The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, November 10, 2000, Page 8, Image 8
a Gamecock Sports Schedule
■ Volleyball vs. Georgia, Friday, 7 p.m.
■ Football at Florida, Saturday, 3:30 pm (CBS)
I ^^B ■ H ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ Swimming at Clemson, Saturday, 2 p.m.
9 ■ Men’s basketball exhibition at Carolina Coliseum,
Saturday, 7:30 p.m.
USC to enter “The Swamp”
■ Saturday's
winner will be
named SEC East
division champs
by Michael Haney
The Gamecock
South Carolina faces the Florida
Gators tomorrow in one of the biggest
games in the program’s history. The 21st
ranked Gamecocks (7-2,5-2) will face
No. 5 Florida (8-1,6-1) for the SEC’s
Eastern Division title at Ben Hill Griffin
Stadium, also known as “The Swamp.”
The winner will travel to Atlanta to play
in the SEC Championship Game on Dec.
2.
The Gators have not lost a game to
an SEC East opponent in The Swamp
since 1990 and are 36-2 at home versus
the rest of the SEC. They are 62-4 at
home for the last ten years.
Carolina is coming off a much need
ed off-week that allowed them to rest and
have many of their injured players heal.
However, offensive lineman Travelle
Wharton isn’t expected to play because
of an ankle injury, and junior linebacker
Kenny Harney is limited with a bruised
knee.
Florida continued its dominance of
Vkiderbilt by trouncing the Commodores
43-20 in Nashville. Coach Steve
Spurrier said it was a big win for the team,
but that “the biggest is next week with
South Carolina.”
Spurrier, who is criticized by many
for being too cocky, had nothing but praise
for the Gamecocks at his Sunday tele
conference.
“South Carolina is a solid football
team. They are well-coached, play smart
and don't make many mistakes. What they
have accomplished this season is no fluke,
by any means,” Spurrier said. “All of their
wins were by a solid margin, and they
came very close to winning the two games
they have lost. This is a good team with
some very good players."
One of the most intriguing match
ups will be South Carolina’s defense
against Florida’s high-flying offense. The
Gamecocks are fifth in the country in
scoring defense allowing a paltry 13.0
points a game. The unit is also ranked
13th in passing efficiency allowing 175
yards through the air while they have al
lowed only two passing touchdowns all
year.
Florida’s offense is cranking out al
most 42 points per game to be sixth in
the nation in that category. Freshman
quarterback Rex Grossman is leading the
NCAA in passing efficiency.
Freshman wide receiver Jabar Gaffney
is a favorite target for Gator quarterbacks.
Gaffney has 52 catches for 837 yards
receiving and 12 touchdowns. He aver
ages 93 yards a game receiving.
The Gamecocks offense will face a
speedy Gator defense, much like that of
Tennessee.
Florida’s defensive squad is ranked
45th in the country, but are first in
turnover ratio. The Gators have forced
33 turnovers this year.
“They don’t have to worry about mak
ing a mistake offensively,” head football
coach Lou Holtz said. “They know that
they will be able to get the ball back with
their defense ”
The advantage for the Gamecocks is
the Gators defense is giving up nearly 150
yards rushing per game while Carolina
averages 164 on the ground offensively.
Derek Whtson is just 119 yards away from
1,000 yards for the season. He has 10
touchdowns and is averaging 97 yards per
game on the ground.
Sophomore tailback Andrew Pinnock
has come on of late with solid perfor
mances against Arkansas and Vanderbilt.
Pinnock has 310 yards with six touch
downs.
Jason Corse will handle the place
kicking duties for South Carolina this
weekend.
This will be Corse’s first time at
tempting field goals in a game. Holtz
isn’t worried about that as he sees it as an
advantage for the kicker.
“I think that's a plus. The other
guys have all this baggage. Jason hasn't
missed one. That's a plus on this,” he said.
The game will be televised national
ly by CBS beginning at 3:30. This is the
Gamecocks third nationally televised
game this year.
