The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, October 30, 2002, Page 11, Image 11
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CONTACT US I } I I I J' I ’ SWIMMING AND DIVING vs. Kentucky, 5 p.m. Friday
I ■ ■ I A I i MEN’S SOCCER vs. Coastal Carolina in Charleston, 5 p.m. Friday
Story ideas? Questions? Comments? I \ #1B 111 VOLLEYBALL vs. Ole Miss, 7 p.m. Friday
E-mail us at gamecocksports@hotmail.com rV_y WOMEN’S TENNIS in Southern Intercollegiate (in Columbia), Friday
Latest practice worries Holtz
PHOTO SPECIAL TO THE GAMECOCK
Andrew Pinnock and the Gamecocks return from their bye week to take on Tennessee this weekend at Williams-Brice Stadium.
The Student Gamecock Club is urging Carolina fans to wear garnet for the game as part of Its “Garnet Gameday” promotion.
BY KYLE ALMOND
THE GAMECOCK
Tuesday’s practice for the USC
football team left a lot to be desired
for head coach Lou Holtz.
“I was convinced, walking off
the practice field, that practice was
every bit as bad as I thought it
was,” Holtz said.
“I'm positive of
~ that.”
Holtz said the
passing game was
n't crisp and the
execution of the of
fense was poor.
“You need to
have a sound prac- Holtz
tice on Tuesday,
and we didn't,” he said. “I'm going
to look at the film tonight and find
out why.”
The Gamecocks, perhaps rusty
from a week off, are going to have
to turn things around by
Saturday, when they play host to
No. 25 Tennessee at Williams
Brice Stadium.
The Volunteers, a national title
contender in August, have had a
disappointing season. UT is 4-3
overall, 1-3 in the SEC. But Holtz
is still worried.
“You don’t want to play a team
that is used to winning when they
are wounded,” he said. “Last year,
we did not convert on third and 6
inches. They converted on third
and 24. The year before, they con
verted on third and 17, and 111 nev
er forget it. I know they are going
to be right mentally.”
Brewer won’t play
Senior wide receiver/tailback
Ryan Brewer, one of the toughest
players on the team and perhaps
the most versatile, will not play
this weekend because of a
sprained left ankle.
His absence forces the coaching
staff to find a suitable replacement
at punt returner.
“I kept hoping Ryan would be
back,” Holtz said. “We are.not
very good at punt return.... Every
time I put someone (new) back
there, we fumble the ball.”
Holtz said the leading candi
dates for the job are Jared Farabee
and Dunta Robinson. But he added
that James Adkisson, Matthew
Thomas and Troy Williamson are
also options.
“Garnet Gameday”
The Student Gamecock Club
is sponsoring “Garnet Gameday"
.for Saturday’s game and asking
all Carolina fans to wear as
much garnet as possible to the
stadium.
“We want to support our foot
ball team in every way possible,
and we hope by doing this, it will
show unity and support for our
football team,” Student Gamecock
Club President Chris Odom said.
Saturday’s game will be broad
cast nationally on CBS.
“We can show the nation that
the best college football fans are at
Williams-Brice Stadium every
Saturday cheering on the
Gamecocks to victory,” Odom
said.
The Student Gamecock Club
also sponsored the “Blackout” last
season when Carolina played
Florida on ESPN.
Comments on this story?E-mail
gamecocksports@hotmail.com
SPORTS EDITORS SOUND OFF
No excuses left for Vo Is
after the Alabama fiasco
KYLE ALMOND
GAMECOCKSPORTS@HOTMAIL.COM
The Crimson Tide put on
a clinic and showed the
country how to beat UT.
OK, Tennessee fans, what’s
your excuse this time?
The Florida loss was a fluke be
cause you guys were playing in a
monsoon. You lost to Georgia be
cause “Surfer Dude” didn’t play.
I’ll be nice and give you those two.
But 34-14 to ’Bama? What hap
pened there? Sure, Clausen’s col
larbone might still be sore and
Kelley Washington was out. But
there’s no excuse to get embar
rassed like that when you’re play
ing for your SEC lives.
The fact is, Tennessee is
mediocre at best this season, and
the Vols are lucky to even be where
they are now — one missed field
goal away from being 04 in the SEC.
I’m not claiming that my
Gamecocks are world-beaters.
We’ve got our problems, too. But
after the Tide exposed your
team’s weaknesses for all to see,
I’m confident that USC has a great
chance to come out on top
Saturday when it battles the Vols
in Williams-Brice Stadium.
♦ WEAKNESS NO. 1 -
NO RUN DEFENSE
The Vols historically are solid
here, but they got pushed around
last week by the Tide. And a few
weeks ago, Arkansas’ Matt Jones
was running circles around your
guys for four quarters and six
overtimes.
That doesn’t bode well for UT
this weekend. If Jones can do what
he did, imagine what Corey Jenkins
—the hardest-working quarterback
in college football — is capable of
doing. The old man is just licking
his chops right now, waiting for the
chance to wear your boys out.
“The fact is, Tennessee
is mediocre at best this
season, and the Vols
are lucky to even be
where they are now -
one missed field goal
away from being 0-4 in
the SEC."
