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GAME SCHEDULE CONTACT US WOMEN’S SOCCER at Wofford, 7 p.m. MEN’S SOCCER vs. Portland in Seattle, 5 p.m. Friday Story ideas? Questions? Comments? VOLLEYBALL at LSU, 8 p.m. Friday E-mail us at gamecocksports@hotmail.com FOOTBALL at Tennessee, 7:45 p.m. Saturday USC makes kicking change PHOTO BY JOHNNY HAYNES/THE GAMECOCK USC punter Josh Brown is the likely candidate to replace placekicker Daniel Weaver for this week’s game at Tennessee. BY BRAD SENKIW THE GAMECOCK As the USC football team (3-1) plans to head to Tennessee (3-0) this week, USC head coach Lou Holtz said the team will feature a different placekicker, with red shirt senior Daniel Weaver mov ing to the bench. After Weaver missed two field goals, a 40-yard and a 28-yard attempt, and an ex tra point by redshirt freshman Charlie Carpenter in last Saturday’s win over UAB, Holtz was at odds with his kicking problem and announced Monday that the Gamecocks will put a new man on the field. Although it isn’t determined for sure, redshirt sophomore punter Josh Brown holds the edge for the starting placekick ing position in practice this week, according to Holtz. Freshman Stephen Stellfox and redshirt junior Joey Bowers could also get an opportunity. “We have to at least look in a different direction,” Holtz said. “I think we have to look at what’s in the best interest of the team.” Holtz said he spoke to Weaver about the situation Monday and that he can’t figure out Weaver’s problem. “He’s kicked well in practice,” Holtz said. “He wants to keep kicking, but I told him it may turn out that way, but it’d be unfair to the team and unfair to him.” The Gamecocks rank dead last in the SEC in field goal percent age, connecting on only one of seven attempts. Weaver made the only field goal of the season for Carolina but has missed four at tempts this year. Brown has also struggled in his attempts, going 0-for-2 when Weaver was sus pended during the first game. But Holtz said fixing the prob lem might not stop at switching kickers. “We’re definitely going to work on an alternative, even if it’s the tailback running it,” he said. Holtz said many times during the post-game conference last Saturday that he had no answers for the kicking inefficiencies, and he said on Monday many reasons could explain why things are go ing wrong. “The placekicking is a differ ent world,” he said. “There are so many intangibles; so much of it is psychological.” Holtz is also perplexed by Weaver’s struggles after showing such promise early in his career. “Nobody wants to see Dan Weaver succeed more than I do because he works at it,” Holtz - said. “He’s a wonderful young man, and he’s done it before. His sophomore year he was out standing.” Holtz also said that with all the problems, there isn’t much change he will make in recruit ing a kicker in the future. “You cannot truly evaluate a ’ placekicker in high school,” Holtz said. “It’s impossible because they kick off a tee. It’s all the dif ference in the world in kicking off the ground. It’s a gamble.” With the Gamecocks taking such drastic measures going into the fifth game of the season - against a highly ranked dnd dom inating Tennessee squad, Holtz is worried because kicking has been a major factor in this series in the past. “Last couple of years, we missed a short field goal early in the game,” Holtz said. “The kick ing game does play a prominent role.” Comments on this story?E-mail gamecocksports@hotmail.com Two-headed monster leads Vols’ offense Tennessee’s two powerful backs are dominating w the conference BY BRAD SENKIW THE GAMECOCK The University of Tennessee football program has been known for years as a hotbed for wide re ceivers making it to the NFL. The Vols are also known for the num ber of running backs the school has produced. Rocky Top fans have been thrilled for years by Charlie Garner, James Stewart, Travis Henry, Travis Stephens and Jamal Lewis, who broke the record for the most rushing yards in a game in the NFL two weeks ago. But after a difficult season last year, the No. 8 Vols (3-0) have bounced back with not one strong rusher, but two. “They’re one of the top 10 in the country in rushing offense,” USC head coach Lou Holtz said about the Tennessee offense. “They have two backs, Cedric Houston and Jabari Davis.” Houston and Davis rank second and fifth, respectively, in the SEC in rushing yards per game. Houston was leading the confer ence before last week’s game against Florida, where the junior went down with an injury. He still is averaging 115.3 yards a game and 6.1 yards a carry. His 346 yards have helped the Tennessee offense find a rhythm that has set up quarterback Casey Clausen, who is averaging a little more than 200 yards a game find has thrown six touchdowns. Houston started the season against Fresno State with a 19 carry, 161-yard rushing perfor mance and then ran for one yard less against Marshall on 26 car ries. In the Florida game, Houston suffered the injury in the first half ^nd only gained 25 yards. That’s when his counterpart, Davis, came to Tennessee’s res cue offensively against the Gators. He gained 78 yards on 20 carries, scoring two touchdowns in the second half. Davis’ last score, which came late in the game, put the Vols up for good and gave the team a big 24-10 win in The Swamp. Davis’ effort landed him the SEC Offensive Player of the Week honor, an award he won last year after gaining 135 yards last season against Arkansas. Florida isn’t the only team that has received a heavy dose of Davis. The junior from Stone Mountain, Ga„ has accumulated 223 yards and four touchdowns. Although Houston had the bigger numbers in the first two games of the season, Davis did put up 84 yards in just 12 carries against Fresno State and 61 yards in only eight rushes against the Thundering Herd. Davis has done something his fellow rusher hasn’t done: score a touchdown PHOTO SPECIAL TO THE GAMECOCK Tennessee running back Cedric Houston is the second in rushing in the SEC despite not finishing against Florida on Saturday. Houston averages 115.3 yards per game. Women’s soccer team hits road to take