The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, November 15, 2002, Page 7, Image 7
THE GAMECOCK ♦ Friday, November 15,2002 . 7
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Carolina to enter Swamp in shambles
USC has lost 10 straight
against mighty Gators
USC at No. 20 Honda
6 p.m. Saturday
The Swamp
TV: ESPN
BY KYLE ALMOND
THE GAMECOCK
USC football head coach Lou
Holtz remembers the last time his
team was in Gainesville playing
the Florida Gators.
“We were leading late in the
first quarter (21-3), and then, all of
a sudden, they busted it open,” he
said.
The Gators went on to win eas
ily, scoring 38 unanswered points
and blowing out the upset-mind
ed Gamecocks 41-21 two seasons
Last season in Columbia, with
a huge crowd and ESPN’s College
GameDay in attendance, the
Gamecocks took an early lead but
were still blown out, 54-17.
It’s been the same story since
USC joined the SEC in 1992. The
Gators have feasted on Carolina,
winning 10 straight games by an
average of 25 points.
“We have not been able to slow
them down offensively,” Holtz
said.
As Carolina (5-5,3-4 SEC) hob
bles into Gainesville on a three
game losing streak, its offense in
disarray, chances are slim that it
can turn things around this week
end., Florida (7-3,5-2), after start
ing the season slow, has found its
swagger again and is still in the
hunt for the SEC title.
With a win over Carolina and a
Georgia loss to Auburn, the No. 20
Gators would win the Eastern
Division.
“Looking at this week’s game
against the University of Florida,
where do you start?” Holtz asked
at his weekly news conference.
“Start with defense. They are No. 1
(in the SEC) on third-down de
fense. ... Their pass defense is No. 4
in the country, giving up 150 yards
a game. They have very talented
people.
“Offensively, they have a great
tailback in (Earnest) Graham and
maybe the best quarterback in
(Rex) Grossman.”
The Gamecocks were shut out
last weekend against Arkansas,
and the coaching staff has made a
change at quarterback in hopes of
creating a spark.
Starter Corey Jenkins will be
moved to the defense and play
safety, ana ms
backup, Dondrial
Pinkins, will start
for the first time in
his career.
Holtz “made the
move because he
felt like this was in
the best interests
of the team, and
I’ve got to go along
with that,” offen
sive coordinator
Skip Holtz said.
“Things weren’t
going well for us,
_a i_)._x. n_
Dondrlal
Pinkins
will be
making his
first career
start at QB
Saturday aft
Florida.
auu ut o uui tut.
type who is going to let the grass
grow under him. Many of the
changes he’s made in the past have
proven to be quite successful.”
Lou Holtz is hoping that while
Pinkins provides punch to the of
fense, Jenkins can add quality
depth to a defensive backfield that
will surely be tested by Grossman
this weekend.
“We have had problems in the
secondary for most of the year and
PHOTO BY.CANDI HAUGLUM/THE GAMECOCK
USC defenders converge on an Arkansas player last weekend. The Gamecock defense will have a tough test Saturday when it
faces Florida quarterback Rex Grossman. Grossman was a Heisman Trophy finalist last season.
have tried several solutions/’ he
said. “We felt that moving Corey
to defense was in the best interests
of the team.”
Jenkins took a positive ap
proach to the change.
“I’ll play anywhere, anytime,”
he said. “I think I am athletic
enough to play just about any
where on the field. Granted, I’m
not going to play every snap, but
I’ll go in and do whatever they ask
me to do and try to do it to the best
of my God-given ability.”
Pinkins has played sparingly in
eight games this season, complet
ing 16 of 34 passes for 178 yards.
He has thrown one touchdown and
three interceptions.
“Having Dondrial make his first
career start at the Swamp is not ex
actly how you may want to script
this thing, but we’re preparing for
that and we’ll do the best that we
possibly can,” Skip Holtz said.
The return of injured wide re
ceivers Ryan Brewer and Michael
Ages will help Pinkins make the
transition. Both are expected to
play.
“They know the offense, how to
get open and how to read cover
ages,” Skip Holtz said. “They pro
vide senior leadership, and we cer
tainly have not been as productive
with them out.”
