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AROUND THE SEC COMPILED BY PRESTON BAINES Florida knocked off in upset of the year The then-No. 1 Florida Gators, who looked invincible until last week, fell victim to the upset bug that hit the SEC Saturday night, falling to Auburn 23-20. The Tigers came into the weekend looking like the overmatched team after beating less-than stellar competition and getting trampled by a good-at-best Syracuse team. But Auburn found out what can happen when you stop the Gators on the ground: Steve Spurrier gets impatient. Auburn intercepted four Rex Grossman passes as he continuously hurled the ball in the second half. Crimson Tide can’t hold on — again The Crimson Tide fans could be getting impatient already. Eli Manning led a late comeback to lead Ole Miss past Bama 27-24. This year, the Tide has blown leads in all three of their losses to teams with a combined record of 15-2. Georgia beats Vandy, but it costs them No. 17 Georgia won easily at Vanderbilt 30-14, but got bad news after the victory. Leading rusher Musa Smith ran all over the Commodores but injured his hip in the process. Smith will be out with a hip flexor for at least this week’s game against Kentucky. Mississippi State singing the blues Mississippi St. came into the season with hopes as high as in any of its previous seasons. Now the Bulldogs will be scrambling to make a bowl after a 21-9 loss to Troy State, a southern Alabama school in its transition year between Division I-AA and I-A. MSU has dropped four straight and is 0-3 in the conference going into this weekend’s battle with archrival LSU. Manning, Walker get player of the week Mississippi’s Eli Manning passed for a career-high 325 yards and led a last-minute drive to beat Alabama and win offensive player of the week honors in the SEC. Manning’s performance wasn’t good enough to stop Alabama’s Rashaud Walker from having a big game, though. Walker received defensive honors after getting seven tackles against the Rebels. c SPORTS BRIEFS Derek Watson accepted into PTI Fifth Circuit Court Solicitor Barney Giese has approved junior tailback Derek Watson for pre-trial intervention. Watson was accused of punching a 19-year-old former USC student in the arm. PTI usually involves community service and other forms of charity. If Watson completes PTI, the charges will be dropped. The charges could have landed Watson a $500 fine and/or 30 days in jail. USC-Tennessee to be on television The Oct. 27 football game with No. 11 Tennessee has been changed to accommodate national television. The game will take place on ESPN2 (6 p.m.) or ESPN (7:45 p.m.) in Knoxville, Tenn. Men’s soccer beats Gardner-Webb The No. 18 South Carolina men’s soccer team got an easy victory over Gardner-Webb on Monday night at Eugene Stone III Stadium. The Gamecocks (8 2) got off to a slow start, leading only 1-0 at halftime over the undermanned Bulldogs (4-10) off a Ryan Daley goal. The second half brought more success on offense for USC, led by three players who had yet to score previously on the season. USC’s assist leader, Jordan Smith, recorded his first goal of the year. Jack Cummings and Ray Fischer also registered their first goals of the season. Tony Vitagliano added his second goal of the year. The Gamecocks’ next action will come this weekend when they play host to the Gamecock Soccer Classic, which will include the College of Charleston, Maryland and Rutgers. Volleyball splits weekend action The No. 22 USC volleyball team fell at the hands of the Arkansas Lady Backs but redeemed themselves with a victory Sunday against the LSU Tigers. Carolina (12-3,5-3 SEC) played each game close against the Hogs (10-5,7-0) but fell 3-1 for the match. The difference in the match came in blocks, as the Lady Backs had 17 blocks compared to seven for the Lady Gamecocks. USC’s match against LSU (10-6,5-2) was similar to the match against Arkansas, except this time Carolina came out on top. Head coach Kim Christopher thinks the Gamecocks still have some work to do. “We were missing the beat a little bit today. Today we changed some things in our lineup to see if we could get more production,” Christopher said. “We are trying to get our offense more in sync — that’s why we changed our lineup a little.” Swimming and diving finish fourth Two Gamecocks won events en route to a fourth place finish out of five teams. Senior All-American Zsolt Gaspar won the men’s 100 meter butterfly, and sophomore Istvan Batazi also won the 400 IM for the men. Carolina also finished strong in the relays. The men’s 200 meter freestyle relay team finished second with a time of 1:23.23, while the women finished third with a time of 1:36.23. Men’s tennis makes Ga. Tech semifinals Top-seeded senior Rodrigo Pacheco made the singles semifinals of the B Draw before being upset by unseeded Fabio Campos in straight sets 6-3,6-2. In doubles, the team of Ben Atkinson and David Nelson drew the same fate, falling in the semifinals to Fillnow and Rogers. Women’s golf struggles to 13th The Lady Gamecocks golf team shot a final-round 334 and had a three-day total of962 to finish in 13th place at the Mercedes-Benz Women’s Championship in Knoxville, Tenn. All-American Kristy McPherson shot a 12-over 228 to tie for 14th place overall. Purdue came from behind to overtake top-ranked Duke and national champion Georgia to win the crown with a total of 902. FINAL USC SCORES: T14. Kristy McPherson 82-72-74228 T38. Kory Thompson 75-81-80 236 T51. Adrienne Gautreaux 79-80-84243 T55. Reetta Laakkonen 79-78-88245 r< T59. Kacy Thompson 78-80-88246 ■. T67. Marci Robinson 83-80-89 252 FINAL TEAM SCORES 1. Purdue 297-300-305 902 2. Auburn 299-298-310 907 T3. Duke 293-302-315 910 T3. Georgia 294-300'-316 910 13. SOUTH CAROLINA 318-310-334 962 Women’s cross country finishes 10th Competing with a competitive field in Greenville, S.C., the Lady Gamecocks cross country team finished 10th at the Furman Invitational. Brigham Young took home the title with 25 points. The Gamecocks finished with a score of304, led by Jenny Lake and Rachel Smith. Lake had a finishing time of 23:35 and Smith had 23:57. USC will compete in the SEC Championships at Auburn University in two weeks. NEWS VIEWPOINTS THE MIX SPORTS THE GAMECOCK ONLINE WWW.OAILYGAMECOCK.COM I Great Roommate Floorplan! - Spacious 1, 2 & 3 Bedroom apartments available - Only 1 mile from USC! The Rapids APARTMENT✓HOMES Amenities Galore! Hurry.... They're going fast! #1 Catawba Circle • 779-5888 I COMINC SOON TO A THEATRE NEAR YOU MAGAZINE Meetings Thursdays 6 p.m. Russell House Room 331 WANTTO WRITE FOR GAMECOCK SPORTS? 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