The sports desk can be reached at
gamecocksports@hotmail.com.
Sean Rayford The Gamecock
Steve Spurrier and the Florida Gators look to win their second
straight SEC East title Saturday when they take on South Carolina.
I '. " ' ... "" ' ..... "I
Men’s soccer looks to return to NCAA Tourney
by Kyle Almond
The Gamecock
The South Carolina men’s soccer team
wraps up its regular season Sunday when it
takes on Florida International, and a postsea
son birth could hang on the outcome.
The Gamecocks (11-3-3), ranked No. 20
by the NSCAA, are hoping to make a final good
impression on the NCAA Tournament Selec
tion Committee in front of a home crowd at
the Graveyard.
Last year, USC finished 10-7 and failed
to qualify for postseason play for the first time
since 1996. But this season, a young Game
cock squad that features 19 underclassmen has
played like a group of steady veterans, outscor
ing opponents 38-18.
The Gamecocks started the season off with
a win and a loss, but then went on a 10-game
unbeaten streak that started with them
knocking off top-ranked Virginia and No. 8
Maryland in the Maryland Soccer Classic.
During their streak, USC also defeated then
No. 2 Penn State on the road. The Gamecocks
tied Clemson and Furman, teams who have
spent most of the seasonin the NSCAA Top 25,
at-the end of their streak.
Since tying Furman Oct. 15, USC has
dropped two of their last five matches. Buck
nell upset the Gamecocks 2-1 in the Gamecock
Soccer Classic, and No. 2 North Carolina beat
USC 2-0 Sunday.
But with USC’s strength of schedule and
its wins over top-10 teams, it would be hard
to see the Gamecocks not getting back into the
NCAA Tournament. A win over Florida Inter
national in the final game of the season would
certainly help the team’s cause.
The Golden Panthers of Florida Interna
tional come into Sunday’s meeting with a record
of 11-6-1 and an Atlantic Soccer Conference
title already wrapped up.
Head coach Karl Kremser, in his 21st year
with FIU, has made the Golden Panthers a
perennial powerhouse in college soccer.
In the past six years, FIU has advanced to
the NCAA Tournament three times, even ad
vancing to the title game in 1996. In the 1990s,
Kremser led FIU to an overall record of 125
65-14.
On the field, the Golden Panthers’ leader
this season has been forward Ezequiel Romero.
He leads FIU in goals with eight, assists with
four and total points with 20. The freshman
from Hallendale, Fla. also has contributed the
most shots on goal tor rlU with 6/ and halt ot
his goals have been game-winners.
Supporting Romero will be junior forward
Brad Kroening and sophomore midfielder
Matias Asorey. Kroening has five goals in on
ly 10 games this season, and four of them have
Soccer see page 2
! _. _ ___I
Sean Rayford The Gamecock
Freshman midfielder Jack Cummings (left) has been an attacking threat for the No. 20
Carolina soccer team all season.
Tale of the Tape
South Carolina
(7-2,5-2 SEC)
Sept. 2 New Mexico State 31 -0 W
Sept. 9 Georgia 21-10 W
Sept. 16 Eastern Michigan 41-6 W
Sept 23 Mississippi State 23-19 W
Sept. 30 at Alabama 17-27 L
Oct-7 at Kentucky 20-17 W
Oct 14 Arkansas 27-7 W
Oct. 21 at Vanderbilt 30-14 W
Oct 28 Tennessee 14-17 L
Nov. 11 at Florida
Nov. 18 atClemson
Florida
(8-1,6-1 SEC) ,
Sept. 2 BaU State 40-19 W
Sept 9 Middle Tennessee 55-0 W
Sept. 16 at Tennessee 27-23 W
Sept. 23 Kentucky 59-31 W
Sept 30 at Mississippi State 35-47 L
Oct. 7 Louisiana State 41-9 W
Oct. 14 Auburn 38-7 W
Oct. 28 Georgia (neutral) 34-23 W
Nov. 4 at Vanderbilt 43-20 W
Nov. 11 South Carolina
Nov. 18 at Florida State
| TEAM OFFENSIVE LEADERS
Phil Petty (R-Jr.)