The Gamecocks will need
Brewer and Ages, as the rest of the
wide receiving corps is banged up.
Matthew Thomas (ankle injury)
and James Adkisson (hamstring in
jury) are listed as doubtful for this
weekend, and Troy Williamson is
suffering from a pulled groin.
Saturday’s game will be tele
vised on ESPN at 6 p.m., and
Florida head coach Ron Zook
wants to make sure his team
doesn’t take its opponent lightly,
no matter how poor USC has
played lately.
“They are a football team that
is very capable,” Zook said. “They
are a football team that is proba
bly going through a little bit of the
same thing that we were ... mak
ing some mistakes, sometimes
shooting themselves in the foot.
But they are a very capable foot
ball team both offensively and de
fensively.”
Comments on this story?E-mail
gamecocksports@hotmdil.com
Men’s basketball team lights up Latvians in exhibition
ft
BY JOEL DODSON
THE GAMECOCK
Chuck Eidson’s dunk five sec
onds into Wednesday night’s ex
hibition game was indicative of
things to come.
Kerbrell Brown scored 19
points, and six other Gamecocks
scored in double digits to propel
USC to a one-sided 105-67 win over
Unibanka Cesis of Latvia. It was
USC’s final game at the Frank
McGuire Arena.
The Gamecocks scored the first
11 points and led by as many as 39
in the first half to go up 66-31 at half
time. Even without the services of
starters Rolando Howell and Tony
Kitchings (sprained ankles),
Carolina managed to hit 24 of its
first 30 shots and sink 66.7 percent
of its attempts in the first half.
“We had a great start,” USC
head coach Dave Odom said. “I
don’t care if you’re playing five on
zero. That’s great shooting. The
key in the first half was that we
passed and cut ex
ceptionany wen.
We seemed to al
ways have some
body open.”
In the second
half, the Gameco
cks started much
slower but never
relented. Carolina Odom
even showed a bit
of its speed; scoring 14 fast-break
points in the half.
The story of the game, howev
er, was the Gamecocks’ newcom
ers. Freshman Terrence Kinsey
went 7-for-12 for 15 points, and fel
low freshman Jarod Gerald had
five points and seven assists.
Brown, a junior-college trans
fer, led the team with 19 points and
delivered several thunderous
dunks that sent the crowd into a
frenzy.
“I think we saw that some
progress has been made with some
of our younger players,” Odom
said. “The things that you learn are
about the guys you know least of.”
Overall, Carolina shot 55.2 per
cent from the field, and Unibanka
Cesis shot 36.4 percent.
Chris Warren, Marius
Petravicius and John Chappell all
had 10 points for Carolina, while
Carlos Powell held his own with
16. Eidson also had 15 points, sev
en assists and three steals. The
Gamecocks out-rebounded the
Latvians 51-36.
“I’m pleased, but I know that we
have a long way to go,” Odom said.
“We have a lot of work to do to be
where we want to be at the end of
the season. What you see is that
“I don’t care if you’re
playing five on zero.
That’s great shooting.
The key in the first half
was that we passed and
cut exceptionally well.
We seemed to always
have somebody open.”
DAVE ODOM
use MEN’S BASKETBALL HEAD COACH, ON HIS
TEAM SHOOTING 66.7 PERCENT IN THE FIRST
HALF OF WEDNESDAY’S WIN
we do have the tools and talent to
work with.”
The USC men’s basketball team
opens up its season against East
Tennessee State on Nov. 24. It will
be their first game in the new
Carolina Center. The women’s
team opens the arena Nov. 22
against Clemson.
Comments on this story?E-mail
gamecocksports@hotmail. com
PHOTO BY CANDI HAUGLUM/THE GAMECOCK
Chuck Eidson had 15 points, seven assists and three steals in
USC’s dominating 105-67 exhibition win Wednesday.
i BRIEFLY
Brewer named to
All-Academic team
USC wide receiver Ryan
Brewer was named Thursday to
the 2002 Verizon University
Division Academic All-District
EU football team. The players se
lected are now eligible for the
national Academic All-America
team, which will be announced
Dec. 2.
