The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, October 13, 2004, Page 10, Image 10
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I GAME SCHEDULE
pa(r„ 1 n I MEN’S SOCCER vs. Charlotte, 7 p.m.
rage iu VOLLEYBALL at Alabama, 7 p.m. Friday
Wednesday, October 13, 2004 _ WOMEN’S SOCCER vs. Mississippi, 7 p.m. Friday
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USC sets sights on Wildcats
■ Kentucky aims for
first SEC win against
favored Gamecocks
By TODD GREEN
THE GAMECOCK
Coming off a heartbreaking, last
minute defeat at the hands of the Ole
Miss Rebels, the Gamecocks must
rebound against Kentucky (1-4, 0-2
SEC) to keep hopes alive for a winning
record and a spot in a postseason bowl
game.
Kentucky has given all appearances of
being the perfect candidate to help USC
get back to its winning ways. The
Wildcats were held scoreless in their
season opener against Louisville, losing
28-0. Kentucky even lost to one of the
worst Division I football teams in
America — Ohio, 28-16.
The Cats lost their top receiving
threat, Keenan Burton, for the year in
the third game when he suffered a knee
injury. Kentucky is reeling from the
scholarship restrictions brought on by
the NCAA due to the violations that
occurred during the Hal Mumme era.
Kentucky began the year with 73 players
on scholarship, the lowest of any SEC
team.
The Gamecocks’ problem is that they
will face a Kentucky team the experts
think has the same prospects of beating
them — slim — as Ole Miss did last
week. Ole Miss had struggled to beat a
lackluster Arkansas State team, and had
earlier lost to perennial loser Wyoming.
Mississippi was a 17-point underdog
coming in to Columbia but somehow
managed to play like a team loaded with
All-Americans.
USC head coach Lou Holtz and staff
now face the challenge of getting their
players to rebound from a heartbreaking
loss, while also reminding them that if
they do not execute and play disciplined
football, they face a real possibility of
losing to a team that has no business
beating them.
“I’m not worried about the players
bouncing back, because young people
are resilient,” Holtz said. “For the first
time I think we all understand, I’m
talking about players, that you win close
games because you do little things the
right way.”
For the second-straight week,
Dondrial Pinkins is expected to be
sidelined by the shoulder injury he
suffered against Georgia. Sophomore
Syvelle Newton will again be called
upon to lead the Gamecock offense.
Holtz said he was confident in Newton’s
ability to move the ball down the field.
“I just think Syvelle Newton is
playing so well right now and doing so
many things,” Holtz said in his Monday
news conference. “He can improvise and
make plays.”
Newton will be lining up against a
defense that returned eight starters from
last year. The Cats’ defense is anchored
by defensive end Vincent “Sweat Pea”
Burns, who made the Bronkp Nagurski
Trophy Watch List, which names
nominees for the annual award given to
the nation’s top defensive player.
One of the keys to this game will be
how well the USC offense can capitalize
in the red zone. Kentucky is ranked first
in the SEC in red-zone defense. Look for
Demetris Summers to get more carries.
The success of the USC offense might
depend on Summers’ response to the
increased workload.
Last week, the USC defense struggled
in the first half against the Rebels. The
Gamecock defense played much better
in the second half but eventually gave up
the big play at the end — the go-ahead
touchdown pass to Ole Miss receiver Bill
Flowers in the closing minutes of the
fourth quarter. After playing superbly in
the first four games, the defense will be
trying to put its first bad game behind
them.
USC will seek to contain Kentucky
quarterback Shane Boyd, forcing him to
make poor decisions and bad throws.
The USC secondary is gearing up for the
challenge, and more interceptions could
be on the Kentucky horizon.
The Saturday night game will be
Kentucky’s Homecoming. It wall also
mark the first time this year that USC
will be playing in cold weather, with
temperatures expected to dip into the
low 40s or upper 30s later in the night.
Hopefully the Gamecocks’ play on the
field can heat things up.
USC travels to Lexington, Ky., on
Saturday for a 7 p.m. kickoff against the
Wildcats.
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CHARLIE DAVENPORT/THE GAMECOCK
Sophomore quarterback Syvelle Newton eludes an Ole Miss defender in the'second half of Saturday’s
game. Newton will make his second career SEC start in place of injured senior Dondrial Pinkins.
Cats turn to
real-life ‘Radio’
for inspiration
By JEFF PATTERSON
THE KENTUCKY KERNEL
UNIVERSITY OF KENTUCKY
Forget about running out on the
held.
James “Radio” Kennedy really
wanted to eat with the UK football
team.
“He’s a big eater,” UK receivers
coach Joker Phillips said.
Kennedy, the subject of the Cuba
Gooding Jr. movie “Radio,” ate eggs,
bacon and pancakes before UK’s
game Saturday against Alabama.
Then, clutching freshman running
back Rafael Little’s hand, he led the
team out on the field.
“He’s never experienced anything
like that, coming out with somebody
.— hand in hand,” Little said.
Kennedy, who has been a fixture
at T.L. Hanna High School in
Anderson for more than 40 years,
became a celebrity after a movie
about his life debuted in 2003.
While lighting up the T.L.
Hanna scoreboard, Little became
friends with the lovable football
assistant.
\Y/k»« Dk;ii;»«. ~.k«»
Anderson running back in February,
he went to lunch with Little and
Kennedy. They discussed the
possibility of Kennedy visiting
Commonwealth Stadium and
running out on the field with the
Cats.
“That’s something that he has
always wanted to do,” Phillips said.
However, Kennedy didn’t roam
the sidelines like he does at T.L.
Hanna. Instead, he sat in a booth up
in the press box.
“He said the next time he comes,
he doesn’t want to go to the (press)
box. He wants to stay down with
me,” Phillips said. “I think I’ve got
him sold on this place.”