129-242,1744
yds., 7 TD, 6 INT
TEAM OFFENSIVE LEADERS
Rex Grossman (Fr.)
92-152,1424 yds., 17
TD.5INT
Derek Watson (So.)
150 carries, 881 yd
(5.9 per carry), 10
ID
Robert Gillespie (Jr.) 1!
91 carries, 540 yds.
(5.9 per carry), 5 TD
Jermaie Kelly (R-Sr.) Mar Gaffney (Fr.)
32 receptions, 470 52 receptions, 837
yds., 4 TD yds., 12 TD
(picture not avaiMle)
BY THE NUMBERS
USC Opponents
24.9 points per game 13.0
382.0 offense yards per game 280.2
164.9 rush yards per game 104.4
217.1 pass yards per game 175.8
29:42 time of poss. per game 30:18
+6 turnover maigin -6
43.7% third down conversion 2.6%
BY THE NUMBERS
UF Opponents
41.1 points per game 19.9
419.1 offense yards per game 348.2
105.1 rush yards per game 145.1
314.0 pass yards per game 203.1
26:15 time of poss. per game 33:45
+18 turnover margin -18
41.0% third down conversion 7.1%
Elections, sports
not so different
Todd Money
Money In The
Bank
Sports
Commentary
Now, let’s see. By the time you
read this, the course of this coun
try probably will have been
changed forever by what we call
the elections process. It’s a good
system, in theory anyway.
It’s been here for 200-some
thing years. So we stick with it. We
teach our kids that this is how you
pick a favorite. Basically, you line
all the candidates up, take into ac
count their stands on all the “is
sues,” and how much of a leader
each of them appears to be and what
history has proven before.
The question is, then, how do
we do this in sports? How do we
pick a favorite team?
I’ve always liked baseball’s
Cardinals, Athletics and Braves.
When I first got into baseball,
around 1987,there were obvious
reasons for this: the A’s had Jose
Canseco, Dennis Eckersley, Dave
Stewart and a young, skinny kid
named Mark McGwire who had hit
49 homeruns his rookie year. They
were about to become unstoppable.
They were cool.
The Cardinals had Ozzie Smith
and Vince Coleman. Ozzie could
do anything. Vince would steal any
time. I remember looking out to
the street to our mailbox, pretend
ing I was Vince,checking cars on
either side to be sure I wouldn’t get
‘caught’ and then taking off to
get the paper and see what the
Cards had done the day before.
And red was my favorite col
or.
Obviously, winning doesn’t
have everything to do with it.
The Braves were perennial losers
when I started following them. It
was a while before they’d get
better. But you could watch them
every night, every game! You
couldn’t miss them. Unless you
liked the Cubs. And if you liked
the Cardinals, that was illegal.
In pro basketball, I had the
Lakers. They were winners, then,
too, with Magic and Kareem win
ning title after title. But the guy I
admired was Kurt Rambis, a tall
power forward who looked like he
belonged in a lab coat. In fact, he
didn’t look like anybody. And he
wasn’t very smooth on the court or
a good shot. But he hustled, div
ing into the stands for loose balls,
taking punishment under the glass.
He was always where he should be.
And that’s what I wanted to be.
In football, the Pittsburgh Steel
ers were my best friends. I think I
admired that 1970’s mystique more
than anything. All those NFL films
specials about those Super Bowl
teams just seemed so, well, ethe
real. And all those great players -
Terry Bradshaw, Franco Harris, Joe
Greene - surely no other team
had been so great for so long. Or
so I figured.
So what kind of logic does it
take to pick a team and call it
yours? I think there are about six
kinds of fans: first are the rival
busters: Someone you’re forced to
interact with regularly will un
MONEY see page 2