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8 THE GAMECOCK ♦ Monday, November 18, 2002 GAME SCHEDULE nrtATrm rim TTC1 VOLLEYBALL vs. Alabama at the SEC Tournament LUJN 1AL 1 US in Fayetteville, Ark., 11:30a.m. Friday WOMEN’S BASKETBALL vs. Clemson, 7:30 p.m. Friday Storyideas? Questions? Comments? FOOTBALL at Clemson, 7:45 p.m. Saturday E-mail us at gamecocksports@hotmail.com , EQUESTRIAN at Georgia, Saturday ..I. Rex reigns supreme over USC Grossman tosses four touchdowns, hands Carolina fourth straight loss BY MATT ROTHENBERG TIIK CAMKCIICK If it was his final night at the Swamp, Rex Grossman put on a show for the Florida fans. Unfortunately, it came at the ex pense of the Gamecocks. The Gators’ quarterback, who might skip his senior season to pictj jji uicooiv/uauj , threw for 228 yards and four touch downs Saturday as Florida walked all over USC, 28-7. “Grossman is a iromr rrnn/1 frvntKoll player. I hope ev eryone in tfie NFL Grossman saw that,” USC head coach Lou Holtz said. Grossman’s big day contribut ed to a fourth straight win for the Gators and a fourth straight loss for the Gamecocks. Both teams took some time to get their offenses going early in the game, although the Gamecocks (5-6,3-5 SEC) couldn’t make the most of their early chance. Daniel Weaver missed a 39-yard field goal in the first quar ter, but USC’s defense kept the Gators (8-3,6-2) out of the end zone on UF’s two initial drives. On a positive note, the Gamecocks did not have any turnovers. In fact, Corey Jenkins — playing the entire game as a free safety — caused a fumble in the third quarter that Carolina recov ered. USC was unable to capitalize on the opportunity, however, go ing three and out on its next series. Jenkins was moved to the sec ondary, and Dondrial Pinkins was given his first start at quarter back. Pinkins looked poised throughout the game and led Carolina with 74 yards passing and 84 rushing. “I was a little nervous at first, but once the game got started, the butterflies started to leave and ev erything started to settle down,” Pinkins said. Yet the Gamecocks’ defense be gan to show why it’s one of the worst in the country in third-down situations. USC allowed Florida to convert 8-of-14 attempts on third down. The Gators also managed to keep drives alive on their two fourth-down opportunities. “We just don’t play very well on third down,” defensive coordina tor Charlie Strong said. “That’s been our nemesis for two years now. We haven’t been able to get off the field, and we’re just not able to play good third-down defense.” Florida was able to make the best of its chances, mainly because USC couldn’t establish a success ful pass rush or figure out a way to stop the Gators on third downs. The Gators also found a way into the end zone each of the three times they were inside the 20-yard line. Stopping the offense on third down has long been a bane of USC’s defense. On the Gators’ first scoring drive, they converted two third downs and one fourth down. Grossman’s accurate passing kept them going on Florida’s second touchdown drive, getting his team out of three third downs. uTi>„ 1---xl- :_xi_x_ »i u uv/V/ii yviiic tiling uiui no keep going over and over with, and we still haven’t solved it,” Strong said. The Florida offense was not out standing, but it was solid. Tailback Earnest Graham gained 81 yards on the ground, while 10 different receivers caught a pass. Grossman also got into the action, nabbing a 21-yard pass from Keiwan Ratliff. USC put some pressure on Grossman while he was in the pocket, but with no sacks and only three tackles-for-loss, Holtz re mains disappointed in his de fense’s pass-rushing ability. “We had chances for sacks,” he said. “We tried to pull (Grossman) down instead of* knocking him down. It was a game of missed op portunities; we had some oppor tunities to score we didn’t take ad vantage of.” “But this happens to us a lot. You don’t drag people down; you knock ■ people down. There is a difference. You knock somebody