GET THE DUCT TAPE
After UK’s offense struggled to
gain only 177 yards in its 45-17 loss
Saturday to Alabama, senior
quarterback Shane Boyd looked for
answers.
He hoped to find them in the
movie “Friday Night Lights.”
Before watching the movie
Saturday night: “I’m going to see if
there are any plays we can use,”
Boyd said.
And on Monday, apparendy he
didn’t like what he saw.
“I don’t think it was all they
hyped it up to be,” Boyd said. “It
seemed like a gloomy-type movie.
“Football is supposed to be fun
— that didn’t seem like a fun movie,
seemed like there was too much ^
trouble going on. “
The relationship between one of
the running backs and his father
(played by Tim McGraw) was
concerning.
After the son had trouble holding
on to the football, the father duct
taped his son’s hands to a football.
Boyd and redshirt freshman
quarterback Andre Woodson better
watch out and hope none of their
coaches have seen this movie.
Boyd fumbled once against
Bama. Woodson fumbled twice.
It might serve as a good strategy
for the UK coaching staff to act that
scene out.
“Me and Dre had three fumbles,
so we might have to do that to hold
on to the ball,” Boyd joked.
UK head coach Rich Brooks
doesn’t plan to go McGraw on his
quarterbacks to stress ball security.
He has a much simpler plan.
“I’m going to tell them not to
fumble,” Brooks said.
BLOCK PARTY
With Lonnell Dewait’s blocked
field goal in the first quarter against
Alabama, UK now has blocked a kick
in each of its five games this season.
Dewalt, a 6-foot-6-inch freshman
receiver, has five of them. Junior
linebacker Raymond Fontaine
blocked an extra point against
Indiana.
“I’ve never been around anything
like it,” Brooks said.
While the credit has gone to
Dewalt and Fontaine, the push from
linemen Vincent Burns, Trey
Mielsch, Ricky Abren and Jason
Leger sets it all up.
With basketball season starting
this weekend, Dewalt, who plans to
walk on to that team, will have other
things on his mind than Friday
night’s Big Blue Madness.
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Holtz says Summers will carry heavier load
■ Sophomore back
to get more carries,
possibly return punts
By STEPHEN FASTENAU
STAFF WRITER
From the way USC head coach Lou
Holtz is talking, the Kentucky Wildcats
should be fed a healthy portion of “Meat”
come Saturday.
Holtz held a Sunday practice for the
first time this season to help his team
bounce back from a close loss to
Mississippi the day before. In Monday’s
news conference, Holtz said that
tailback Demetris Summers would
definitely get more carries in Lexington
this weekend.
We have to get (Summers) going,
Holtz said. “He’s got to get in the game,
he’s got to stay in the game, he’s got to
run the ball.”
Staying in the game has been the
problem for Summers. After a solid
performance at Vanderbilt, Summers
went down with a high ankle sprain after
just two carries against Georgia. The
injury kept the sophomore out of the next
two games against South Florida and
Troy.
In his first game back from the
injury, Summers carried 15 times for 61
yards against Alabama. Summers scored
his first touchdown of the season
Saturday against Ole Miss, rushing 12
times for 43 yards. Holtz said he wants
to see more of the same .from his
tailback, saying he would like for
Summers to have at least 25 ci^ries a
game to complete an offense that, has
produced effectively at the quarterback
and receiver positions.
“To do that, he’s got to keep that
ankle healthy,” Holtz said. “He’s got to
practice hard ... and he’s got to want 25
carries (a game).”
“Our receivers are being productive.
Our quarterbacks are being productive,”
Holtz said. “We have to get the running
back ultra-productive. Then I think we’ll
be approaching the type of offense we
really and truly want.”
Holtz said that Cory Boyd needs to
take on a larger role after having only one
carry for 5 yards against Ole Miss. Boyd
was the go-to back as both a runner and
receiver while bummers was injured.
“Cory Boyd is one fine football player,
and we try to get him on the field as
much as we can,” Holtz said. “We don’t
run an awful lot of two backs at the
present time, but when we do he should
carry the ball more.”
Summers will likely see more playing
time at a position other than in the
backfield. Noah Whiteside, while
productive as a receiver, has made several
questionable decisions while fielding
punts. Holtz said Summers would likely
get an ^opportunity as a punt returner
Saturday. Summers was the team’s
primary returner last season, returning
nine punts for an average of 12.7 yards as
a freshman.
“There’s some concern,” Holtz said. “I
don’t want to say anything negative.
Some jobs are very difficult to do. We’ll
give (Whiteside) help. We have to.”
Holtz said that ultimately, field
position was the bigger problem and
that the responsibility fell on the
running game. With the backs unable to
produce, Syvelle Newton was forced to
throw downfield repeatedly on third
down.
“We’re going to be in third-and-long a
lot if we don’t run the ball consistently,”
Holtz said.
Notes:
♦ Newton will get his second-straight
start against Kentucky, while Dondrial
Pinkins nurses a shoulder injury sustained
against Alabama. Holtz said Pinkins
would likely not play.
♦ Chris White will be the probable
starter for injured center John Strickland,
who suffered a broken finger in
Saturday’s game.
♦ Holtz noted that quarterback Blake
Mitchell would see playing time again
this week after leading a touchdown
drive against Ole Miss. Mitchell only
played two series in the game, which
Holtz said was because of his concern
about the strength of the Mississippi pass
rush. £
-?——-;
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CHARLIE DAVENPORT/THE GAMECOCK
Sophomore running tiack Demetris Summers blows past the*Ole Miss defense on his way to a 17-yard
touchdown run Saturday. The fourth quarter score was Summers’ first touchdown of the season.