fense than last season. I think we can go 10-2 again." It’s hard to imagine the Bulldogs improving on a de fense that lost over 70 percent of their starters. Standout linebacker Barrin Simpson is gone, as are Kevin Sluder and John Hilliard, the leaders of the defensive line. Safety Ashley Cooper? Gone. Defensive end Alvin McKinley? Gone as well. Smoot, lineman Conner Stephens and free safety Pig Prather are the only returnees from the vaunted Bulldog de fense. Smoot led the team with five interceptions last season. "The best way to describe a quarterback is two ways," Mis sissippi State head coach Jack ie Sherrill said. "An athlete play ing quarterback, or a quarter back playing quarterback. Wayne is an athlete playing quarterback, but he has made himself into a good quarter back." "He has produced for us. He hasn’t received the notori ety he deserves." Sophomore running back Dontae Walker didn’t do much his freshman season, only rush ing for 399 yards and three tmirhHnu/nc aftpr arrivintr in Starkville with lofty expecta tions. He will be running this season behind holes created by senior offensive lineman Pork Chop Womack and a couple of junior college transfers in Tom my Watson and Courtney Lee. Despite how many players they’ve lost, it’s hard to doubt Mississippi State. Over the last three years, no team in the SEC West, not even Alabama, has won as many games as the Bull dogs. No matter how dim it looks for Sherrill’s team, you can never count them out. Just ask Kentucky and Ole Miss. --i Redshirt freshman takes the reins at Kentucky Tlie 1999 season was anything but ordinary for the Kentucky football team. Following the loss of 20 sen iors from die 1998 team, plus the de parture of NFL star Tim Couch, fan expectations were not high. However, the Wildcats went on to defy any predictions with a trip Junior center Nolan DeVaughn anchors the Wildcats offensive line. to the HomePoint.com Music City Bowl, an 6-6 regular season record and top 20 spots in net punting, punt returns, kickoff return and pass ing offense. Big wins in 1999 for the'Cats included ones over ranked foes Al abama, Louisiana State and Arkansas, who they’ve beaten the - last three seasons. Head coach Hal Mumme, now in his fourth year at UK, - welcomes back 14 starters as the 'Cats prepare to open the reg ular season on Saturday at Louisville. With seven returning starters on the offensive side, there is more ex perience available for the UK play ers this year. Under Mumme, the Wildcats have led the SEC in passing offense for three consecutive years. Making the passes happen in 1999 was starting quarterback Dusty Bon ner. Mumme announced during the summer that Bonner would now be replaced by redshirt freshman Jared Lorenzen. GAME 6 October 7 at Kentucky 7 P.M. BY SHANNON K U U K. b The Gamecock Injuries have plagued the 'Cats in the wide receiver slot and some play er's are still questionable. Included in these names is return starter Brad Pyatt, who sat out spring training to concentrate on his studies. Pyatt start ed seven games at flanker last season, catching 21 passes for 207 yards and two touchdowns. No returning starters and a huge hole to fill following the departure of All-American James Whalen makes this position grim for UK. Sophomore Derek Smith appears to be the first choice to fill the gap, leading the team with 25 catches during the spring sea son. Smith also tallied 14 passes last year as the understudy. As a team, the Wildcats' "Air Raid" offense converted 87 percent of its scoring chances inside the red-zone last season, leading the SEC in the cat egory. UK scored 40 times in 46 - chances, with 29 touchdowns and 1 1 _ field goals. The 'Cats are deep at end, with sec ond-team All SEC per former Dennis Johnson on one side, sen ior Matt Lay ow on the other, and solid backups behind them. Johnson continues to make progress with 39 tackles, five sacks and six tackles for loss in 1999. Starting 10 games over the past two seasons, Layow totaled 31 tackles, three tackles for a loss, three sacks, two interceptions and a pass breakup. In the linebacker position, the 'Cats will look to replace coaches All SEC selection Jeff Snedeger, who ac counted for almost 300 tackles in his iour years at UK. The return of all starters in the second ary leaves nothing to worry about and with a line up at least two players deep in up positions, UK. displays a solid derense on paper. I ■llBH rlOTm—--—— ,, —rv. i ■ ■ —nm UK defense mauls the opposing runner.