The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, September 27, 2002, Page 8, Image 8
g _ THE GAMECOCK + Friday, September27,2002 GAME SCHEDULE
—I V IN ’V w ■ ^ / NJ MEN'S GOLF at Carpet Capital Collegiate in Dalton, Ga.,
I ■ m \ I III Friday-Sunday
CONTACT IIS I_" I 1 I / I ’ VOLLEYBALL vs. Auburn, 7 p in. Friday
uuiuavjl U J I ■ ■ I ^ I i WOMEN’S TENNIS at Furman FaU Classic, Friday-Sunday
Story ideas? Questions? Comments? I B III 111 CROSS COUNTRY at The Citadel Invitational, 9 a.m. Saturday
E-mail us at gamecocksports@hotmail.com I , I I FOOTBALL at Vanderbilt, 7 p.m. Satiu-day
USC football team to bring
momentum into Music City
USC at Vanderbilt
7 p.m. Saturday
Vanderbilt Stadium
TV: Pay-per-view only
BY KYLE ALMOND
THE CAMECOCK
According to offensive coordi
nator Skip Holtz, the USC football
team is riding high after its 42-21
win over Temple this past weekend.
“We’ve had a good week of
practice,” Holtz said. “The tempo
has been upbeat and good.
Coming off of a win is much bet
ter than coming off of a loss. A
loss stings and bums.”
The Gamecocks will try to car
ry that momentum over on to the
playing field Saturday when they
take on Vanderbilt in Nashville.
USC (2-2, 0-1 SEC) dropped its
conference opener to Georgia two
weeks ago in Columbia, but it is
a heavy favorite to earn its first
SEC win this weekend.
Vanderbilt (1-3,0-2) hasn’t had a
winning season since 1982, and
the Gamecocks routed the
Commodores 46-14 last season.
Carolina head coach Lou Holtz
is wary, however, after seeing
Vandy play Ole Miss close last
weekend in Oxford. The pesky
Commodores put up a serious
challenge before losing by only a
touchdown, 45-38.
“Vanderbilt has an excellent
team,” Lou Holtz said. “They rolled
up a lot of yardage against Ole
Miss. They had a couple of missed
assignments in the secondary, but
that was about it. Ole Miss could
not run the ball effectively against
them. I think Vanderbilt and
Kentucky are the surprise teams
in the SEC so far this season.”
The Commodores are led by
first-year head coach Bobby
Johnson, .who has ties to South
Carolina. Johnson was previous
y the head coach at Furman, and
le is a Columbia native who
played at Clemson.
“I used to sell drinks during
:he games at the old Carolina
Stadium,” Johnson said, looking
lack. “We would sell drinks for
ibout a quarter then watch the
;ame the rest of the way. It was
lust a way of getting in free.”
Johnson has brought to Vandy
an option offense, led by quarter
back Jay Cutler. Cutler, a redshirt
freshman, has scored eight touch
downs this season—four passing
and four rushing.
“He did a good job, making bet
ter decisions and waiting for
things to develop,” Johnson said
of Cutler’s performance against
Ole Miss.
The Carolina coaching staff is
also pleased with the progress of
its starting quarterback, Corey
Jenkins. Jenkins leads the team
in both rushing (335 yards) and
passing (663 yards), and he was 18
for-23 last weekend versus Temple.
“Corey has done an amazing
job for as little experience he has
playing in a sophisticated of
♦ FOOTBALL, SEE PAGE 9
Corey Jenkins
braces for a
collision
against
Georgia two
weeks ago in
Columbia.
Jenkins and
the USC
football team
take on
Vanderbilt
this weekend
in Nashville.
Who has the
edge in
Saturday’s
matchup?
Check out our
Web site to
see how the
two SEC East
foes stack up
against each
other’s
strengths and
weaknesses.
PHOTO BY TRAVIS
LYNN/THE
GAMECOCK
SEC FOOTBALL
Arkansas defense wants some respect
FAYETTEVILLE, ARK. (AP) - Arkansas
leads the nation in rushing defense and
scoring defense and it ranks high in sever
al other statistical categories.
But who has noticed?
The Razorbacks’ 2-0 start says more about
what they haven’t done. Alabama (3-1) comes
to Fayetteville to play its fifth game as the two
teams open SEC play Saturday.
The Razorbacks aren’t starved for re
spect. They would settle for a little atten
tion.