And you can bet Andrew
Pinnock is ready to redeem him
self for last season, when he
came up short on 4th and goal
from the 1. He’ll get that yard
this year.
♦ WEAKNESS NO. 2 -
NO ESTABLISHED TAILBACK
It looks like you can recruit al
most too well. The Vols are miss
ing a No. 1 tailback — a clear-cut
starter like Travis Stephens and
Jamal Lewis—and it’s hurting an
offense that is dying for continuity.
How many guys want to be the
mail in Knoxville? I count four —
Jabari Davis, Cedric Houston,
Derrick Tinsley and Gerald Riggs.
I guess it doesn’t help, though,
that your offensive line is one of
♦ ALMOND, SEEPAGE 12
Neither Carolina nor UT
playing up to its potential
JEFF HAWS
BEACONSPORTS@HOTMAIL.COM
The Vols have gone from
contender to pretender
and could be in trouble.
I said before the season started
that the Gamecocks would beat
the Vols this year.
It looked like the perfect spot
for a letdown — the week before
the big showdown with Miami
where two top-five teams would
go at it, possibly for a spot in the
national championship game.
But, oh, how things have
changed.
Amid injuries, mistakes and
team turmoil, Tennessee has be
come an also-ran — a team
searching to find itself, not a na
tional championship.
South Carolina, meanwhile,
doesn’t look much better.
The best team it has beaten is
Kentucky, somehow holding “The
Round Mound of Touchdown,”
Jared Lorenzen, and the Wildcats
offense to 12 points. Having been
hammered 38-14 by an LSU team
two weeks ago that was dominat
ed by Auburn 31-7 last week, the
Gamecocks aren’t exactly playing
their best ball.
Offensively, they rank in the
bottom half of the SEC in every
category except for rushing of
fense, where they stand an unim
pressive sixth. Corey Jenkins
hasn’t had a 100-yard rushing
game for several weeks now, and
South Carolina needs him to
make some plays, especially
against a banged-up Vols defense.
However, offense might not be
necessary for the Cocks on
Saturday.
Tennessee hasn’t done much
right on offense since week one
against Wyoming. It has struggled
in every aspect — rushing, pass
ing, personnel, blocking, fum
“Offense might not be
necessary for the Cocks
on Saturday. Tennessee
hasn’t done much right
on offense since week
one against Wyoming.”
bling and avoiding penalties.
Besides that, though, the UT of
fense has been outstanding.
The one part of the offensive
game that the Vols hadn’t had
problems with through the first
six games went out the window
against Alabama when Casey
Clausen tied a career-high with
three interceptions.
And then there’s Kelley
Washington.
The sophomore wideout, who
looked poised to add to the lega
cy of “Wide Receiver U.,” has
turned into a problem child — a
cancer tearing this team apart
rather than leading it to promi
nence.
He was surprisingly scratched
from the lineup just before the 34
14 loss to ’Bama with a “concus
sion,” supposedly suffered two
♦ HAWS, SEEPAGE 12
Women’s soccer nips Wofford
Carter scores
game-winner
in 5lst minute
W Wofford o
(5-11-2)
eusc 1
(12-5-2)
BY JOEL DODSON
TIIEUAMKCOCK
Defense continues to shine fo
the USC women’s soccer team.
After holding the Alabami
Crimson Tide, the SEC leaders u
scoring, to one goal Saturday, th
Gamecocks managpd to shut ou
the speedy Wofford Terriers oi
Tuesday night l-o. The shutout i
the eighth for the Gamecocks (12-5
2) this season.
“Defensively, we played very
solid," USC head coach Shelley
Smith said. “The only chance they
had was a long-range shot in the
second half.”
In the first half, however, the
Gamecocks struggled offensively.
Except for one shot by senior for
ward Morgan McIntyre that was
knocked over the net by Wofford
goalkeeper Katie Menegaz, USC
never threatened.
“We started off really slow,”
said senior midfielder Melinda
Carter, who scored the game-win
ner in the 51st minute. “Wofford
i came out really tough and wanted
i to get after us. The first 20 minutes
; we were playing well, and then we
t dropped off. The second half, how
i ever, we picked it back up.”
s The second half, indeed, was a
different story. After an unin
spired first half, the Gamecocks
came roaring back offensively.
“We had our same game plan,
but we just got behind them better, ”
Smith said. “We were forcing the
ball down the middle of the field too
much, but we stretched them out.”
USC outshot the Terriers 13-1,
with eight of them on goal. At the
50:23 mark in the match, Sarah
Lentz made a diagonal cross to
Carter at the far side of the goal,
and Carter managed to slip it past
Menegaz for the game’s only score.
It was her sixth goal of the season.
“At halftime, our coaches were
talking about how we needed to
run behind them and watch for
long passes,” Carter said. “I wasn’t
trying to do anything spectacular
—just frying to get it in there.”
♦ SOCCER, SEE PAGE 12
USC senior
Jessica
Julin, left,
played her
last home
game on
Tuesday
night, and
the
Gamecocks
came out
with a 1-0
victory.
Fellow
senior
Melinda
Carter
notched the
game
winner and
improved
USC’s
record to
12-5-2.
PHOTO SPECIAL
TO THE
GAMECOCK