University of South Carolina Libraries
10 THE GAMECOCK ^Monday, September 15, 2003 GAME SCHEDULE WOMEN’S SOCCER vs. Davidson, 7 p.m. Wednesday VOLLEYBALL vs. Santa Clara at Gamecock Invitational, CONTACT US tfnnic , 7r Thrday * MEN S TENNIS at Southern Intercollegiate Story ideas? Questions? Comments? Championship in Athens, Ga., Friday E-mail us at gamecockSports@hotmail.com CROSS COUNTRY at UGA Invitational in Athens, Ga., 9 p.m. Saturday !' USG FOOTBALL USC hammered by Georgia GAME 3 SS use 7 (2-1,0-1 SEC) o Georgia 31 “We would’ve had to play a perfect game to come up with a win down here, and we certainly didn’t do it.” LOU HOLTZ USC HEAD COACH USC threw three interceptions, including two by Dondrial Pinkins. Mike Rathe tossed a pick on his second play from scrimmage during the second quarter. The Gamecocks were penalized eight times for 77 yards, which also cost the team a touchdown | afterTroy Williamson caught a score that was called back on a holding penalty. j 123 Bennett Swygert picked up 123 yards passing by completing four of his five attempts, including a touchdown pass to Demetris Summers late in the fourth quarter. BY BRAD SENKIW THE HAMECOCK ATHENS, Ga. — The USC football team (2-1) took a beat ing at the hands of the Georgia Bulldogs (3-0) Saturday at Sanford Stadium. The Gamecocks struggled to find the end zone offensively, and the de fense couldn’t contain the bal anced attack of the Georgia Bulldogs. “I’m real disappointed,” USC quarterback Dondrial Pinkins said. “We expected to come out and play better and we just didn’t come out and execute.” USC finished with 350 yards of total offense but fought too many unnecessary errors in the loss. Pinkins was 12-for-30 with 116 yards and two crucial inter ceptions. Bennett Swygert en tered the game in the fourth quarter and completed four of his five passing attempts for 123 yards, including the only score of the day for Carolina on a late game 37-yard touchdown pass to Demetris Summers. The rushing game that was so dominant against Virginia was only able to pick up 111 yards. Daccus Turman ran for 49 yards and Pinkins added 46 on the ground. Although the Gamecocks equaled or bettered the Bulldogs in many statistical categories, the Carolina defense allowed sev en big third down conversions that aided UGA in the victory. Georgia totaled 378 yards and three touchdowns against a de fense that hadn’t given up a touchdown this season. UGA quarterback David Greene fin ished with 208 yards passing and two touchdowns, both of which were caught by wide re ceiver Reggie Brown, who had a career day with 7 catches for 107 yards. Michael Cooper led the Bulldog rushing attack with 82 yards and a touchdown. “I thought David Greene was exceptional,” USC head coach Lou Holtz said. “No matter what we did, he found a weakness.” The Bulldogs got on the board early, scoring on the first drive of the game by going 77 yards, including a 46-yard run by Cooper. Billy Bennett nailed a 23-yard field goal after Georgia was held out of the end zone with first-and-goal. UGA went up 10-0 after a 2 yard touchdown pass from ♦ FOOTBALL, SEE PAGE 11 PHOTO BY JOHNNY HAYNES/THE GAMECOCK USC’s Dondrlal Pinkins takes a hit from a Georgia defender as three more Bulldogs prepare to finish the tackle in the Gamecocks’ 31-7 loss in Athens, Ga. Pinkins finished with 116 yards passing and two interceptions. Penalties, errors end Gamecocks’upset chances BY BRAD SENKIW THE GAMECOCK nhe Gamecocks’ hopes to bring an upset into Athens on Saturday turned into frustration and questioning by the USC football team. Although Georgia had its way with the Gamecocks in last Saturday’s win, many of Carolina’s coaches and play ers thought the game came down to a lack of execution and mistakes.It’s quite clear that statistically, inter ceptions and penalties destroyed any chance USC had of pulling off the upset. Both teams were hammered with penalties with UGA being called for eight penalties for 68 yards and the Gamecocks racking up seven for 77 yards. “The biggest thing today was every time we had some success we shot our own selves in the foot,” USC quar terback Dondrial Pinkins said. “We just couldn’t get it going. We couldn’t stay consistent.” Possibly no mistakes hurt worse than the ones that negated several big plays. Pinkins thought he had pulled the Gamecocks within three points in the second quarter with his 37-yard pass to Troy Williamson, who made a leaping grab and was able to get a foot down in the end zone. Unfortunately, the most excited player on the field was UGA defensive end David Pollack, who was jumping up-and-down and pointing over a yellow flag that lay in the backfield. The Gamecocks were charged with hold ing and never recovered from that play as Pinkins threw an interception. It also didn’t help Carolina when they ran a fake punt in the first quarter with Joey Bowers gaining 24 yards but losing 15 on a penalty. That one also ended in an in terception. Backup quarterback Mike Rathe entered the game after Pinkins’ second pick in hopes of adding a spark but, on his second play from scrimmage, tossed another pass right into the hands of a Georgia defender, which led to another UGA touchdown. USC head coach Lou Holtz said he didn’t receive much information about the penalties from the officials but it came down to his team not responding. “We don’t have any excuses,” Holtz