University of South Carolina Libraries
Letter CONTINUED FROM PAGE 13 Finally, I want to warn you of the bloodsuckers in the media. We’re as two-faced as they come because one minute we are your best friend, and the next we’ll be turning your good name to mud. I don’t have to remind you what your number is the mirror of and who used to wear it at Ohio State. 1 I know this is a lot to digest, but I am sure it is nothing new. Let me close this letter with a few words of encouragement. There is nothing in this world that hurts my ears more than that the infernal racket that is “Rocky Top.” I am not afraid to admit publicly that I despise Tennessee more than that other orange team in Pickens County. So, please don’t hold back on those Smoky Mountain weir does. A Big Fan, Tyler Jones Jones is a graduate student in the college of mass communications and information studies. Rushers CONTINUED FROM PAGE 13 not only this season, but at least once during all three games so far. “We’ve tried to play both backs since the first ball game,” Tennessee head coach Phillip Fulmer said. “I think we’ve got two good backs.” Houston, a native of Clarendon, Ark., won out the starting job this season after finishing the 2002 sea son as the team’s leading rusher with 779 yards. Unfortunately, he was one of the several Vols to fall to injuries that caused much of last year’s woes. This year, he’s held off a deep backfield to get most of the carries, although Fulmer said Davis isn’t far behind in talent. “Every time I would talk about Cedric Houston, sometimes the guys in the media didn’t want to listen,” Fulmer’said. “But I talk about Jabari Davis as well be cause he was being productive or more so than Cedric was.” These two star backs haven’t gone at it alone. Holtz said he was impressed with the offensive line, that he thinks it’s as good as it has ever been, and that he likes offensive lineman Michael Munoz. As far as the extent of Houston’s injury, Fulmer said on Monday that it wasn’t as severe as first thought, and he should practice during the week, allow ing him to be ready for Saturday’s contest at Neyland Stadium. So, if Carolina hopes to shut down the Tennessee offense on Saturday, controlling the team work of both Houston and Davis will be key, as USC should expect to see two different running backs that can wear down a de fense. “They are very unselfish,” Fulmer said. “They work hard for each other, block and critique each other. If that’s the way it will stay along the way, we’ll keep fresh legs in the ball game as much as we can.” Comments on this story?E-mail gamecocksports@hotmail.com PHOTO SPECIAL TO THE GAMECOCK Jabari Davis hurdled Florida last week with two touchdowns. Interested in taking The Gamecock’s Sports Challenge? If you can beat the editors, you’ll win a free Gamecock T-Shirt. Send in your picks to gamecocksports@hotmail.com by 2 p.m. Thursday. We’ll select ONE person at random to be our reader of the week, whose picks will appear in Friday’s issue. This week’s games: 9 Arkansas at Alabama 21 Washington State at 10 Oregon 25 Florida at Kentucky Iowa State at 20 Northern Illinois 13 Iowa at Michigan State Wake Forest at Virginia Rankings are from Notre Dame at 22 Purdue Georgia Tech at Vanderbilt The Associated Press. Texas Tech at Ole Miss USC at 8 Tennessee . ♦ FOR TIE-BREAKING PURPOSES, PLEASE INCLUDE YOUR SCORE FOR THE UAB-USC GAME, AND DON’T FORGET TO INCLUDE YOUR NAME! SEC FOOTBALL NEWS AND NOTES SEC names award winners for week 5 Tennessee running back Jabari Davis, LSU cornerback Corey Webster and Kentucky punter Anthony Thornton racked up week five’s SEC Players of the Week. Davis took the offensive hon or after putting up 78 yards and two touchdowns against Florida in The Swamp" last Saturday during the Vols’ dominating 24 10 victory. He ran the ball 17 times in th» second half, picking up 74^ards and scoring the final touchdown in the fourth quar ter to rout the Gators. Davis recorded five first downs and helped Tennessee control the ball 20:06 in time of possession compared to Florida’s 9:54 in the final two quarters. Webster, the defensive play er of the week, was credited with eight solo tackles, an in terception with less than a minute left in the game, five pass deflections and a quarter back pressure during LSU’s 17 10 victory over Georgia. Webster’s pick off UGA quar terback David Greene came at the LSU 22-yard line and al lowed the Tigers to hold on for the win. Webster was also named the Bronko Nagurski National Defensive Player of the Week. For the third week in a row, the special teams award was giv en to a punter when Thornton punted seven times for a 46.3 yard average, as the Wildcats knocked off the Indiana Hoosiers 34-17. Thornton recorded a career-best 58-yard punt and added a 53-yard punt that was downed at the Hoosiefs’ 4-yard line. NFL rosters fulj of former SEC players The SEC announced Tuesday that the conference led the nation in former players in the NFL on opening day roster^ with 263. All schools within the conference listed at least nine former play ers on pro rosters as nine schools ranked in the top 40. 