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§ \ \ LOU SAID IT / ‘You win close games when everybody does H what they're supposed to do. It's not the players' fault, don’t get me wrong. I made Page 12 I enough mistakes to last me a lifetime." Monday, October 11,2004 -U « J . „KOFoo,™Sic" \ OLE MISS (3-3)31 — SOUTH CAROLINA (4-2) 28 g USC can’t hold on to victory STAT BOX GAME 6 31 Points allowed versus Ole Miss 39 Points allowed in first five games 4th and 10 Situation for Ole Miss’ game winning touchdown 4-for-4 Red zone conversions by Ole Miss __ VM I JASON STEELMAN/THE GAMECOCK Sophomore receiver Noah Whiteside fumbles after a 16-yard reception in the first quarter forced by Ole Miss cornerback Travis Johnson. Whiteside’s fumble was returned 18 yards and led to Ole Miss quarterback Robert Lane’s 5-yard touchdown run to make the score 14-0. By STEPHEN FASTENAU STAFF WRITER The fair was in town Saturday and it was Homecoming week, but unfortunately for USC, the festivities did not extend into Williams-Brice Stadium. Facing fourth down and 10, Rebel quarterback Ethan Flatt tossed a 29-yard touchdown pass to Bill Flowers with 1:05 remaining in the fourth quarter to give Mississippi a 31-28 win. Gamecock sophomore Syvelle Newton threw for 291 yards and one touchdown in his first SEC stan at quanerback, and backup Blake Mitchell came off the bench to lead a 68-yard touchdown drive. USC (4-2, 2-2 SEC), coming off what head coach Lou Holtz considered one of the best wins for his program in his tenure last week at Alabama, is still two wins from bowl eligibility after dropping a game in which the team was a 17 point favorite. “Ole Miss did a nice job attacking us, particularly in the first half,” Holtz said. Attack they did. The Rebels rolled up 319 yards in the first half on defense, allowing only 256 yards a game coming in and jumping out to a 14-0 lead in the first quarter. After punting on its first possession, Ole Miss drove 70 yards for a touchdown behind the running of tailback Vashon Pearson. Pearson’s backup, Brandon Jacobs, capped the drive with a 2-yard touchdown run to give the Rebels a 7-0 lead. Aided by a Noah Whiteside fumble that was returned 18 yards to the USC 7-yard line, Mississippi made it 14-0 on a 5-yard touchdown run by freshman quarterback Robert Lane. Mitchell entered the game with 14:55 remaining in the first half after Newton led another stalled drive. The redshirt freshman drove USC 68 yards in five plays, finishing the drive with a 17-yard touchdown pass to tight end Andy Boyd that cut the Ole Miss lead to 14-7. The touchdown pass was the first of Mitchell’s career and was the first catch of any kind for the sophomore Boyd. Any momentum USC had gained was squelched by a clock eating 76-yard drive by the Rebels on their next possession. Pearson rushed six times for 36 yards during the drive, including a 17 yard touchdown run with 7:24 left in the half that pushed the Ole Miss lead back to 14 at 21-7. Syvelle Newton brought the Gamecocks back within seven after a 38-yafd touchdown run up the middle on the ensuing possession. The key to the drive was not Newton, however. With USC looking at fourth down and 10 from the 20-yard line, punter Josh Brown ran 11 yards down the 1 sideline to pick up a first down on what appeared to be an option punt. “As I said last week,” Holtz said, “sometimes you get behind and you say ‘Hey, we better throw a little caution to the wind.’” USC had an opportunity to tie the game before halftime. Holtz called timeout after a 32-yard completion from Newton to Whiteside gave the Gamecocks the ball at the Ole Miss 12-yard line with seven seconds remaining in the half. Holtz opted to attempt a quick pass rather than kick a field ♦ Please see FOOTBALL, page 10 SO CLOSE * —»r-wrrT™n I f_;| CHARLIE DAVENPORT/THE GAMECOCK Running back Cory Boyd tries for a leaping touchdown catch on (JSC’s final drive. The pass was broken up by Ole Miss’ Charles Clark. Mississippi loss hurts, but season isnt over yet It’s not often you lose a game on a fourth-and-10 with just over a minute left. But on a day where nothing seemed to go right for the Gamecocks, what other ending could we have expected? I can’t say I didn’t feel really disappointed after Saturday’s loss to Ole Miss. In fact, like many of you, I still don’t know what in the world happened, but I do know this: We can’t afford any more perfor mances like that. No matter who your team is, you’re going to have games that are worse than others. To be the best, you’ve got to be able to still win those games. It was very disa ppointing because I If nnw wp arp a great team, but we didn’t do what we had to do against Ole Miss. For the first time all season, we didn’t walk away from the game praising our defense. But let’s get realistic for a second — they’re the number one reason we were 4-1 coming into this game, so a bad game now and then will do. The one thing that really got me about our defense Saturday was the number of missed