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LOU SAID IT i "I think we must have some pretty good players, too. Nobody ever talks _ about them, but we must have.” Page 16 . — LOU HOLTZ Wednesday, September 8, 2004 head football coach g 31 USC — VANDERBILT 6 — USC crushes Vandy in opener By STEPHEN FASTENAU THE GAMECOCK NASHVILLE, Tenn. — USC head coach Lou Holtz was somewhat vague leading up to Saturday’s game against Vanderbilt when questioned about the running back situation, saying he was not sure what his game plan would be and who he would play. Holtz revealed his plan in spectacular fashion in Nashville Saturday, as the Gamecocks ran over the Commodores in their opener, 31-6. “I feel really good about my performance and the team’s performance as a whole,” Pinkins said. “We came out and executed our game plan.” Sporting their new uniforms — black pants and helmets with white jerseys — the Gamecocks looked ready to play early. Holtz unveiled his new run-oriented offense on the opening drive that utilized both the tailbacks and receivers. Gonzie Gray picked up 10 yards on the first play from scrimmage, and receiver Matthew 1 homas gained 16 on a nifty reverse around the left end. Gray and fellow tailback Demetris Summers marched the team down the field on a drive that included only two pass attempts. Pinkins ran it in from one yard out to give USC the lead, 7-0. Vanderbilt was forced to punt after three plays on its first drive, and Noah Whiteside returned it 43 yards to the Vanderbilt 39-yard line. Pinkins then completed a 22 yard pass to receiver Troy Williamson. Three Pinkins runs then set up a play-actitAi pass to a wide-open Brian Brownlee in the middle of the end zone to make the score 14 0. The Commodores were again stagnant on their next possession. After managing just one yard on three plays, Vanderbilt was forced to punt again. The team only managed three yards on six plays for the first quarter. Demetris Summers got the Gamecocks to the Vanderbilt seven-yard line after a 31-yard run. Pinkins was then sacked for a 10-yard loss, and USC settled for a Josh Brown field goal to push its lead to 17-0 with 14 minutes and 56 seconds left in the first half. Vanderbilt’s first DAVID STAGG/THE GAMECOCK USC quarterback Dondrial Pinkins barrels through Vanderbilt defensive end Aaron Carter on Saturday on a drive that resulted in a Carolina score. Pinkins rushed for 77 yards in the 31-6 victory, second only to Demetris Summers in total rushing yards. sustained drive of eight plays and 47 yards ended when Commodore quarterback Jay Cutler fumbled on the South Carolina 33-yard line. The Commodores were finally able to get on the scoreboard after a missed field goal by USC kicker Josh Brown. Cutler set up a 4-yard Kwame Doster touchdown run with a 46-yard completion to receiver Erik Davis. The extra point attempt failed and the Gamecocks led 17-6 entering halftime. USC drove 89 yards in 10 plays to score on its first possession of the second half. Cory Boyd scored on a seven-yard touchdown run to put the Gamecocks up 24-6 with seven minutes and 55 seconds remaining in the third quarter. Several big completions by Cutler and the aid of a USC pass interference penalty got the Commodores down to the USC two-yard line. Defensive end Moe Thompson then stripped Vanderbilt running back Norval McKenzie of the ball, and USC recovered for a touchback. “He tried to jump from the three-yard line and stretch for the end zone,” Thompson said. “I just hit the ball out of his hand.” On the ensuing possession, the Gamecocks were able to run out the clock and drove to Vanderbilt’s 14-yard line, only to have Summers fumble through the end zone, resulting in a touchback. The final blow by the Gamecocks came with nine minutes and 15 seconds left in the fourth quarter. Cutler was again driving the Commodores down the field. Jamacia Jackson stepped in front of Cutler’s pass at the USC two yard line and returned the interception 98 yards for a touchdown. The Gamecocks longest interception return for a touchdown since 1982 made it a 31-6 final score. After the game, Holtz had only good things to say about Cutler. “Vanderbilt’s offensive line is very good,” Holtz said. “They protect well and block well. Jay Cutler is a fine quarterback and throws well. I’m a Cutler fan. He does a wonderful job.” Although Vanderbilt held the edge in passing yards, the telling statistic was USC’s 269 yards rushing to the Commodores’ 36. Overall, it appeared Holtz was pleased with his team’s play. “I think we have a good football team and I am proud of them, but we have a long ways to go,” Holtz said. “We cannot "continue to make the mistakes we made today.” Comments on this story? E-mail gamecocksports@gam.sc. edu Underrated stars shine in crucial victory KATIE KIRKLAND/THE GAMECOCK Vanderbilt senior running back Norval McKenzie is tackled by the USC defense Saturday. The Carolina defensive unit allowed only 36 rushing yards and forced two interceptions from quarterback Jay Cutler. By JONATHAN HILLYARD THE GAMECOCK NASHVILLE, Tenn. — For weeks entering the season, USC football players, the public and the press were fed names such as Jay Cutler, Jovan Haye, Moses Osemwegie and Justin Geisinger. Following the Gamecocks’ 31-6 romping of Vanderbilt, they found media members and fans asking, “Who are these guys?” Little had been made of any superstar talent on the USC sideline, and surprisingly, Vanderbilt probably had more A name recognition going into Saturday’s opener. Gamecocks head coach Lou Holtz hopes some of that has changed. “Going into this game, I knew that Geisinger is all-conference, Jovan Haye is all-conference, Cutler is all-conference, their tailbacks are all-conference, but I think we must have some pretty good football players too,” Holtz said following the blowout. “Nobody ever talks about them, but we must have.” There is no doubt that Saturday’s performance has gotten the attention of many, including ESPN’s College