'Florida tied Notre Dame for the overall high with 40 former players on NFL rosters with Georgia and Tennessee coming in with 36 players each. Auburn had 25 former players, LSU 24, Alabama 20, Mississippi State and South Carolina 18 and Ole Miss 17. The Big Ten was ranked sec ond nationally with the Pac-10, Big 12 and ACC following. Leak named starter for Florida this week Florida head coach Ron Zook announced Tuesday that fresh man Chris Leak would get the start this week over Ingle Martin when the Gators head to Lexington, Ky., to take on the Wildcats. Leak, a native of Charlotte, N.C., was rated by mafiy as the best quarterback in the country coming out of high school last season. This year, Leak, brother of Tennessee quarterback C.J. Leak, has been coming off the bench and has thrown for 359 yards, three touchdowns and two interceptions. Zook said he will not sotate the quarterbacks as he had done earlier this sea son with Leak and Martin. Martin is the leading passer for Florida, averaging 163 yards per game and has thrown three touchdowns. “The thing that we do every week is evaluate where we are at and evaluate what is going to give us the best opportunity to win,” Zook said. “We feel that right now is the opportunity to give Chris the chance to do what he can do.” Four ranked teams to play in conference The SEC now has three teams | ranked in the top 10 in the Associated Press Poll. The conference has scheduled four conference games this week, which include No. 25 Florida at Kentucky, No. 9 Arkansas at Alabama, USC at No. 8 Tennessee and No. 7 LSU at Mississippi State. All four games will be tele vised nationally this week. Auburn, Ole Miss and Vanderbilt are all playing non conference opponents this week. Auburn faces Western Kentucky, while Vanderbilt is taking on ACC opponent Georgia Tech in Nashville, Tenn. Ole Miss takes a week off from conference as well to take | on Texas Tech, who lost to N.C. State last week. BRIEFLY Women’s basketball releases schedule The USC women’s basketball schedule was released Tuesday, revealing that the team’s first # regular-season game will be broadcast nationally. The game, which is at Minnesota, will be on CBS on Saturday, Jan. 3. The Gamecocks will play 11 games at the Carolina Center. They will compete against nine teams that advanced to the NCAA Tournament last season. USC opens the season on the road at Clemson on Nov. 21, but then comes back to Columbia for games against Appalachian State, Mercer and Florida A&M. In December , Carolina will travel to New Mexico to partici pate in the University of New Mexico’s Southwest Airlines Lobo Shootout. USC opens the shootout with a contest against Southern Utah. On Dec. 20, USC* foes to Myrtle Beach to play North Carolina in the ACC/SEC Beachball Classic. The Gamecocks then open SEC play at Alabama on Jan. 11 and have their SEC home open er against Tennessee on Jan. 14. Men’s golf finishes third in Nashville The USC men’s golf team fin- I ished third in the Mason Rudolph Championship in Nashville, Tenn., on Tuesday, the best finish out of the SEC ’ schools competing. USC had two players finish in the top 10. Junior Martin Rominger placed fourth, and sophomore Eirik Johansen took seventh place. Redshirt sopho more Matt Robinson tied for 31st, while redshirt sehlSr Nash Elliott and redshjgt sophomore West Slreib tied for 53rd. * Special ROCK BOTTOM rate! <£7196 WEST N> # I — double ONLY 10 minutes from Neyiand Stadium! 865-966-5801 326 Lovell Road, Knoxville, TN - Exit 374 off of I-40 Carolinian ■>». . ESSAY CONTEST Prizes include: $500 plus more items to be announced Compose an essay of 500 words on ONE of the following quotes and how it relates to the Carolinian Creed and USC students: "Of all the properties which belong to honorable men, not one is so highly prized as that of character." - Henry Clay . "To educate a man in mind and not in-morals is to educate a menace to society." - Theodore Roosevelt "The internal satisfaction of a good conscience is always present, and time will do us justice in the minds of the people, even those at present the most prejudiced against us." - Ben Franklin Please turn essays in to the Office of Student Judicial Programs at 901 Sumter. Street, Suite 201 by Monday, September 29th at 5pm. / mm mm mm . mm Where will it take you? Through USAC, a consortium of U.S. universities, you can choose from 31 progfams.in 21 countries. With 20 years of experience, you can be sure that you have someone to turn to throughout your educational adventures. • Month, summer, semester & year-long (frograms ■ Wide range of academic courses ■ Internships ■ Field trips & tours ■ Language classes at all levels ■ Small classes ■ University credit ■ Scholarships • Housing ^CONSORTIUM U OAL QF V -&e .