The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, October 23, 2002, Page 13, Image 13
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