The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, November 12, 2001, Page 7, Image 7
_ A L A THE GAMECOCK ♦ Monday, November 12,2001
7 GAME SCHEDULE
/''(/'Mv-rm a /''im tth BASKETBALL vs. TBA, 7:30p.m. Wednesday
CONTACT US VOLLEYBALL vs. Tennessee (at SEC
‘ Tournament), 7 p.m. Thursday
Story ideas? Questions? Comments? FOOTBALL vs. Clemson, 12:30 p.m. Saturday
Write us at gamecocksports@lwtmail.com MEN’S SOCCER at Florida International,
7 p.m. Saturday
Above: Willie Offord gets a hand on Florida QB Rex Grossman during Saturday night's
game. It was one of the few times USC was able to pressure Grossman, photo by travis lynn
Below: More than 10,000 fans gathered at the State Fairgrounds on Saturday morning for
the live broadcast of ESPN's College GameDay. photo by candi hauglum
FLORIDA GATORS KILL GAMECOCKS'
SEC TITLE HOPES WITH BLOWOUT
AT WILLIAMS-BRICE STADIUM
BY MATT ROTHENBERG
THE (IAMEC0CK
On Saturday night, the Florida
Gators shut down the electricity
at Williams-Brice Stadium, caus
ing an on-field blackout that went
along with the one in the stands.
Despite a record-breaking crowd
of 84,900, mostly clad in black, the
Gamecocks could not withstand
the Gator attack and succumbed
54-17. Florida scored on all but one
of its drives and left the Gamecock
coaching staff to scrounge for an
swers following the loss.
“We couldn’t stop them,” head
coach Lou Holtz said. “They ran
the ball, threw the ball. We got
beat by a far superior football
team. This was devastating phys
ically, mentally, every which
way.”
The Gamecocks got a lucky
break early. After the opening dri
ve stalled at their 49-yard line, the
Gamecocks made an outstanding
play on special teams. Tyeler Dean
boomed 'a 43-yard punt that
Florida’s Lito Sheppard fumbled
inside the 10-yard line. Junior de
fensive back Brian Elam was
there to fall on the loose ball, and
Carolina continued its drive on
the Florida 7-yard line. It took one
play for the first score, as Derek
Watson got the handoff and ran for
his sixth TD of the year, offblocks
from Ryan Brewer and Andrew
Pinnock.
Florida quarterback Rex
Grossman came out shooting. On
the first play of the drive at his
own 25, Grossman hit receiver
Jabar Gaffney for a 15-yard com
pletion and three plays later got
the ball to Earnest Graham for an
11-yard gain. After the Gator dri
ve stalled at the Gamecock 25,
kicker Jeff Chandler put the ball
through the uprights from 42
yards out, cutting Carolina’s lead
to four.
The Gamecocks continued to
chip away at the Florida defense
with their running attack, includ
ing a 19-yard run by Petty. After
an incomplete pass on third down,
the Gamecocks settled for a 32
yard field goal from Daniel
Weaver. This marked Weaver’s
tenth of the season, making him
the first Carolina kicker to reach
that mark since 1994. Through the
first quarter, the Gamecocks ac
cumulated 79 yards of rushing
against the Florida defense, which
had been allowing an average of
less than 100 yards per game.
After Sheppard took the kick
off back 32 yards for Florida,
Graham piled up fifteen yards on
four attempts, including two for
first downs. With his receivers
blanketed by the Gamecock de
fense, Grossman burned his heels
on a 31-yard pickup, finally being
stopped by Kenny Harney on the
South Carolina 12. Following a
short gain by Graham, Grossman
connected with Gaffney for an 11
yard touchdown strike to tie the
♦ FLORIDA, SEE PAGE 8
USC looks to Clemson matchup
BY BRANDON LARRABEE
THE GAMECOCK
Nothing seemed to go right for
the Gamecocks on Saturday night.
Their defense was picked apart
by Rex Grossman and the Florida
offense, which piled up 482 yards
of total offense. Grossman was 21
of-33 passing, throwing for 302
yards and two touchdowns.
Earnest Graham ran for 91 yards
on 19 carries. And Jeff Chandler
was perfect on the night, making
field goals from 42,36,46 and 44
yards.
“I have never been involved in
a football game before where the
other team scored every time they
had the ball plus when we had the
ball,” USC head coach Lou Holtz
said after the game. “That was an
awesome display by Florida, par
ticularly on offense.”
USC’s offense was all but si
lenced by the Gators, who at one
point held Carolina scoreless for
nearly 40 minutes.
And to top it off, USC will likely
have to face archrival Clemson on
Saturday without starting quar
terback Phil Petty, Kalimba
Edwards or Jeremiah Garrison.
Derek Watson is questionable,
though he said he intends to play.
And Holtz also said Rod Thomas
has a shoulder problem.
