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THE GAMECOCK ♦ Wednesday, October 10, 2001 | ) | ) ril Ol CAME SCHEDULE CONTACT US I ^ I I B™^ I . VOLLEYBALL at Clemson, 7 p.m. Wednesday I B B B B ILl VOLLEYBALL vs. Arkansas, 7 p.m. Friday Story ideas? Questions? Comments? fl W B B B ^ J WOMEN’S SOCCER at Arkansas, 7 p.m. Friday Writeusatgamecocksports@hotmail.com B S B B .. f \—«/ FOOTBALL at Arkansas, 2 p.m. Saturday WOMEN’S SWIMMING & DIVING at SEC East meet, Thurs-Sat USC is ranked where? KYLE ALMOND JBLAZINI24@HOTMAIL.COM No one could’ve known we’d have made it here. Two seasons ago, when Gamecock killer Rod Gardner put the finishing touches on Carolina’s 11th loss, would you have ever imagined that not even two years later, we’d be a top 10 team? During that horrid losing streak, when our offense couldn’t find the end zone with a map, would you have guessed that basically the same players would score 79 points over a two game stretch? When your friends from other schools teased you about 0-11, did you ever believe for one second that the Gamecocks would be 5-0 in 2001? Sure you did. And I’ll be starting at nose tackle against Arkansas. USC’s remarkable turnaround is so remarkable because very few people actually thought it could happen. Of course, we all supported Lou Holtz in his efforts and tried to convince ourselves that, yes, we actually could be a top 10 team someday. But really, how much of us actually would have saw it coming so soon? I sort of feel like I’m in the Twilight Zone. Things just don’t seem right. USC football - No. 9 in the nation? I’m not used to this. There’s more, too. What it you tried to forget about the 0-11 season by drinking yourself into a coma, then woke up about a y ear-and-a-half later? You’d wake up and hear about the following: The terrorist attacks of Sept. 11. When you started chugging that bottle of Aristocrat, you thought America was untouchable. Now we’re at war with some douche bags called the Taliban. The what? Michael Jordan is back - again. It seems MJ wants to beat Larry Holmes’ record of most career returns from retirement. Even if it means playing for the lowly Wizards. The home run streak has been broken by Barry Bonds. When you left us, hitting more than Mark McGwire’s 70 home runs looked about as easy as climbing Mount Everest with Jared Lorenzen on your back. Now, the record’s become a joke. Trent Dilfer won a Super Bowl. Before the coma, you would have put your money on Heath Shuler winning a Super Bowl before Dilfer even sniffed it. The Seattle Mariners won 116 games -- without Randy Johnson, Ken Griffey or Alex Rodriguez. Instead, they ride the coattails of a Japanese rookie, Ichiro Suzuki, that physically seems about as intimidating as Justin Timberlake. Those are just a few examples. There’s more. Tiger Woods winning four straight majors. Ray Bourque raising the Stanley Cup. Florida State sucking in football. You see? It’s just madness. The last year-and-a-half has been totally unpredictable and unstable. Well, not totally. Strom Thurmond is still keeping it real. Shoutouts Pete Carroll, what are you doing with the other USC? Stop before someone gets hurt.... To whoever keeps giving Fresno ♦ ALMOND, SEE PAGE 11 USC vs. Clemson, take two BY CHRIS FOY THE GAMECOCK After having their original matchup cancelled, the Universi ty of South Carolina volleyball team will face off tonight against in-state rival Clemson in a highly anticipated match. The No. 19 Lady Gamecocks are looking to get back on track after going 1-1 in conference play this weekend, beating Kentucky and then losing to Tennessee. Last season in Columbia, the Lady Gamecocks defeated Clem son 3-0. Senior Jodi Steffes led the Tigers in that game with five kills and 10 digs. USC junior right-side hitter Cally Plummer led the Gam'ecocks with 10 kills, seven digs, two service aces and six block assists. The Lady Gamecocks have been led this year by Plummer. The Missouri native leads the team in kills with 158, averaging 3.85 per game. In every game ex cept one, Plummer has notched in at least 10 kills. She also leads the team in service aces with 19. . Junior Megan Hosp has led the Lady Gamecocks in assists, aver aging 12.54 per game. She also leads the team in digs with 113. Redshirt freshman Niece Cur ry has emerged as the team's de fensive star. Curry leads the team in blocks with 38, including six solo. She is averaging a 0.97 block per game average. The Lady Tigers are led by Steffes, who anchors the right side. Steffes leads the Tiger of fense with 196 kills, averaging four per game. Steffers also leads the team in service aces with 20 and has a team-best 134 digs. Middle hitter Lori Ashton is a rising power on offense. The freshman leads the team in hit ting percentage with .311 and is second on the team in kills with 137. Ashton has also proven to be a power on the defense, leading the team with 35 blocks, five of them solo. Junior setter Jessi Becker is averaging 11.71 assists per game. She is second on the team in digs with 131. The first serve will be at 7:00 tonight at Jervey Gym at Clem son. This will be the 45th time the two teams have met, with USC holding a 26-18 series advantage. South Carolina has won four of the last six matches. Play-by play of tonight’s match can be heard on uscsports.com with commentators Christopher Thompson and Kevin McCreary. Comments on this story?E-mail gamecocksports@hotmail.com. Carolina looks to improve to 11-2 as they travel to Clemson tonight, photo by aaron hark Holtz not buying USC’s No. 9 ranking L. Carolina hopes to keep the same pressure up in its nationally televised game against Arkansas, photo by aaron hark BY CHRIS FOY THE GAMECOCK For the first time since 1988, the University of South Carolina's football program is ranked in the top 10 in the country. According to head coach Lou Holtz, the No. 9 Gamecocks have . achieved their lofty ranking be cause of their record, not their play. "We're ranked ninth in the country because we're 5-0," Holtz said. "The question is whether or not we can keep winning." Holtz went on to say, "They for got to put a three in front of the nine. I think college football has digressed if we're ranked ninth in the country. We're not a top 10 team. People are not afraid to play us. I don’t want to take anything away from our players, because they have worked hard, their at titude has been marvelous and they are team-oriented. But we are not an excellent football team by any means." The Gamecocks' numbers haven’t shown that they are a top 10 team. The squad has been out gained on yards collectively by their opponents. The Gamecocks have gained 1,687 yards, while their opponents have gained 1,757 against them. The team lacks strong statisti cal standing in the conference as well. It is ranked ninth in the SEC in both total offense and toted de fense. Its rushing offense is sixth in the conference while the pass ing game is ninth. Defensively, the Gamecocks rank seventh against the rush and sixth against the pass. But as far as the statistics that win games go, USC is fifth in scor ing offense and sixth in scoring defense. Although Holtz remains unim pressed with his team's overall performance, he is pleased with his team's chemistry. "On the positive side, we play as a team. We're very, very com petitive," Holtz said. "We have a ♦ FOOTBALL, SEE PAGE'11