GameDay crew. The shovy will be in Columbia on Saturday for the second time since Holtz arrived at USC in 1999. While the defensive-end tandem of George Gause and Moe Thompson has received a little positive recognition, the majority of the rest of the team has received almost no publicity other than a negligible amount of criticism. The brunt of the criticism has been aimed at quarterback Dondrial Pinkins, who subsequently played a near error-free game against the Commodores, throwing for 169 yards on 10 completions and running for another 77 yards to rank him second on the list for total offense in thp SEC. Maybe even more telling, Pinkins did not commit a turnover throughout the game. “1 am really satisfied with Dondrial’s day,” senior right guard Jonathan Alston said. “He was given a challenge and he came out and did it, and that gives us great confidence for the rest of the season.” You can’t talk about the quarterback’s good play without discussing the play of the offensive line. The Gamecock O-line pushed around the Vanderbilt defensive line to the tune of 269 rushing yards. Another group of players that looks to be highly underrated is the linebacking corps. Junior Ricardo Hurley made his presence felt with a couple of big hits on Vanderbilt running backs. His partners in crime, seniors Marcus Lawrence and Rod Wilson, added timely plays to keep the Vanderbilt offense at bay. Early in the second quarter, the Commodores drove the ball to the USC 33-yard line before a fumble forced by Lawrence would be recovered by Wilson to snuff the Vanderbilt drive. Wilson forced a fumble of his own later in the game. The Gamecock secondary had been a concern entering the game yet had a number of bright moments in Saturday’s contest. The biggest highlight of the game came when a Jay Cutler pass was intercepted by senior safety Jamacia Jackson at the two-yard line and run back 98 yards for a touchdown. Jackson’s score, in addition to a fumble he forced as Vanderbilt running back Norval McKenzie dove for the end zone (costing Vanderbilt yet another score), was enough to earn him SEC defensive player of the week honors. Freshman safety Ko Simpson also batted away two passes, both of which he could have feasibly intercepted. Finally, junior college transfer corner Jonathan Joseph also forced a fumble in the contest. Holtz said he knows that he has a load of talent on the team, but he isn’t yelling for attention. At the end of his post-game press conference, Holtz was asked if he thought his players were underrated. “Yeah, I think we have some good players,” Holtz said, “but everybody says if you’re good enough you don’t have to tell people, they’ll know it.” He continued with a smile on his face and said, “I think our defensive line is pretty good. I think Moe Thompson is pretty doggone good. I think Marcus Lawrence is pretty good. Ricardo Hurley I think is pretty good. I think our tackles are pretty good, and I think our center is pretty good. I think our tailback is pretty good, and 1 think our receivers are pretty good. I think our field-goal kicker has got a lot of room to improve.” Comments on this story? E-mail gamecocksports@gwm.sc. edu I STAT BOX — GAME 1 269 Total rushing yards for USC 36 Total rushing yards for Vanderbilt 4 Turnovers committed by Vanderbilt ■ 111 0 Turnovers committed by Dondrial Pinkins J A Carolina gave us 4 quarters of energy ■ Despite a few errors, the season started with a dominating SEC win My favorite part of the game was not the first touchdown of the season, not the Cory Boyd TD run, not even the Jamacia Jackson interception for a touchdown. My favorite part of the game was watching our defense swarm to the ball, lay big hits and RYAN show PI ADV excitement for ULAKT all four FOURTH-YEAR quarters. ELECTRONIC Watching JOURNALISM Fred Bennett STUDENT , .... make his first tackle for a ' loss and then seeing Darrell Shropshire make that huge hit just lit a fire in me. Then, on top of that, seeing our defense jump around and show that they were there to make a statement was the icing on the cake. It wasn’t just the big hits that did it for me. On every tackle, our defense had four or five guys in on or finishing up the hit. They established themselves early and let Jay Cutler know each and every play that they were there. It brought back memories of the 2000 and 2001 teams. OK, so we missed some tackles, and a few got away from us. But hey, it’s the first game, and mistakes are prone to happen. But when was the last time you saw our defense make that big of a presence? Rick Minter spoke loud and proud of his defense, and he backed it up Saturday. But it wasn’t just our defense that set the tone. Our offensive line was outstanding. It pushed Vanderbilt’s D-line around all game, and I loved it. The first drive set the tone, and in my mind couldn’t have been any better. I’ve never seen so many holes for our running backs to run through in one game. But the shut-up-and-hit somebody award for me went to Cory Boyd. Coach Holtz talked about our running backs needing to play better off the ball. Boyd not only ran the ball extremely well, but he set up many other plays and received no credit. On Noah Whiteside’s first punt return, Boyd laid a tremendous block on a Vanderbilt player who was in position to make the tackle. There were a good number of plays where 1 can recall Boyd being the lead blocker for our tailback and laying a huge hit on a linebacker or safety. Boyd also did great things at receiver. Not only did he look good on a swing pass, but he also laid good down field blocks for our running backs. We need him back for next week’s game. And finally, 1 have to give credit to Lou Holtz. With all the crap going on from the media after last season, Holtz did what he said he would do. He got this team believing in the system, and Saturday it showed. We looked faster and hungrier and played hard for four quarters. 1 guess the new uniforms brought a bigger and better Gamecock team. - - |