on Wofford BY WES WOLFE THE GAMECOCK The USC women’s soccer team (4-3-1) is looking for its fifth win tonight as it goes up against in state foe Wofford (3-2-1). The Terriers and the Gamecocks both share the ignominy of losing to Clemson in the first game of their respective seasons. Carolina, however, has won each of the eight previous meetings between the two schools. . Since the opening loss, Wofford I beat Canisius, Coastal Carolina, College of Charleston and tied Samford before losing to Mercer on Sept. 18. In the loss against Mercer, Wofford allowed its first goal of the season since Clemson laid six goals on the Lady Terriers on Sept. 1. The goal by Mercer’s Darcy Kibler ended Wofford goal keeperAustin Somers’ scoreless streaS&t.367:25. The streak is a Wofforcfffgiool record. After "the loss to Mercer, Wofford head coach Atny Kiah said, “We played well tonight, but didn’t get the result we wanted. The team really played well de fensively, especially in the second half, but offensively we couldn’t get the shot that counted.” At the outset, the stats seem to be in Carolina’s favor. USC is av eraging more goals per game and allowing fewer goals per game than Wofford. The Gamecocks also have pro . duced more shots and fewer fouls than the Lady Terriers over the season. However, Wofford’s start ing goalkeeper, Somers, has a .879 save average, compared to Carolina goalkeeper Elise Matthews’ .733 average. Wofford’s main threats com ing into the game are forwards Abby Anderson and Eve Van Harpen. Anderson has scored three goals this season, includ ing a game-winner, and has a .500 shot average. Van Harpen has two goals and nailed the game winning shot against College of Charleston last week. Van Harpen <|frrently has a .400 shot average and was named the TIAA-CREF Southern Conference Student-Athlete of the Week last week. USC is coming into the game riding a two-game win streak, with the wins coming against Davidson and N.C. State in the two-game homestand. However, this season the Gamecocks’ are 0-2-1 on the road. Wofford currently holds a 2-0-1 home record. “Since the loss at Mercer last Thursday, which was a disap pointment, we’ve been practicing better,” Kiah said. “We’ve had a great week of practice. South Carolina is certainly a big game for us, and many of our players are ready to step up their games in preparation for the Gamecocks.” Last season, Carolina beat Wofford 1-0 at Eugene E. Stone in Stadium. In that game, the Gamecocks outshot the Lady Terriers 15-4. However, the play ers that made impacts in that game were seniors. USC steps jfento the field against Wofford at 7 p.m. tonight in i ^ |gj|j7 ^ ^ 1 ^ ^ vm<~7-' ***+*»?m*t-*r -.. j PHOTO BY JOHNNY HAYNES/THE GAMECOCK Elise Matthews makes a pass during a game earlier this season. The Gamecocks play at Wofford tonight at 7 p.m. Spartanburg at Wofford’s Snyder Field. After this game, Carolina continues its road trip witls a vis it to Athens, Ga., for the UGA/Nike Invitational. Comments on this story?E-mail gamecocksports@hotmail.com Words of caution to USC’s Summers TYLERJONES GAMECOCKSPORTS@HOTMAIL.COM Don’t waste talent by making bad decisions. DearDemetris, Just thought that I would take a few minutes out of my day and . write to say that I was very im pressed Saturday night. I’m sorry that my letter will be seen by the entire campus, but these are the breaks for someone of your high athletic caliber. I know that you are probably besieged with requests and letters, so I figured I would turn my week ly bully pulpit into something a little more substantial. Yes, I am going to lavish my praise, but I am going to try my best at offering up a spoonful of advice, something that head coach Lou Holtz and the rest of the world have already shoved down your throat. But if anyone pays attention, this letter is to the university community as well as No. 31. I don’t have to read off the list of accolades for you, Demetris. You know better than anyone else how it felt to score more than 150 touchdowns and break the NFL’s an-time leading rusher Emmitt Smith’s high school touchdown record. And I am sure you remem ber each step of the 9,000-plus yards that you ran at Lexington High School last year when you were named a Parade All-American. You must remember how it felt when you broke Derek Watson’s all-time high-school rushing record for the state. But we re member the only thing Watson broke at Carolina. That, Demetris, was our hearts. I couldn’t help but think of Watson as you slashed through the porous UAB defense to the tune of 161 yards. What was Watson doing that humid Saturday evening? And then I thought of you, Mr. Summers. I thought of all the promise and tal ent that is just waiting to explode from that 6-foot-l-inch, 200-pound frame of yours. And then I had strange visions of overzealous alumni and boost ers inundating your mother’s house with phone calls and offers of money or perhaps a new car. Images of greedy, golf-playing aristocrats who would love to have you over for dinner and stuff your pockets with dead presidents invaded my consciousness as I galloped back to my tailgate. The football, Demetris, is the easy part. Reading defenses is nothing compared to reading your fellow human beings. You see, it is because we re selt ish, and I say we are because I want to use you too. I want to brag to my friends about how fast and elusive you are because deep down, we, as fans, need a great player to make ourselves look bet ter and feel better. It is no secret that we use athletes as projections of ourselves, and their perfor mances can influence our needy little self-esteems. Speaking of feeling better, let’s not forget about the opposite sex. I know they are beautiful, and some are sweet enough to give you a cavity, but don't think for a minute that an act of connubial bliss won’t destroy everything you’ve worked for. Don’t forget the agents and the drug-dealing vermin who would love for you to party at their opu lent abodes. Demetris, you are nothing but a'trophy for them, val idation of their social status. They don’t care that you have kids and a future to think of. ♦ LETTER, SEE PAGE 14