The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, September 08, 2004, Page 16, Image 16
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.”
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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.”
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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.
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