Arkansas gets it this week with a na
tionally televised game against the first
team to truly test its run defense. Alabama
has averaged 244.3 yards per game on the
ground.
“I know, as a linebacker corps, we’ve
been ready for a running team to come in
here forever,” starting inside linebacker
Caleb Miller said. “We’re excited, and they
(Alabama) have been like, ‘They better get
ready for us to run,’ and we’ve been like,
‘Man, we wish you all were running us.’
We love that stuff.”
Elsewhere in the SEC
KENTUCKY AT NO. 7 FLORIDA: Kentucky
(4-0), off to its best start since 1984, travels to
Gainesville to play a Gators team (3-1,1-0)
that is in good spirits after soundly beating
Tennessee 30-13 on the road last week.
SYRACUSE AT AUBURN: Auburn (3-1,1-0)
plays a nonconference home contest
against Syracuse and hopes to avenge last
year’s loss to the Orangemen (1-2).
MISSISSIPPI STATE AT NO. 22 LSU:
LSU will have history on its side as it pre
pares for its game against Mississippi 1
State. The Tigers (2-1) are 5-0 in confer
ence openers against the Bulldogs (1-2,0- i
i \ cinpp 1QQ9 (
RUTGERS AT NO. 11 TENNESSEE: After !
being upset by Florida last week, (
"ennessee (2-1,0-1) welcomes Rutgers (1-3)
o Knoxville.
NEW MEXICO STATE AT NO. 8 GEORGIA:
Ifter crushing Northwestern State,
Jeorgia (3-0,1-0) plays host to New Mexico
!tate (1-2). The Aggies are playing their sec
rnd SEC opponent this year.
Volleyball action highlights busy weekend for USC
BY MATT ROTHENBERG
THE GAMECOCK
USC’s volleyball team returns to
action this weekend looking to stay
undefeated on its home floor. The
Gamecocks are 6-0 at home this sea
son and will face a pair of tough SEC
opponents in Auburn and Alabama.
Carolina (8-3,1-0 SEC) begins the
weekend against Auburn on Friday
night at 7 p.m, and the Gamecocks
face Alabama on Sunday at 1:30
p.m. Both games are at the
Volleyball Competition Facility.
The Tigers (1-11) have had more
than their fair share of trouble this
year as they begin their confer
ence schedule. Auburn dropped a
trio of matches last weekend at the
Comcast Lobo Invitational in
Albuquerque, N.M.
Senior Grace Boyd is leading the
way offensively for new head coach
Laura Farina. Boyd is hitting .245,
which places her as the best on a
team collectively hitting .140.
Alabama (9-5) continues SEC
play against the Gamecocks after
facing Kentucky in its SEC opener
on Friday night. The Tide went 2-1
at the Georgia Tech Invitational
this past weekend.
Sophomore Erin Heffner is one
of Alabama’s main threats, aver
aging just over four kills per game.
She’s also hitting .245 and is tops
on the team with 117 digs.
“We are glad to be home again
this week,” USC head coach Kim
Christopher said. “We really en
joy the rivalry between Auburn
and Alabama. It is important this
weekend for us to focus on playing
sharp and continue to get better
each match.” .
Women’s soccer
The Carolina women’s soccer
team, fresh off Tuesday night’s 3-1
win over Furman, comes home
Sunday to open SEC play against
the Florida Gators. Florida (3-4-1)
is reeling after a 4-0 loss to No. 2
Stanford this past weekend.
USC (7-2) is playing well as of
late, receiving strong perfor
manrpQ from a
number of players.
Morgan McInty
re, who scored two
goals against the
Paladins, leads the
team with seven
tallies on the sea
son. ivnuneiuer
McIntyre Jessica Julin was
named to the
Soccer America Team of the Week
with two goals and an assist
against Charleston Southern and
N.C. State last week.
The five-time SEC champion
Gators have scored a total of only
10 goals in 2002.
Sunday’s kickoff is slated for 1
p.m. at the Graveyard.
Other sports
MEN’S SOCCER: The USC men’s
soccer ^eam, ranked No. 3 by the
NSCAA. hits the road Sunday for a
matchup against Davidson.
Led by goalkeeper Michael
Bachmeyer’s 0.49 goals-against-av
erage, Carolina (7-0-1) is tied for
the nation’s longest unbeaten
streak. Jordan Quinn has four
game-winning goals for the
Gamecocks.
