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13 GAME SCHEDULE CONTACT US MEN’S SOCCER at College of Charleston, 6 p.m. Wednesday MEN’S TENNIS at ITA Fall Regionals in Chapel Hill, N.C., Thursday Story ideas? Questions? Comments? WOMEN’S TENNIS at Rolex Regional in Winston-Salem, N.C., E-mail us at gamecocksports@hotmail.com - Thursday-Friday PHOTO BY TRAVIS LYNN/THE GAMECOCK Dan Weaver, right, and the USC football team come into their bye week with a 5-3 record. With two more wins, the Gamecocks can assure themselves a spot in a postseason bowl game. It’s possible to get Into a bowl game with one more win, but it isn’t guaranteed. USC gets a much-needed rest PHOTO BY CANDI HAUGLUM/THE GAMECOCK Jonathan Martin, left, and a teammate try to bring down Virginia running back Marquis Weeks earlier this season. The Gamecocks have to do a better Job tackling than they did this past weekend at LSU, where they lost 38-14. BY KYLE ALMOND TIIK (JAMECOCK An off week couldn’t have come at a better time for the USC football team. Bruised and battered after a 38-14 loss to LSU this past week end, the Gamecocks (5-3,3-2 SEC) will have time to heal wounds, both physical and psychological, they suffered in Baton Rouge. Carolina will return to action Nov. 2 when it plays host to Tennessee at Williams-Brice Stadium. “Primarily, we want to work on becoming more fundamental ly sound, take,a look at some of the younger players and get some of our bumps and bruises healed up,” offensive coordina tor Skip Holtz said about the bye week. The Gamecocks will also look to shore up some of its sloppy play, especially in the return game. “We made some poor decisions in our kickoff return against LSU,” Holtz said. “We really need to focus on that during the open date. Troy Williamson and Matthew Thomas are the most at tractive players we can put back there because they have the speed and athleticism to take it Tennessee game to be televised by CBS Carolina’s home football game against No. 16 Tennessee, to be held Nov. 2, will be televised nationally by CBS and kick off shortly after 3:30 p.m. This marks the second time this season USC has been shown on CBS, with the other time being Sept. 14 against Georgia. 100 yards and score. We’ll take a look at several different options there, because we are not per forming well in that area at all right now.” Head coach Lou Holtz is confi dent the team can make progress while it’s idle. “We’re taking a close look at all aspects,” he said. “I honestly believe that this football team will make a tremendous amount of improvement over the next 10 days.” Jenkins not to blame In the third quarter of the LSU game, USC quarterback Gorey Jenkins threw two interceptions, the second of which was brought back for a touchdown that broke the team’s back. But Lou Holtz said other play ers’ mistakes contributed to the turnovers. “I can’t fault just Corey on those two interceptions,” he said. On the first interception, “the re ceiver was supposed to run a crossing route to tie up the safety, but he didn’t do that. Don’t ask me why; he had done it properly in practice. “On the second one, LSU ac tually was misaligned on de fense, and the cornerback came up and made the play. The tackle wasn’t able to kick out with the block. They blitzed the lineback er, and the execution broke down.” Holtz said he and the coaching staff must also take sopie of the blame. “Corey is ending up with the ball way too much on offense,” he said. “We need to get the ball in the hands of Andrew Pinnock, Daccus Turman and some of our ♦ FOOTBALL, SEE PAGE 14 Club Corner Dance Sport Gamecock Dance Sport will have a practice Sunday in room 114 of the Blatt P.E. Center. It will run from 2 to 4 p.m. Dance Sport teaches students and teachers how to do different variations of ballroom dancing, such as salsa, shag, swing, rumba, cha-cha, fox trot, tango and waltz. No experience is needed to join the club, and everyone is welcome. For more information, contact Michelle Lueck at 544-3895 or step ntoes@hotmail.com. Fencing The fencing team went to the Swashbuckling Soiree in Charleston on Saturday, and the team had one of its largest show ings at any tournament, taking 18 of its members to the competition. The events held at the tournament were the E and Under Epee, Open Epee, Veteran’s Epee and Open Foil. In E and Under Epee, Carolina fencers Brett Nolan and Brian Cox tied for third place, Alex Petrisor ♦ CLUB CORNER, SEE PAGE 14 Soccer team back on its feet No. 10 USC at Charleston 6 p.m. Wednesday Patriots Point Field BY NICK YOUNG THE GAMECOCK After starting the season with an eight-game unbeaten streak, the USC men’s soccer team had thoughts about a possible No. 1 ranking. “The thought of being No. 1 crossed our minds,” senior de fender Tim Glowienka said. “We were No. 2 at the tiftie, and the No. 1 team lost the day before, and that had some of the guys talking.” But then, disaster struck, and the Gamecocks (9-3-1) hit a three game losing streak, falling to Davidson, Clemson and Wake Forest. Carolina managed to get back in the win column this past Wednesday with a 2-1 victory over Charlotte, and the Gamecocks followed it up with a thrilling 1-0 overtime win at Rutgers over the weekend. The game-winning goal was scored by junior defender Robert Rosenberg, who was named to the College Soccer News’ Team of the