“We’re going into the most im
portant game of the season’s next
♦ CLEMSON, SEE PAGE 8
“That was an awesome display by Florida.”
LOU HOLTZ
USC HEAD COACH
Volleyball defeats
Wake Forest 3-0
by CHRIS FOY
THE GAMECOCK
With Cally Plummer leading
the way, the Lady Gamecocks
took down Wake Forest 3-0 on
Sunday at the Volleyball
Competition Facility. With the
win, South Carolina improved
to 18-4 (10-4 SEC).
After the game, USC head
coach Kim Christopher felt her
team played well. “Today, I felt
we played the way we have been
practicing lately,” Christopher
said. “We were relaxed, and our
defensive effort was good. Wake
Forest is known as a very good
defensive team, and we wanted
to outwork them defensively. We
beat them in the digs category
45-30, and that is really what we
wanted to do. We knew that if we
could outplay them defensively,
then we could do some really
good things offensively as well.”
In game one, the Demon
Deacons were down early but
pulled within three to make the
score 9-6. But they were unable
to get any closer, and the Lady
Gamecocks prevailed 30-17.
Game two followed the same
pattern as the first, except this
time the Lady Demon Deacons
were down four. That was as
close as they would come, how
ever, as they dropped the match
30-20.
Game three was a hard-fought
match that featured five lead
changes. The Deacons got a sur
prising 20-16 lead but were un
able to stop the offensive surge
by the Gamecocks, who came
back to win 30-25.
USC was a sharp .333, while
Wake struggled, only hitting
.183. Plummer finished the game
with 16 kills and three service
aces. Nadia Sefferovich led the
defense with 14 digs and had an
outstanding .667 hitting per
centage en route to the Lady
Gamecocks’ win. Megan Hosp
led the team in assists with 29.
The Lady Gamecocks will
next compete in the SEC tourna
ment starting Thursday in
Knoxville, Tenn. Pairings for the
opening round will be released
later today.
Comments on this story?E-mail
gamecocksports@hotmail.com.
Men’s soccer team thrashes Elon
BY KYLE ALMOND
thkoamecock
Coming off a disappointing 1-0
loss to No. 7 North Carolina on
Friday, the USC men’s soccer team
rebounded Sunday with a 5-1
thrashing of Elon at the
Graveyard.
Jordan Quinn scored a pair of
goals, and three freshmen rounded
out the scoring for the No. 20
Gamecocks, whose record im
proves to 11-4-2 with only one reg
ular-season game remaining.
Seniors Joey Worthen, Ryan
Stocking and Tony Vitagliano
were honored before Sunday’s
game, USC’s last regular-season
home game of the season. Worthen
didn’t take long to make his pres
ence felt once the game got under
way, assisting Quinn on the open
ing goal at the 5:34 mark. The for
ward from Salt Lake City brought
Elon’s goalkeeper out of the six
yard box and lofted a cross into the
middle, where Quinn headed the
pass into a wide-open net.
Elon’s Brent McDowell tied the
game less than four minutes later,
but Quinn’s free kick in the 12th
minute put the Gamecocks back
on top again. Kolby Runager in
creased Carolina’s lead to two ear
ly in the second half, and the rout
was on. Udo Seidel and Anthony
Stovall each scored header goals
in the 73rd and 83rd minutes, re
spectively.
Vitagliano, a midfielder from
Scottsdale, Ariz., was happy to get
a win in what could be his final
game at the Graveyard.
“It feels good to go ^ut with a
win,” Vitagliano said. "It’s unfor
tunate it might be the last game,
but it’s got to come to an end.”
USC has a strong chance at
hosting a first-round game in the
NCAA Tournament, which starts
Nov. 25. The brackets will be an
nounced Nov. 19.
Head coach Mark Berson
thinks a win at Florida
International in the final game of
the regular season could te a de
ciding factor in whether the
Gamecocks host a first-round
game
“I think it’s absolutely crucial,”
Berson said. “I think that we need
to win in Miami to give us the best
chance to host a game in the
NCAA Tournament. There are no
guarantees, win or lose, but cer
tainly a win there improves our
chances.”
Berson said he was pleased
with how his team played follow
ing the North Carolina loss. The
Gamecocks lost Friday on a
fourth-minute goal by David
Testo, who transferred from USC
in the offseason.
“I’m real proud of the way the
guys responded,” Berson said.
“We didn’t get back until late
Friday night, like 1 or 2 o’clock in
the morning. So we had to do this
without much rest.”
With the win, the Gamecocks
finish with a home record of 7-1-1.
Their only loss came to Maryland
in the Gamecock Soccer Classic on
Oct. 19.
Elon fell to 8-11 with the loss.
“I was very pleased for our se
niors,” Berson said. “Ryan
Stocking, Joey Worthen and Tony
♦ SOCCER, SEE PAGE 8
The Gamecock offense prevailed over Drury's tight
defense last week, photo by regina goodwin