TENNIS: This weekend, the
men’s and women’s tennis teams
find themselves on the road in
their first action of the fall season.
The women head to Greenville to
play in the Furman Fall Classic,
while the men will take part in the
Wake Forest Invitational in
Winston-Salem, N.C.
MEN’S GOLF: The men’s golf
team will be in Dalton, Ga., this
weekend at the Carpet Capital
Collegiate.
Martin Rominger leads the
Gamecocks with a stroke average
of 73.8.
CROSS COUNTRY: USC ’s cross
country team returns to
Charleston on Sunday to partici
pate in The Citadel Invitational.
Carolina took part in the
College of Charleston Invitational
last weekend, and Gamecock run
ner Jenny Lake won the race.
EQUESTRIAN: The equestrian
team begins its season Saturday
with a competition at the Irish
Oaks Equestrian Centre in Irmo.
It will compete against Georgia
and Auburn in an SEC showdown
Sunday.
Commentson this story?E-mail
gamecocksports@hotmail.com
PHOTO SPECIAL TO THE GAMECOCK
Berna Dwyer and the Carolina volleyball team take on
Auburn and Alabama this weekend at the Volleyball
Competition Facility. Nine different sports teams from USC
will be In action this weekend.
ESPN not
the No. 1
sports
network
MATTROTHENBERG
GAMECOCKSPORTS@HOTMAIL.COM
Last week, while flipping
through the channels late one
night, I discovered that the best
sports programming isn’t on ESPN.
Not even on Fox Sports, either.
It’s on The Learning Channel.
You’re probably thinking that
the only worthwhile shows on TLC
are about dates, makeovers, babies,
weddings, people who redecorate
homes, and the world’s most dan
gerous drivers or police chases.
But there are indeed sports
shows — ones that provide much
more reality than “Survivor.”
I saw two of them myself:
“Sports Disasters” and “Sports
Collisions and Crackups.”
Just imagine you’re riding a
racehorse and, all of a sudden, it
rears up and flips you off. And
when you’re on the ground, other
horses are hitting you as they trot
by. Not pretty, huh?
Well, in my occasionally
warped mind, some of these things
that go wrong are the most amus
ing items to watch on television.
It makes me glad to say that I don’t
ride horses or race ultra-fast cars,
because that could be me on that
show getting into all sorts of mis
chief.
What I enjoy even more, though,
are the scenes from Europe and
South America of when soccer
matches go awry. I see that and
think that I’m proud to be
American, because we don’t take
our soccer seriously enough to
bash someone’s head in with a lead
pipe in the middle of a mass riot.
I have to give those people —
the ones who overrun police and
cause massive upheaval — credit
because I find it somewhat pleas
ing to see how far some people will
go to disrupt an organized sport
ing event.
(On that note, I condone neither
the actual performing of the dis
ruption nor the participation of
fans in the action of what happened
at Comiskey Park last week.)
in most cases, I say leave it up
to the people on the field of play.
Wouldn’t you know that you could
see a lot of that on these programs?
Let’s face it, some people go to
hockey games to see fights, but the
fights on these shows aren’t just
simple one-on-one affairs —
they’re all-out slugfests, with nu
merous guys from both teams wail
ing on each other, even the goalies!
It got so bad, the referees had a dif
ficult time controlling the situa
tion and just let some of them go at
it. The fisticuffs were so great that
the radio announcer couldn’t con
trol himself while broadcasting.
Even minor league baseball has
its fair share of brouhahas. College
baseball does, too. One clip
showed two umpires fighting each
other because one of them couldn’t
make up his mind on a call.
Umpires versus umpires, umpires
versus managers, umpires versus
players, players versus players —
these shows have them all.
In a rather weird instance,
Victor Page, a minor league bas
ketball player, was so incensed
about rough play that he chased
an opponent all over the court
with a broom. It just doesn’t get
any better than that, does it?
Yet, there are also the typical
rodeo segments where riders get
gored and kicked around by a huge
bull or bronco and still live to tell
their stories. Somehow, it makes
one wonder how there’s always
someone out there with a video
camera to catch all this on tape.
I think that as long as I live, I’ll
always have a weakness for the 10
year-old (at least) clip of minor
league outfielder Rodney McCray
running straight through the
wooden outfield wall in Portland,
Ore. He didn’t make the catch, but
he did break his nose. That shot
just doesn’t get stale, no matter
how often I see it shown.
♦ ROTHENBKRG, SEE PAGE 9