The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, October 26, 2001, Page 8, Image 8
.■.GAME SCHEDULE
■ I W ill * FOOTBALL vs. Tennessee, 6 p.m. Saturday
I I VOLLEYBALL vs. Auburn, 7 p.m. Friday
■ I I i WOMEN’S SOCCER vs. Ole Miss, 7 p.m. Friday
Story ideas? Questions? Comments? / v'l V ■ W VII I L j MEN’S SOCCER vs. Cal State-Fullerton, noon
Write us at gamecocksports@hotmail.com w\. 9 I W I I I ^ M Friday
USC at Tennessee
6 p.m. Saturday
at Neyland Stadium, Knoxville
TV: ESP-N2, Radio: WVOC 560-AM
BY CHRIS FOY
THE GAMECOCK
The No. 12 Gamecocks will travel to
Knoxville tomorrow to take on the
ninth-ranked Tennessee Volunteers in
a highly anticipated SEC matchup.
Not only are the teams’ poll and
Bowl Championship Series rankings
at stake, but the game also has major
conference implications.
With the Georgia-Florida game also
being played Saturday, two teams will
be falling out of serious contention for
the SEC East title. The winner of this
game will also get a quality win in the
RPS Qvcfpm pr»H will likplv mnvp intn
major bowl contention.
Last season, the Gamecocks held the
Volunteers for the majority of the game
until then-freshman Casey Clausen or
chestrated a six-minute drive at the end
of the game to put Tennessee up for
good, 17-14. The teams are evenly
matched in what should be a close game.
USC offense vs. Tennessee
defense
Rushing: USC’s tandem of Derek
Watson, Andrew Pinnock and Ryan
Brewer will be squaring off against the
best rush defense in the conference and
one of the better ones in the country.
The stingy Tennessee defense allows
just 71 rushing yards per game and has
only given up one touchdown on the
ground all season. Watson has not yet
had a true breakout game, but the ju
nior has been averaging five yards per
carry and has three touchdowns on the
year. Pinnock has also been a strong
factor in the Carolina ground attack
with seven touchdowns this season.
Tennessee is led by star defensive tack
le John Henderson, who has 18 career
sacks as a Volunteer. Henderson has
also had at least one tackle for a loss or
a sack in each of his last 14 games.
Kevin Burnett is also a force for the
rush defense with three sacks. Star
lineman Will Overstreet is expected to
miss the game.
ADVANTAGE: Tennessee
Passing: USC’s Phil Petty has been
solid at quarterback this season, throw
ing for 1,231 yards with nine touch
downs and three interceptions. Petty’s
strongpoint has been his ability to read
opposing defenses. Backup Corey
Jenkins has shown a lot of promise and
has run for two touchdowns and
thrown for 139 yards. Brian Scott has
been Petty’s go-to guy and leads the
team with four touchdowns and an av
erage of 17.5 yards per catch. Brewer
has gathered 469 all-purpose yards on
the year. The Volunteer secondary has
pulled in four interceptions this sea
son. Rashad Baker has two, and the
group on the whole has given up seven
touchdowns in the air.
ADVANTAGE: USC
Tennessee offense vs. USC
defense
Rushing: Travis Stephens leads the
UT offensive charge. He has scored five
touchdowns and averages an impressive
150 rushing yards per game. USC’s de
fensive line has been in question for most
of the year. It has given up six touch
downs and an average of 140 yards per
game. The line usually is able to contain
running backs but struggles when quar
terbacks run the option, and the Vols will
probably not run the option. Kalimba
Edwards has remained solid in the line
backer position, however, putting up 36.5
tackles thus far this season.
ADVANTAGE: Tennessee
Passing: Clausen has solidified his
position as the Volunteers starting
quarterback. He is throwing for an av
erage of 233 yards per game and has
seven touchdowns under his belt.
Wideout Kelley Washington has been
leading the receiving corps in the past
Phil Petty led the Gamecocks to 656 yards of total offense during last week’s game against
Vanderbilt. This week, Petty and USC face the Tennessee Volunteers, photo by travis lynn
three games with 24 receptions, 457
yards and two touchdowns. Washing
ton had a school-record 256 yards re
ceiving against LSU. The USC sec
ondary has been sharp this season, in
tercepting nine passes and rising to sec
ond in the conference. The USC defense
is anchored by its secondary, with
Andre Goodman and Sheldon Brown
on the corners. Goodman leads the
team with three interceptions.
ADVANTAGE: USC
Tennessee special teams vs.
USC special teams
Kicking/Punting: Daniel Weaver
has put the Gamecocks’ usual poor
kicking game behind them for the most
part, making seven of nine field-goal
attempts this season. He remains con
sistent on the extra point as well,
notching in 21 of 23. UT’s Alex Walls
hasn’t been quite on the mark with
field goals this season, hitting six of 10,
♦ TENNESSEE, SEE PAGE 8
Volleyball team faces off
against young SEC teams
BY RICK JOHNSTON
THE GAMECOCK
The USC volleyball team plays
host to a pair of SEC opponents
this weekend as they wrap up the
2001 season.
The Gamecocks, tied at 21st
with Minnesota in the USA
Today/AVCA Coaches’ poll, will
face the Auburn Tigers at 7 p.m.
tonight and the Alabama Crimson
Tide at 2 p.m. Sunday.