tackles. I’ve always talked about how our defense swarms to the ball and leaves bruises on opponents. There were times Saturday where this happened, but the missed tackles were very noticeable. What I like about our . players’ attitude is they will take the bad performance out on Kentucky next week. I must say with four minutes to go in the first quarter, I was screaming for Demetris Summers to get his first touch running the ball. It just blew my mind that we didn't make him a major part of our offense. I think Newton is a great runner, but Summers was recruited here to be the man. I want Newton to get his carries, but I just wish our offense involved more Meat. I do want to say that I thought the individual performances by Blake Mitchell and Travis Lee were really something to watch. Mitchell showed signs of the player we all know he will be some day. Lee not ♦ Please see CLARY, page 10 RYAN CLARY FOURTH-YEAR ELECTRONIC JOURNALISM STUDENT Reliable defense can’t stop Rebel attack _B_AH_ — ^ V CHARLIE DAVENPORT/THE GAMECOCK Ole Miss running back Vashon Pearson squeezes by a trailing USC defense on his way to a 17-yard touchdown run. Pearson ended the day with 92 of Ole Miss' 178 rushing yards. DyjuHHiriHn niLLTHnu SPORTS EDITOR The USC defense shut down or at least contained every offense it faced this season until Ole Miss came to town Saturday. Defensive coordinator Rick Minter’s unit had only allowed 39 points in five previous games. On Saturday, the unit allowed 31 points. Prior to Saturday, the USC defense only allowed 7.8 points per game. The Carolina defense was the top-ranked unit in the SEC in rushing defense, allowing just 102.4 yards per game. The Rebels racked up 178 yards on the ground, 98 of them by star tailback Vashon Pearson. The secondary of USC was allowing an average of 153.8 yards passing in the first five games. The three-man tandem of Ethan Flatt, Michael Spurlock and Robert Lane recorded 236 yards through the air despite overthrowing receivers on numerous touchdown opportunities. “We had a couple of missed assignments,” cornerback Fred Bennett said. “We had a whole handful of missed assignments, and we just have to work hard and see if we can correct them.” The different quarterbacks seemed to keep the USC defense off guard as each signal caller brought different things to the table. “We thought we were going to face more of a passing type quarterback in number 19,” Dennett said, iney orougnt 10 vopuriocK, in and he did a lot of good things with hi: feet, and I thought that gave us a little bit of 2 problem.” Ole Miss’ 414 yards of total offense wa: the most allowed by USC all season and ii nearly 160 yards more than the Gamecocks average of 256.2 yards allowed per game. A telling statistic for the USC defense i: the individual tackle tallies. The Gamecocks leading tackier was safety Ko Simpson usually a sign that the opposing offense ha: gained a significant amount of yardage. The Rebel offense took control of the game early, scoring on drives of 70 and 7 yards in the first quarter. The 70-yard drive was the first touchdown the USC defense hac: allowed in seven quarters and was only the second first quarter touchdowh allowed al season. “In the first half, Ole Miss just controlled both lines of scrimmage,” USC head coach Lou Holtz said. “They go right down anc score, we come back and fumble and right now you’re down 14-0 that quick.” For the first time this season, the Carotins defense did not record a sack, which coulc explain Ole Miss’ success throwing the football. The defense was only able to force one turnover, a fumble by Ole Miss receive! Taye Biddle at the end of the first half. The game marked the first fime all seasor that the USC defense did not intercept the opposing quaireroacK. inis came as a surprise to USC fans who expected the conference’s lOth-rated quarterback in passing efficiency to be picked apart by the Gamecocks. Maybe even more surprising than the lack of effectiveness of the USC defense was the effectiveness of the Ole Miss offense. The 414 yards of offense by the Rebels Saturday towers over their 348.6 yards-per-game average. Ole Miss gained 195 yards Saturday while their net rushing total was 178 yards, nearly 35 yards more than their average of 144.8 yards on the ground. Not only did Ole Miss demolish the stats it had put up in previous games, but the Rebels did it against a USC defense that appeared to be far superior to those of the Rebels’ previous opponents. In their only two previous SEC games, the Rebels faced Alabama and Vanderbilt. Alabama, prior to this week, led the conference in total offense, but Vanderbilt ranked eighth in total defense in the SEC. Other Ole Miss opponents included Memphis, Wyoming and Arkansas State. Despite playing so far below its established standards, the Gamecock defense still had a chance to secure a win with just one stop on a fourth down with 10 to go. Linebacker Rodriques Wilson said he loved ♦ Please see DEFENSE, page 10