Week on Monday. “We’ve played a number of good teams,” Glowienka said. “Wake Forest is rated No. 1 in the country this week, and they scored off of a deflection with four min utes left to beat us 1-0.... So these past two games have been big con fidence boosters, but our confi dence wasn’t necessarily eroded.” Rosenberg, Glowienka, Willis Forko, Jordan Smith and goal keeper Michael Bachmeyer make up one of the nation’s stingiest defenses. The defense is ranked seventh in the nation with a 0.69 goals-against-average. The Gamecocks are hoping their defense will continue then domination and improve as well. “This past week, we’ve been trying to be able put more pres sure on the other team,” Glowienka said. “Our line of con frontation stays the same', and we want to make other teams play under more pressure and take our game to them.” With a defense as good as Carolina’s, the offense can afford to be in a scoring drought like USC has been. In the past seven games, the Gamecocks’ offense has only scored five goals, and the last two were by defenders. But the team is not worried about the lack of goals. “Practice has been normal this week; we haven’t done any thing special,” forward Jordan Quinn said. “We’re just going to go into our games playing as hard as we can.” The Gamecocks have six games left in the season, and, barring a collapse,they should head to the NCAA Tournament. But the team knows it still has a lot of work to do, and it isn’t look ing too far ahead. “We have six games left, and all six teams are in contention for a bid in the tournament,” USC “These past two games have been big confidence boosters, but our confidence wasn’t necessarily eroded.” TIM GLOWIENKA use DEFENDER head coach Mark Berson said. “Furman has been nationally ranked for most of the year, and that is a big game for us. Coastal Carolina is undefeated and is na tionally ranked. We travel to North Carolina and play a tough team and end the season with Florida International. It’s just a tough final stretch.” The Gamecocks, tied for 10th in the latest NSCAA poll, travel to Charleston on Wednesday night to take on the College of Charleston (6-5-1). The Gamecocks return home Sunday to play 22nd-ranked Furman at 2 p.m. Comments on this story? E-mail gamecocksports@hotmail.com Let the players celebrate for once KYLE ALMOND GAMECOCKSPORTS@HOTMAIL.COM Why does the NFL insist on taking all the fun out of scoring a touchdown? A little more than a week ago, ■ San Francisco 49ers wide receiv er Terrell Owens pulled off one of the most creative touchdown cel ebrations in NFL history. After scoring a critical touch down against Seattle, the brash Pro Bowler bent over, took a pen out of his sock, signed the football and-gave it to someone on the side line. • Everyone was astonished by such a cocky, premeditated move. Some, like me, thought it was the coolest thing ever. But others, in cluding the snotty NFL bigwigs and Sean “I sucked my whole ca reer" Salisbury, were somehow personally offended. Owens wasn’t punished by the NFL, but he received a stem warn ing: Do something like that again, and you’ll be using that pen to write us a big fat check. My question is, what’s so wrong with a little celebration? Why are people getting so bent out of shape? Professional sports are enter tainment. Its athletes are paid to De entertainers, so let them entertain. The NFL shouldn’t be punishing its players for cele brating. In fact,'it should be encour aging players to be more ingenious like Owens. With the way the NFL has it now, players can’t show any enthusi asm whatsoever after a score. They can’t dance. They aren’t allowed to The NFL should encourage Its players to be more creative like the 49ers’ Terrell Owens. take their helmets off. They aren’t allowed to take a knee and say a prayer. All it seems players can do is give each other high-fives and a few pats on the butt. Anything else, and they’ll get pe nalized or fined for excessive cel ebration. The defense for such a policy is that those excessive celebrations are unsportsmanlike and have no place in the game. But how can the NFL define what is unsportsmanlike and what is not? opining me uan un ail oppo nent’s helmet is unsportsmanlike. Pointing to your johnson is un sportsmanlike. But signing a foot ball, even if you’re in the end zone at the time, is not unsportsman like. It’s arrogant, sure, but not un sportsmanlike. Shawn Springs got burnt by Owens on that particular touch down, but he wasn’t offended by the autograph session. And many of the other Seahawks didn’t mind, either. That’s because these athletes are immune to much worse. Trash talking is nothing new to them. The players are some of the toughest men on the planet. They don’t need the NFL looking out for their feelings. So whom does the NFL feel it has to protect? The NFL shouldn’t be trying to protect its fans. Most of us want to see that special celebration. Sure, there’s something to be said for the player that, after scoring, walks back to the sideline like he’s done it before. But some of histo ry’s greatest celebrations, like the Ickey Shuffle, the Dirty Bird and the Bob and Weave, are just plain fun to watch. It’s just amazing how football claims to be such a tough sport, and then some people start crying when a player has a little fun af ter a touchdown. Soccer players ♦ ALMOND, SEE PAGE 14