Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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GAME SCHEDULE WOMEN’S SOCCER vs. Georgia, 7 p.m. VOLLEYBALL vs. Kentucky, 7 p.m. FOOTBALL at Alabama, 6 p.m. Saturday summers’ high ankle sprain leaves Gamecocks guessing By ALEX RILEY THE GAMECOCK Demetris Summers hasn’t touched the football ir a game in almost three weeks. He hasn’t found th< end zone, broken off a big run or taken a screen pas: the distance recently. Yet he continues to be the talk of the Gamecocl nation. Summers sprained his ankle early in the match-uf against Georgia on Sept. 11. The sophomore fforr Lexington was expected to return to action in las weekend’s game against Troy but practiced sparingl) during the week, forcing coaches to make a game time decision not to play him. However, Summers’ ankle is supposedly getting better and he is practicing with the team again this week, hoping to make the trip to Alabama foi Saturday’s showdown with the Crimson Tide. “The ankle felt better today,” Summers said. “1 was able to cut on it without it hurting.” “He showed a lot of rustiness,” head coach Lou Holtz said. “We’ll see how he w.orks out tomorrow. He didn’t seem to show any effects of (the ankle sprain) besides the rustiness. ” This isn’t the first time Summers has found himself sidelined. In last year’s game against Arkansas, Summers found himself on the receiving end of a monster hit from Razorback safety Tony Bua. The hit landed Summers in the hospital with a concussion and forced him to sit out the Florida game the next* week. Summers still managed to garner Freshman All SEC honors last fall, and was looking to have a great ♦ Please see SUMMERS, page 8 DAVID STAGG/THE GAMECOCK Tailback Demetris Summers, center, runs through the Vanderbilt defense in the season opener. Summers ran for 87 yards in the game. KATIE KIRKLAND/THE GAMECOCK Senior quarterback Dondrial Pinkins drops back for a pass Saturday against Troy. Pinkins led the Gamecocks in rushing after the season’s first two games. Running games i to prove crucial By TERENCE WASHINGTON THE GAMECOCK The Gamecocks (3-1, 1-1 SEC) travel to Tuscaloosa to play the Alabama Crimson Tide (3-1, 1-1 SEC) Saturday in an important SEC match up, as the winner will start the rest of the SEC schedule above .500 in conference play. The Gamecocks and Tide will be playing each other for the 12th time tomorrow, a series that Alabama has dominated 10-1. In the only | Gamecock win in 2001, Carolina had to fight back from a two-tou -hdown deficit to win 37-36. USC head coach Lou Holtz has a 2-3 record against the Tide, winning with the Gamecocks in 2001 and with Notre Dame in 1987. Despite the lopsided history between the teams, the match up is shaping up to be a good one, pitting Bama’s 15 th ranked rushing offense against Carolina’s 16th-ranked defense. Alabama averages almost ’250 yards on the ground per game while the Gamecocks are allowing fewer - than 100 rushing yards per game. The Tide’s senior tailback Ray Hudson averages 116.2 yards per game, second in the SEC. He has also scored three rushing touchdowns in four games. His backup, Kenneth Darby, is averaging 77.8 yards rushing per game, and both players broke the century mark in Bama’s opener against Utah State. The Crimson Tide rushing attack will certainly be important in tomorrow’s game, as sophomore quarterback Marc Guillon will start under center for only the second time ever, the first coming at the Arkansas game last week, a 27 10 loss. Alabama’s original starting quarterback, Brodie Croyle, tore his ACL playing against Western Carolina, ending his season. Croyle was a preseason nominee for the Davey O’Brien award, which is given to the best college quarterback i-o the nation. Marc Guillon completed six of 18 passes for 54 yards and an interception in his first start last week. He also rushed for a loss of 1 yard. The Crimson Tide defense ranks eighth in the nation, allowing only 245.5 total yards per game. The Tide defense has shut out its opponents in 10 out of 16 quarters this season, having allowed only 29 yards of second-half passing in the past two games. Alabama has also allowed only eight plays of over 25 yards in four games and has forced 31 three-and outs, second in the SEC only to LSU. The Tide’s red-zone defense might be shaky, allowing its opponents five touchdowns in seven red-zone possessions. However, just reaching the red zone has been so difficult for Bama’s opponents that the Tide’s soft red-zone defense has not been an issue. USC brings an offense ranked fourth in rhe SEC in ♦ Please see BAMA, pas|s 8 Questions surround Tide after losing quarterback By WES WOLFE THE GAMECOCK As the Alabama Crimson Tide (3-1, 1-1 SEC) rolls home for a nationally televised match-up with USC, there is no lack of storylines for the Tide. At the top of the heap is whether sophomore quarterback Marc Guillon will be able to shake off his mediocre performance at Arkansas and fill the shoes of team leader Brodie Croyle, who tore his right ACL against Western Carolina on Sept. 18. “I feel a lot better right now than I did last week at this time,” Guillon said to The Associated Press. “I was a little nervous. 