University of South Carolina Libraries
8 T'V rri GAME SCHEDULE AAMTAGT TTO I I FOOTBALL at Georgia, 7:45p.m. Saturday liUlN 1AI( 1 UO ■I ■ VOLLEYBALL at Miami (Ohio) Classic, 5:30 p.m. Today I ■ I 1 MEN’S SOCCER at Charleston Classic, 5 p.m. Today Story ideas? Questions? Comments? It I I \ ■ ■ ■ it I WOMEN’S SOCCER at San Diego Classic, 1 p.m. Today Writeusatgamecocksports@hotmail.com f v—/ —■— —■— f \—/ CROSS COUNTRY at Gamecock Classic, 9 a.m. Saturday 1 ii. i. Gamecocks start SEC play tomorrow night at Georgia • m BanPH Spur safety Willie Offord tracks down a Boise State ball carrier. The 1-0 Gamecocks travel to Athens, Ga., this week to take on the Georgia Bulldogs In a game to be televised nationally on ESPN., photo by aaron hark BY KENT BABB THE GAMECOCK USC offense vs. UGA defense Georgia’s No. 1 task on Saturday is stopping South Carolina’s unassuming yet pow erful offense. Boise State found out last Saturday that underes timating the Gamecocks’ offen sive unit spells disaster. Passing: Last Saturday, Phil Petty completed 18-of-26 passes for 220 yards and the game’s first touchdown, a 16-yard screen to Derek Watson. If Petty can have another game where he mixes things up and completes 75 percent of his passes, the Georgia defense, which allowed Arkansas State 180 passing yards could crum ble. Petty’s weakness last week was going deep. He only tested his arm a few times and relied heavily on short passes for big gains. Coach Lou Holtz said Wednesday that the passing of fense impressed him more dur ing that practice than it has all season. Gamecocks tight end Hart Turner (neck stinger) missed a couple of early-week practices, but he returned to the practice field Wednesday and isn’t ex pected to miss any game time. ADVANTAGE: USC Rushing: Derek Watson saw limited playing time last Saturday due to a twinge in his hamstring, but made his pres ence felt nonetheless. Andrew Pinnock started in the backfield, but Watson scored the Gamecocks’ first touchdown off a 16-yard pass from Petty. Watson scrambled for 71 yards, and Pinnock rushed for 44. USC had some problems get ting the big rushing play against Boise State, but Watson’s break out game came against Georgia last year, and you can bet he’s looking forward to a repeat per formance. Petty took his share of rush es as well, compiling 34 yards, most of which came in the sec ond half. Georgia allowed 143 rushing yards last Saturday but didn’t al low a single rusher more than 52 yards. ADVANTAGE: USC USC defense vs. UGA offense Despite Watson’s perfor mance against the Bulldogs last year, it was the USC defense that stole the show. It picked off Heisman hopeful Quincy Carter five times and shut down the Georgia passing attack com pletely. But Georgia has retooled with a new quarterback, and tailback Musa Smith has come into his own as a high-profile rusher. Passing: Redshirt freshman quarterback David Greene and Carter are two completely dif ferent signal callers. While Carter was more renowned for avoiding the blitz with his quick feet before throw ing, Greene is a quarterback who enjoys plenty of time in the pocket. Last week against Arkansas State, Greene completed 21-of-29 for 285 yards and backup Cory Phillips threw for another 101 yards. Despite passing for 385 yards, only one of Georgia’s touchdowns was from the air. USC had a tough time last Saturday containing Boise State’s passing game, allowing 162 passing yards. Its other weakness came in complet ing sacks. While the defen sive line penetrated the Boise State offensive front several times, USC didn’t record any sacks. In addition to its difficul ties in completing the sack, USC has a banged-up de fense. Linebacker Kenny Harney’s duties will be high ly limited due to a sprained ankle. Holtz said Harney could play some, but his role has not yet been determined. Safety Rashad Faison is also shaking off an ankle in jury and could be somewhat slower than usual. ADVANTAGE: USC Rushing: Musa Smith’s per formance last week spoke for itself: 20 rushes, 158 yards and three touchdowns. While Smith has come into his own as a potential superstar run ning back, the USC rushing defense has become notori oys for shutting down big time backs. The Gamecocks shut down the Broncos rushing attack last Saturday, allowing just 91 yards on the ground. Boise State’s only touchdown was a rushing score, a one yard run. Boise State’s leading rush er had 42 yards, and the next leading rusher had 25. If Georgia plans to win this game, it better find a way to confound the USC defense. ADVANTAGE:EVEN Special teams: USC’s main Achilles’ Heel is its kicking game. Despite making two field goals (28, 29 yards) Dan Weaver missed an extra point in the first half against Boise State. The Gamecocks’ kicking situation is in limbo at the moment, with Dean, han dling punting duties, and Weaver handling field goals. Joey Bowers was used on kickoffs and Tyeler Dean on punts. Georgia’s kicking game was flawless last weekend, making each of its PATs and a 29-yard field goal in the second quarter. But don’t forget about the turning point in the game last week, Faison’s 82-yard blocked field-goal return for a touchdown. Instead of end ing the first half with a 13-10 lead, Faison’s winded scam per resulted in a 19-7 margin in USC’s favor. The Gamecocks’ kicking game is unreliable at best, and if Georgia’s kickers have the same kind of game as it did against Arkansas State, it could spell trouble for iron ADVANTAGE: UGA Bottom line: The teams are almost dead even in this piv otal match-up, and the most difficult thing is that they both know it. Both teams will have to be almost mis take-free to win. USC’s passing attack could be the wild card in this game, and so will the Gamecock running backs. Georgia’s defense hasn’t been tested. ■ Boise State’s offense scored nearly 45 points a game last season, so USC had a tough test last week so the Gamecocks will give the Georgia offense a run for its money. Georgia has