The Gamecocks (14-3, 7-3 SEC)
are coming off a weekend that saw
them defeat Tennessee 3-1 and
Kentucky 3-0. The wins gave USC
the regular-season sweep against
the Wildcats and evened the sea
son series with the Lady Vols.
This weekend’s games will be
against teams with a lot of young
talent.
T'Viq Tioorc rohim fmir ctarfpr<;
from last year’s squad, which had
a 13-16 overall record but a paltry
3-12 SEC record. However, the
Tigers haven’t seen much success
this year, going 1-17 overall and
winless in the SEC.
The Tigers fell to Alabama this
weekend in a 3-0 sweep.
Running the offense for Auburn
is senior setter Meghan Keck. She
will be trying to feed the ball to her
returning starters on the front,
Nicole Sandifer and Christine Iraggi.
Keck leads the team in assists
and is fourth on the team in digs,
with 93 on the year.
Alabama is about as young as
their rivals from Auburn, return
ing jpnly three starters from last
year’s western division champi
onship team. Even then, the three
returning starters are all under
classmen.
However, the Tide has seen
more success than Auburn, and
they come into this weekend’s
play riding a six-match winning
streak. They defeated Auburn and
South Florida last weekend, up
ping their home record to 7-1.
Alabama’s overall record is 16-5
overall and 7-3 in the SEC.The Tide’s
three returning starters, Shelley
Adamcik, Erin Price and Emily
Sebastian, are all on the front.
Price is also a threat from the
service line. She sparked the Tide
to a 6-0 run with two aces during
the Auburn match.
The Tide offense is run by ju
nior setter Bridget Studnicka, who
nau «_»j aooiau n/iauanuuiuu.
Gamecock players to watch this
Weekend include junior Nadia
Sefferovich, who with her 17 kills
against Tennessee set a season
high for kills in a four-game match.
Sefferovich also notched 10 digs
for the match against the Lady Vols.
As always, junior Cally
Plummer will be an offensive pow
er for the Gamecocks. She has
notched double-digit kills in 15 of
USC’s 17 matches. Plummer
showed her defensive prowess this
weekend when she got 10 digs in
the Tennessee match.
Another thing to watch is the
setter position to see if head coach
Kim Christopher uses both junior
all-SEC candidate Megan Hosp and
redshirt freshman Amy Pratt to
run the Gamecock offense. Pratt
was rotated in on a regular basis
Nadia Sefferovich (No. 6) puts the ball between the hands
of two Tennessee players, photo by aaron hark
in tne ftentucKy matcri in oruer 10
give the Gamecocks a different look
on the floor and to allow Hosp a
well-deserved break in the match.
NOTES
♦Tonight’s game will be Senior
Night as the Gamecocks bid
farewell to the three seniors: Nia
Mackie, Milicia Perovic and
Columbia native Liz Price.
♦ Sunday’s game will be
Military Appreciation Day and the
annual nauoween costume con
test. Fans are encouraged to come
in costume to the game.
♦ Sunday’s game will also fea
ture a post-game volleyball clinic
for adults, conducted by
Christopher and her staff.
♦ This is not the final home
game for the Gamecocks. In a rare
game after the SEC tournament,
USC will play host to the
University of North Carolina on
Nov. 24 at 2 p.m.
1
Why we want
Florida to win
CHRIS FOY
GAMECOCKSPORTS@HOTMAIL.COM
Before I even get into this
column, let me clarify
something. It is every South
Carolina Gamecock’s duty to
hate, if not loathe, the Florida
Gators. The Gators are the
epitome of everything that is
wrong with sports. Florida is a
lot like the New York Yankees.
Everyone hates them, and no
one can beat them. I remain
convinced that some under-the
table action has to be going on
in Gainesville. There is no way,
short of selling your soul, that
you can rank that high in
nropficalltt QTTr»r*ir nnl 1 nnioln
sport. And yet, they do. You
name it, they’re up there.
So I’m sure you’re asking,
“Why on earth do we want the
Gators to win?” We want them
to win because if Georgia wins,
South Carolina will finds itself
in an SEC race where it will
have to win the remainder of its
games.
Look at it like this: If
Georgia happens to upset
Florida, it will have gone
through its toughest SEC East
opponents 2-1 and, more
importantly, will still only have
that one loss.
The Dawgs look poised to
win the remainder of tneir
games. U UbC, Honda and
Tennessee each have one more
conference loss than Georgia,
then the Bulldogs will be
representing the SEC East in
the SEC championship.
The best-case scenario would
be for us to beat the Volunteers
this weekend and for Florida to
beat Georgia. Both teams
should breeze past their
opponents next week, as
Carolina plays host to Wofford
and Florida has its
homecoming against
Vanderbilt. After that, USC
would truly control its own
destiny.
If the Dawgs win tomorrow,
they would control their own
destiny because they will just
have to win out, and for us to be
the East champion, we would
have to do the same — not an
easy task.
If ITlnriHa tvinc rnnImntVintif
USC loses to either Tennessee
or Florida — but not both —
then we would still be in second
place in the East because
Georgia’s loss would tie them
with us, and we would have the
advantage because of the
tiebreaker.
Even if Tennessee wins this
weekend, let’s be frank: The
Volunteers stand practically no
chance of going to the Swamp
and beating the Gators.
But if South Carolina takes
on the Gators with both teams
having only one loss between
them, then the winner will be
your SEC East champion.
And while playing Florida is
never a simple task, there is
♦ FOY, S/EE PAGE 9