1 feel 10 times better than I did last week.” Guillon was only able to complete six-of 18 passes for 57 yards and one interception in the loss to the Razorbacks. Guillon’s inability to establish a passing attack effectively neutralized Alabama’s excellent running game, and the Tide were only able to put 10 points on the board, even though the team had 271 yards rushing and averaged 5.9 yards per carry. In his weekly press conference, Alabama head coach Mike Shula said he intends to open up the passing game, primarily to allow the Tide’s superb running backs to drive the offense. Still, Shula is catching flack from Alabama fans and sportswriters for his decision-making early in the season. Leaving Croyle in the Western Carolina game with a 31-0 lead in the third quarter, only to see the star quarterback plant his leg and hit the turf, has been attributed to Shula’s experience as a quarterback coach in the NFL where normal policy is to leave the “franchise quarterback” in the game. Tongues were wagging again when Shula chose not to go for the first down on a fourth-and-one play at the Arkansas 39 yard line, trailing 13-10 in the fourth quarter. Running back Ray Hudson had been carving up the defense, and bruising runner Tim Castille had been very effective in short yardage situations. Regardless, Shula’s not looking back. “There’s always things you definitely want to make sure you learn from and keep it in your reference, bhula said in the Birmingham News. “I think there is a fine line because you can probably second-guess everything you do if you want to. I don’t like to second-guess myself because a ton of people are doing that for me. As long as there’s football or any other sport, there’s going to be second-guessing.” Alabama will once again be counting on all-star performances from running backs Hudson and Kenneth Darby to get into the end zone and wear down the Carolina defense. Hudson is still struggling with a lingering concussion that may or may not be helping him run faster, such as on his 63-yard touchdown run against Arkansas “I told (freshman running back) Aaron (Johns) that I felt like I was moving slow,” Hudson said in the Huntsville Times. ♦ Please see CRIMSON, page 8 APRIL L. BROWNTTHE ASSOCIATED PRESS Alabama quarterback Marc Guillon throws a pass during the second quarter against Arkansas. Guillon made his first career start in the 27-10 loss. Series one-sided, but exciting By JOHN ZENOR THE ASSOCIATED PRESS TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Dondrial Pinkins well remembers his college debut, a painful loss at Alabama. Evan Mathis recalls his first career start, an agonizing loss at South Carolina, “like it was yesterday.” Both bring tough memories into Saturday night’s Alabama South Carolina game at Bryant Denny Stadium in a sporadic series that has been almost totally dominated by Alabama but has produced two memorable games in the past four years. The Crimson Tide (3-1, 1-1 SEC) won the first 10 meetings, including five shutouts. They haven’t played each other since the 2001 game, which was a wild one. South Carolina (3-1, 1-1) claimed a wild 37-36 victory on a late touchdown pass from Phil Petty to Rodney Trafford to complete a rally from a 12-point deficit in the final nine minutes. “We ran it the whole game, both offenses were just scoring and scoring,” recalled Mathis, a guard who has started every game since. “That’s definitely on my mind.” “That’s something you don’t ever want to have happen to you again,” Tide offensive tackle Wesley Britt said. Pinkins would just as soon not repeat the 2000 game, either. As a freshman subbing for an injured Petty, he was 0-for-2 passing and ran six times for 16 yards in a 27 17 loss after the team had won its first four games. “I was a little excited, and things didn’t work out the way I planned it,” said Pinkins, who has been splitting snaps with sophomore Syvelle Newton this season. “But hopefully, things will go a little bit different than the last time we were there.” Or the last seven times, for that matter. The Gamecocks are 0-7 in trips to Tuscaloosa. They have played three straight home games after opening at Vanderbilt Stadium, which didn’t present much of a road disadvantage. “I think we’ve got a lot of guys who are in for a shock,” Gamecocks coach Lou Holtz said. “We played up at Vanderbilt, and we had a lot of fans. It was like playing (at home). “This is going to be a hostile place. I remember we went down there four years ago and made some mistakes that you can’t j ♦ Please see SERIES, page 8 JASON GETZ/THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Alabama tailback Ray Hudson, right, carries the ball as Arkansas defender Vickiel Vaughn pursues in the fourth quarter of their game last weekend at Arkansas.