home field ad vantage and a bone to pick in this, the first leg of a possi bly merciless race for a team to overtake Florida or Tennessee for the SEC crown. USC doesn’t have the sur prise factor this year, but what it doesn’t have there, it more than makes up in con fidence. FINAL SCORE: USC 24, UGA 21 Volleyball team travels to Ohio BY RICK JOHNSTON THE GAMECOCK The University of South Carolina’s volleyball team hopes to continue its winning ways this weekend as they travel to Miami University (Ohio) for the Miami/Best Western Classic. The Lady Gamecocks start by taking on the Purdue Boilermakers this afternoon at 5:30. Purdue is a young team, re turning 11 players from last year’s team that went 13-19. Two of their key players in the middle, Joanna Lowry and Eryn Leach, are just sophomores. TTie last time Purdue and USC met head-to-head was in 1994 when the Lady Gamecocks took a 3-2 victory. Next up in the tournament, Carolina will face the host Miami Redhawks. Head coach Carolyn Carr is coming into her 18th year at the helm of Miami’s volleyball program, and returns six starters from last year’s 10-19 team. The Redhawks are a veteran team, with only two freshmen coming in. Senior Summer Clouse, an Ohio native, will be a leader at the setter position. USC leads the all-time series with Miami 2-0. The Lady Gamecocks faced off against the Redhawks last year and took a 3-0 vict'ory at home. The final game of the tourna ment will feature the Lady Gamecocks versus Illinois State. The Redbirds are coming off a season that saw them go 19-10 overall, but snagged a strong 19 3 record in the Missouri Valley Conference. A trio of seniors will be the players to watch among the team’s 11 returnees. Becky Weber will be strong at the setter posi tion, and Abby Lewis and Megan Stephenson are veterans at out side hitter. The last time USC and ISU faced off was in 1997 in the NCAA tournament in Austin, Texas. USC won the match 3-0. The all time series, however, is tied at one-to-one as the Redbirds de feated the Lady Gamecocks 3-2 back in 1988. The Lady Gamecocks are com ing off a successful showing last weekend, when they won the Sun Devil Classic in Tempe, Ariz. USC made a clean sweep of the competition, beating Hofstra 3-0, Santa Clara 3-0 and host Arizona State 3-2. All three teams were participants in last year’s NCAA tournament. The match against Santa Clara was between two nationally ranked teams, with the Lady Gamecocks coming in ranked No. 23 in America and Santa Clara ranked No. 22. It was jUSC’s first win against a nationally ranked opponent since knocking off No. 25 Georgia 3-0. In the latest USA Today/AVCA Division I Coaches poll, USC rose to No. 21 and Santa Clara fell to No. 24. The ranking is the highest in USC school his tory. Several Lady Gamecocks had strong showings in the Sun Devil classic. Tucson, Ariz., natives Berna Dwyer and Nadia Sefferovich each had big match es. Sefferovich excelled against Hofstra, hitting .450 for the match, notching 12 kills, 11 digs, two block assists and two aces. “I was excited to play ia front 1 ♦ VOLLEYBALL, SEE PAGE 9 Prepare for the Daivg pound PRESTON BAINES PBAINES@GAMECOCKS.COM Get ready. It’s time to go “between the hedges.” Let’s hope you make it that far. And I’m not talking to the football team. Coach Holtz will have them prepared. The people in the most danger of getting injured aren’t Phil Petty or Derek Watson. It’s Gamecock fans who are the ones in dangerous territory. Yes, it’s time to visit the war zone, Sanford Stadium in Athens, Ga. Somewhere along the line, the Dawg fans got rabies, and you’re in danger of getting bitten. In the past five times I have been afforded the pleasure of traveling to Athens, plenty of entertainment has been available both on and off the field. Besides the game, the rowdy, inbred Georgia fans manage to get plenty of action going around the perimeter of the stadium. The fighting, though, isn’t limited to home games. The Dawgfans are well-rounded. Case in point: a year ago in Columbia, right about the time (in)famous UGA quarterback Quincy Carter threw his fourth interception. This was time for the Dawgfans to take out all their frustrations and open their mouths. They were sitting in a USC section, so apparently they thought they could take on hundreds of Gamecock fans. Bad meet. The brief, and I do mean brief, brawl lasted only seconds before the Dawgfans whimpered out of Williams-Brice to lick their wounds. That was probably better anyway— they would have just gotten madder if they had to see the ensuing finish and celebration. So... does it have something to do with losing? No. Anytime is a good time for a fight. Case in point: One of USC’s worst recent efforts against UGA was a 42-23 loss in Athens. Apparently, seeing their football team take the Cocks to the woodshed wasn’t enough for the Georgia crowd. A rather large group of UGA fans felt they hadn’t gotten enough target practice lately. And who better to sharpen up % your rock throwing on than people in garnet and black? Thus, Georgia fans prove that any time is a good time to make a jackass of yourself, or maybe it isn’t. I’m not from Georgia, and I don’t think that is the mode of behavior in Atlanta, except at the ghetto on Peachtree Street. Why the insanity? A____ n guvAt aw mui icuio of the “Silver Britches” are coming out of their nine-month hibernation. Those 86,000 that call themselves fans of the Bulldogs take the Duke approach to athletics: “Uh, there’s more than one sport?" Except for the occasional J basketball or baseball games, gymnastics meet or tennis match, UGA fans are nowhere to be found. USC draws almost as many for a season of basketball than UGA does for all of those sports. 1 mean, a whole 5,213 fans showed up for the USC/UGA basketball game in Athens last season. Not to degrade their athletic program—it’s one of the best in the nation overall,but you wouldn’t know it by attendance figures. I ♦ BAINES, SEE PAGE 9