down so he doesn’t escape the grasp.” Freshman Daccus Turman ac counted for USC’s only score of the night in the third quarter, as he punched the ball in hum a yard out to cut the Gators’ lead to 21-7. Turman rushed for 34 yards on the night. Placekicker Josh Brown put up the extra point, as Weaver was benched following his missed field goal. There is no more room for error for the Gamecocks, with their fi nal game of the season coming up Saturday at Clemson. For Carolina because a win Would give them bowl eligibility, something the Tigers already have. USC players realize the position they’re in and know how they need to prepare. “We’re trying to get every body’s heads up and moving on to PHOTO BY TRAVIS LYNN/THE GAMECOCK Florida quarterback Rex Grossman was virtually untouched Saturday in the Gators’ 28-7 win over USC at the Swamp. With plenty of time to throw, Grossman passed for four touchdowns. GAME 11 □ use 7 (5-6,3-5 SEC) ' -jfgga Florida oo (8-3,6-2) “If they hadn't invented the forward pass, we would not be hurting as much as we are now.” LOU HOLTZ use HEAD COACH Rex Grossman completed several big passes in the game, but it < was his lone reception in the fourth quarter that stood out the most. Grossman threw a quick screen pass to receiver Keiwan Ratliff, who flung the ball back to him the width of the field. No USC player was in the vicinity of Grossman, who caught the ball and took off down the sideline for a 21-yard gain. The tricky play put tl\e Gators, already up 21-7, in scoring position and all but eliminated a chance of a Carolina comeback. THE STAT 57 The Gators converted 8 of 14 * third downs for a 57 percent completion rate. USC's defense worked hard all game and usually slowed UF for the first two downs. But, as has been the norm lately, USC's third-down defense was a big disappointment. next week,” defensive back Deandre Eiland said. “We have to look forward to Clemson because it’ll make or break our season.” Comments on this story?E-mail gamecocksports@hotmail.com Jenkins. Pinkins thrive in new roles BY KYLE ALMOND TIIE GAMECOCK Corey Jenkins told his team mates in practice last week that he was going to come up with a big play in his first game at free safety. He didn’t let them down. Jenkins, who started the Gamecocks’ first 10 games at quarterback and was moved to the defense following the Arkansas loss, forced a fumble Saturday against Florida arid proved to his teammates that he is more than capable of handling his new assignment. “I was so excited,” Jenkins said about the turnover he forced in the third quarter. “I was telling them all week, ‘I’m going to get somebody good. I’m telling you guys.’ ” He got somebody good, all right. The Gators’ Ran Carthon broke free down the middle of the field and had space in front of him until Jenkins drilled him and knocked the ball loose. The Gamecocks recovered for their only takeaway of the game. “All of you were asking why I moved Corey to safety,” head coach Lou Holtz said. “I don’t think I need to answer that ques tion now.” Jenkins finished the game with six tackles, three of them unassisted, and one highlight hit. “I thought that Corey Jenkins did an excellent job as our safety man,” Holtz said. “I think that he gave us a little bit of a spark there.” Former starting free safety Deandre Eiland, who moved over for Jenkins and started at comerback, agreed with Holtz. “I think (Jenkins) played ex cellent,” he said. “He played just as good as any safety in the league now. He came in and did a good job.” Jenkins, a senior who hopes to play in the NFL when he grad uates, was pleased With his first game at a new position. “I had a good time there,” he ♦ NEW ROLES, SEE PAGE 9 PHOTO BY TRAVIS LYNN/THE GAMECOCK Corey Jenkins, normally the starting quarterback for Carolina, forced a fumble in his first game as starting free safety. Women’s basketball wins final tuneup Stockholm 60 USC 90 BY KYLE ALMOND THE (.'AMECOCK Jocelyn Penn scored 41 points Sunday, and Petra Ujhelyi had a