said. “We did hurt ourselves, no doubt, but we’ve got to rise above that. You aren’t going to get a lot of breaks.” Holtz was very disappointed with the team’s strug gles in practice throughout the week and saw these struggles in Saturday’s loss. Holtz thinks that with prob lems at quarterback position, changes could be on the horizon. “I think we have to really look hard at the quarter back situation. I think we just need to go out and look ♦ MISTAKES, SEE PAGE 11 Coaches’ decision to kick not clear * BEN SINCLAIR GAMECOCKSPORTS@HOTMAIL.COM Field goal try showed Gamecocks giving up. I have always despised fans that sit comfortably in their seat each week and blast the play call- ^ ing of the Gamecocks. Years of ex- ™ perience watching sports have taught me that there is never a bad call from the stands. I wished “fans” understood that no matter what prescriptions they take or what drinks they consume before games, they will never know more than Lou Holtz will know. Playing guard and tackle at your local high school — guarding the Gatorade and tackling anyone that comes near it—does not give you the qualifications to question one of college football’s all-time most successful coaches. However, tny opinion changed Sure, we dropped passes left and right costing us first downs. We committed stupid penalties that erased one touchdown and 4 possibly a second. We even gave up several third-and-forever plays. The offense was poor at best and despite trailing 24-0 and ev erything going against us head ing into the fourth quarter, it was still a three-possession game. We had not given up and there was just the slightest chance of tying the game. At least that was the case until one decision was made in the fourth quarter. The Gamecocks showed deter mination by starting the quarter at their own 25-yard line and con verting two third downs, march ing all the way to the Georgia 8 yard line. In a three-possession game with less than 10 minutes left, the Gamecocks faced a fourth 1 down with six yards to go. The de cision seemed like a no-brainer to go for the touchdown; however, we lined up for a field goal. What bothers me the most is that by making this decision, the coaches conceded the game when there was still hope. I am sure some think I am crazy for crying over this decision. People will ar gue that even if we cut the game to 24-8, we still would have lost. ♦ DECISION, SEE PAGE 11 Volleyball falls to Utah, knocks off Indiana and Fighting Irish BY WES WOLFE THE GAMECOCK The USC volleyball team (4-5) went up against top competition this weekend in the Shamrock Invitational in South Bend, Ind., upsetting host team No. 15 Notre Dame. Each team the Gamecocks faced came into the Invitational with a winning record, whereas USC entered South Bend with two wins and four losses. Carolina still left with a losing record, but with a much-needed win over a quali ty opponent. Carolina’s first match of the tournament against the Utah Utes (5-3) did not turn out as well as hoped. The Utes made short work of their first meeting with USC by winning 3-0. Utah dominated the first two games, beating Carolina 30-18 and 30-22. The Gamecocks played close in the third game, posting 16 kills and hitting for .250. However, Carolina still lost the final game 31:29. At the end of the match, Utah led USC by 11 in kills and led the hitting percentage .264 to .188. Sophomore Sarah Morgan led the Gamecocks in kills with seven, while sophomore Lauren Ford led the team in blocks with five. Ford and freshman Katelyn Panzau both finished the game hitting .300. Saturday’s contest against the Indiana Hoosiers (4-4) went much better. Carolina was forced to a fifth game but eventually pre vailed 3-2. The win ended USC’s two-match losing streak and a four-match string of losses against Indiana. Carolina ended the game lead ing Indiana in kills by six. USC also had five players in double figures in kills. Freshman Shonda Cole led the team in kills with 18. “We started off really, really flat,” said Indiana head coach Katie Weismiller. “They attacked us hard from the service line in games one and two. South Carolina does a nice job offen sively.” Carplina’s 3-1 upset of No. 15 Notre Dame (7-2) was led by Vanden Hull, who notched a ca reer-high 21 kills and 15 digs. USC out-hit the Fighting Irish .242 to .165 recorded four more digs than Notre Dame. . Additionally, four players led the team in double-digit kills. Cole had another standout perfor mance in this game by hitting the winning shot. This is the Gamecocks’ second victory in five matches against ranked oppo nents this season. The other win came against then-No. 17 North Carolina last week. The win moves USC to 1-1 in the series, with Notre Dame winning the pre vious meeting 3-0 in 1996. The Gamecocks will next see action on Thursday, Friday and Saturday in the Gamecock Invitational at the Volleyball Competition Facility. USC’s first game will be against Santa Clara Thursday night. Duke and George Washington are the other teams set to compete in the Gamecock Invitational. Comments on this story?E-mail gamecocksports@hotmail.com Battling to remain undefeated , PHOTO BY TRISHA SHADWELL/THE GAMECOCK USC’s Anthony Styvall, left, fights for the ball with a Jacksonville player lr the Gamecocks 4-0 victory over the Dolphins on Friday night. Carolina also defeated Alabama A&M 3-0 on Sunday.