Brewer, a senior, carries a 3.48
grade-point average in sport and
entertainment management. He
has been on the
aLC Academic
Honor Roll three
times, the Dean’s
List three times
and the
President’s List
(4.0) once.
DlQf»'ir>+ TIT IQ
made up 0f all Brewer
Division I-A and
I;AA schools in Florida, Georgia,
North Carolina, South Carolina
and Virginia. To be eligible, a
player must have a cumulative
grade point average of 3.2 in the
classroom and be a starter or
key reserve oh the field.
Volleyball gets its
2nd shot at Florida
The 18th-ranked USC volley
ball team (20-4,13-1 SEC) closes
out the regular season this week
end on the road against Georgia
and fourth-ranked Florida.
The Gamecocks will face the
Gators (24-1, 14-0) at 5 p.m.
Friday. They’ll then head to
Athens on Sunday for a 1:30 p.m.
matchup against the Bulldogs
(17-12,7-7).
Florida is the only SEC team
that has beaten USC this season.
Carolina fell to the Gators 3-0 on
Oct. 27 in Columbia. The Gators
have won the last 17 matches
against the Gamecocks and
havtt not lost an SEC match
since 1994. That loss was to USC.
Carolina’s 13 conference wins
are the most a team has ever
recorded in Carolina volleyball
history. The Gamecocks also
recorded their third straight 20
win season last weekend.
Soccer to finish
regular-season play
The USC men’s soccer team
(11-7-1) wraps up the regular sea
son Sunday when it plays host
to Florida International (12-4-1).
The Gamecocks, who lead the
series 2-0-1, won last year’s
matchup 5-4 in double overtime.
Kickoff is scheduled for 2 p.m.
The game will also include
Senior Day festivities. Five se
niors will be honored: goal
keeper Michael Bachmeyer, de
fender Tim Glowienka, mid
fielder Dave Moore, forward
Jordan Quinn and team manag
er Leofearcia.
SPORTS CHALLENGE
THE CHALLENGE: Kyle Matt Chris Mary Tricia Jason
The Gamecock’s readers and Almond Rothenberg Foy Hartney Ridgway Hennessy
staff test their sports knowledge Sports Asst. Sports Defending Editor in Copy Reader of
with predictions of the Editor Editor Champion Chief editor the Week
weekend’s games. (Rankings (63-47) (70-40) (64-46) (67-43) (65-45) (65-45)
are from the Associated Press.)
7 Georgia at 24 Auburn_Auburn Georgia Auburn_Georgia Georgia Georgia
10 Alabama at 14 LSU _LSU _Alabama Alabama LSU Alabama LSU
Vanderbilt at Kentucky_Kentucky Kentucky Kentucky Kentucky Kentucky Kentucky
Iowa St. at 17 Colorado_Colorado Colorado Colorado Colorado Colorado Colorado
Washington at 23 Oregon Oregon Oregon_Oregon Oregon_Oregon Oregon
4 Texas at Texas Tech Texas Texas Texas Texas Texas Texas_
Syracuse at Boston College J3.C. B.C^ B.C. B.C. Syracuse B.C.
Purdue at Michigan St. Michigan St. Purdue Purdue Purdue Michigan St Purdue
19 Maryland at Clemson Maryland Clemson Maryland Maryland Maryland Maryland^
USC at 20 Florida Florida Florida Florida Florida USC Florida
77-0 54-0 70-3 33-3 17-14' 34-10
LAST WEEK'S WINNER: Matt Rothenberg (7-3) - There was a five-way tie for first last week, and Rothenberg was
the only one to pick Arkansas in the tiebreaker game. He still leads by three games over Hartney and five games
over the staff guest of the week and the reader of the week.
Forget about last week; you can now count out the sports editor. Almond's plan of picking opposite Rothenberg’s
picks backfired, and he went 4-6. Reader Michael Marozas went 7-3 along with Rothenberg, Hartney, Foy and page
designer extraordinaire David Stagg.
WANT TO BE READER OF THE WEEK? E-mail your selections next week to gamecocksports@hotmail.com. If
you’re picked and have the best record, you’ll win a free Gamecock T-shirt and be able to talk all the trash you want