double-double for the USC wom en’s basketball team, which de feated Stockholm 90-60 in its final pre^eason game. Carolina head coach Susan Walvius thought her team could have played better, though. “I was honestly, really disap pointed with our play today,” Walvius said: “We’ve spent a lot of time on defense in practice. I thought our rotations were slow, our help was poor, our ball pres sure was poor, our spacing was poor. I don’t think we played well.” The Gamecocks defeated Athletes in Action 94-61 in their only other exhibition game this season. “We’re still putting up 90 points op the board, but we gave up 60,” Walvius said. “I think we’re a lot better defensively than what we played, today. Our de fense needs to be a lot better to be successful in the SEC. But I think it’s fixable.” Penn scored more than 40 points for the second consecutive game and had her way with the Stockholm defense. “She’s a great athlete who has a nose for the ball,” Walvius said. “People will have a hard time finding an answer for her.” Ujhelyi chipped in 14 points and 11 rebounds. Point guard Cristina Ciocan scored 14 points as well, an^ newcomer Koretha Johnson had 10 points. “I don’t think we played with the killer instinct that we nor mally play with,” Walvius said. “It’s good to have a game like we this. We get to look at this and see what went wrong.” The Gamecocks will start reg ular-season play Friday night when they take on Clemson at 7:30 p.m. The game will be the de but event of the new Carolina Center. The men’s team opens play Sunday against East Tennessee State. Comments on this story?E-mail gamecocksports@hotmail.com < Georgia wins East with clutch catch AUBURN, ALA. (AP) — Michael Johnson went up for the ball and Georgia hasn’t come down yet. David Greene threw a 19-yard touchdown pass to a leaping Johnson on fourth and long with 1:25 left to help the seventh-ranked Bulldogs defeat No. 24 Auburn 24 21 Saturday, giving them their first SEC Eastern title. “I know it’s only the East, but we’re champions tonight,” coach Mark Richt said. Three straight incompletions by Greene and a false-start penalty set up fourth-and-15, but Greene pump laKeu, men xuucu his pass into the left corner of the end zone. Johnson, subbing for an in jured Terrence Edwards, out ilimneH former Georgia signee Horace Willis for Johnson the score. “We lost our best receiver, then he comes out and makes one of the best catches in Georgia history,” Greene said. The play was called 70-X-Takeoff, and it launched the Bulldogs to the championship game for the first time. The Bulldogs (10-1,7-1 SEC) earned a shot at their first league title since 1982 and ended a three-game losing streak to the Tigers (7-4,4-3). “We’re going to Atlanta,” linebacker Tony Gilbert said. “We should have been there a long, long time ago.” Auburn took over at its own 28 with 1:18 to play, and Jason Campbell quickly hit Robert Johnson over the middle for a 25 yard gain. The Georgia defense resumed its second-half dominance after that, with a sack by Boss Bailey and two Auburn penalties leaving Standings EASTERN CONF. OVERALL Georgia* 7-1 10-1 Florida 6-2 8-3 Tennesee 3-3 6-4 d Kentucky**_3-4 7-4 use 3-5 5-6 Vanderbilt . 0-7 2-9 WESTERN CONF. OVERALL Alabama** 6-1 9-2 LSU 4-2 7-3 Auburn 4-3 7-4 Arkansas 3-3 7-3 Ole Miss _ 2-4 5-5 Mississippi St. 0-6 3-7 * has clinched division title ** not eligible for postseason play or division title Auburn with a fourth-and-20. Campbell’s pass to Tre Smith fell well short of the first-down marker | with 19 seconds left. Georgia players raced over to celebrate with their fans, and Edwards helped Kareem Marshall unfurl a banner proclaiming the Bulldogs champions. Edwards also couldn’t resist a dig at their biggest East rival. “Tell those Florida Gators they don’t have to play anymore,” he crowed after Johnson’s catch. Said UGA linebacker Boss Bailey: “It is the best feeling I have ever had in competition in my life. This is what I came to Georgia for — to win championships.”