Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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1 Interested in taking The Gamecock Challenge? If you can beat the editors, you’ll win a free Gamecock T-shirt. Send your picks to gamecocksports@gwm.sc.edu by 2 p.m. Thursday. We’ll select ONE person’s picks, at random, to be our Reader of the Week. This week’s games: 2 Oklahoma at 20 Oklahoma State Duke at Wake Forest Florida at 10 Georgia NC State at Clemson 20 Arizona State at 7 California Missouri at Nebraska Penn State at Ohio State Texas Tech at Kansas State Kentucky at Mississippi State 11 Tennessee at South Carolina ♦FOR TIE-BREAKING PURPOSES, PLEASE INCLUDE YOUR SCORE FOR THE USC TENNESSEE GAME. AND DON’T FORGET YOUR NAME! Bowden is no cock-eyed coaching optimist. He’s seen the worst his profession can dish out in his own family. He cut down his father Bobby’s charred image burned by upset West Virginia fans 30 years ago. He watched his brother Terry’s ugly ouster at Auburn in the late 1990s. And he lived through a week-by-week referendum last foil when his future employment seemed tied to the outcome of each of the last three regular-season games. “We’re paid to get immediate results,” Bowden said. “We live in a world that’s black and white. At the end of 60 minutes, there’s a score. At the end of 25 seconds you have to get a play in. We’re used to that environment.” Clemson could not capitalize on its late-year flourish this season. The team lost four games in a row and opened 1 - 4. The Tigers looked more like they did at the end of last year recently with back-to-back victories over Utah State and Maryland. Through it all, Phillips has stood behind Bowden and the contract extension. If Phillips had made the midseason move last year, Bowden’s not sure he would’ve done what Zook chose — coaching through the end of season. “We probably would’ve reached an agreement (to leave) that was best for “We’re paid to get immediate results... We’re used to that environment.” TOMMY BOWDEN CLEMSON HEAD FOOTBALL COACH both of us,” Bowden said. “It would’ve been very unusual, along with being very uncomfortable.” Eric Coleman, Clemson’s defensive end, feels for the Florida players. The Tigers were loyal to their coaches in 2003 much like the Gators have been so far to Zook and his assistants. “We had all the rumors the past couple of years,” Coleman said. “It had to be tough on them.” A coaching change, Phillips said, would have sent the message that Clemson was an unstable program. With Bowden in charge, the Tigers show consistency and leadership. Bowden said Clemson officials easily could have cut him loose. “Thank goodness our administration was a little more patient here than what theirs was,” he said. Comments on this story? E-mail ga7nec0cksports@gwm.sc. edu Men’s soccer team puts Furman, Duke in sights By BRIAN DAVIS THE GAMECOCK After a 1-2 record in its three-game road swing, thfc USC men’s soccer team will return to home action tonight at 7 p.m. against the Furman Paladins of the Southern Conference and a game Sunday against ACC competitor Duke. The Paladins are 4-8-1 and 1-5-0 in the Southern Conference and are on a four-game losing streak. All four games have been decided by a goal, and three went into extra sessions. The Paladins are looking for their first win in nearly a month after defeating Elon 1-0 in early October. The Paladins’ offense revolves around two co-leaders in freshman defender and midfielder Richard Jata and Eliot Paschalis, a freshman striker from England. The duo leads the team in points, seven, and goals, three. The defense is headed by senior goalkeeper Alex Maslow, who has three shutouts on the season. Gamecock sophomore goalkeeper Brad Guzan has a Jiigm auiamagi. uvv-i maaum in aavv, percentage at just over 82.4 percent, while Maslow stands at 81.9 percent. On the season, Maslow has allowed 15 goals, just 1.11 goals allowed per contest. On the season, the Paladins have been edged by their opponents in shots and goals, and the Gamecocks look to continue this trend. The Paladins average less than 1 goal per contest, while the Gamecocks average 1.62 per contest. The Gamecocks have outscored their opponents by six on the season and in shots by 12. With this in mind, the Gamecocks intend to attack the Paladins and put pressure on Maslow and the Paladin defense. Penalties have been a major Paladin fruit. Furman has been assessed 66 more penalties than USC> 284, while playing in one less game than the Gamecocks. With continued pressure, the Gamecocks look to create penalty shots from Paladin fouling. The Gamecocks are three-for-three in penalty kicks on the season. In their last four regular-season games, the Paladins will face tough teams in the Gamecocks and the I. " 1 1 NICK ESARESrTHE GAMECOCK Junior defender Eric Szeszycki, left, tries to steal the ball from a Clemson forward. Szeszycki scored in USC’s game against UNCW. v_,iemson 1 lgers ar nome. In the second game of their home stand, the Gamecocks will face fellow national power Duke. The Blue Devils are 13-3-0 on the season and 3-3-0 in the ACC. The Blue Devils had a magnificent start to the season, winning their first 11 games, climbing to No. 2 in the country and defeating then No. 1 Maryland. The Blue Devils lost their first game against new ACC opponent Virginia Tech, 1-0. Including this loss, the Blue Devils have lost three of their last five games just as the Gamecocks did, starting with their home defeat of rival Clemson. The Blue Devils’ last game was a loss to Virginia, 3-2 in overtime. They were out-shot 20-9. With both teams only having a few games remaining before postseason play, a win would be extremely neiprui, especially ror me Gamecocks as they plan to return to the NCAA Tournament this year. The Blue Devils are led by senior striker Nigi Adogwa of Trinidad who has five goals on the year, as well as junior midfielder and defender Danny Kramer, who has seven goals on the season. Defensively, the Blue Devils are led by experienced senior goalkeeper Justin Trowbridge. This will be the last away match of the regular season for the Blue Devils, who will return for one more home game against Wake Forest. The Gamecocks meanwhile will play in the Charleston Tournament, starting Nov. 5 against Coastal Carolina. Comments on this story? E-mail gamecockspojts@givm.se. edu ■" -——-i ■ BOWDEN Continued from page 14 protection — the university would have to pay $4 million this year or next if it wanted Bowden gone. Zook seemed competitive enough in his three seasons, Bowden said. Moreover, Bowden said Zook looked like he led his program the right way. Zook didn’t have the talent coming in to Florida, Bowden said, that Mark Richt had coming in to Georgia a few years back. A bigger issue, Bowden said, is Zook’s firing looks like another case of a coach’s job determined solely on wins and losses. | “I was under the impression that college presidents were going to take this in their hands and get it squared away,” Bowden said. “The priority is going to be education, the priority is going to be the total experience of the student athlete. Not to minimize the importance of winning, but make sure those things are priorities. “I’m surprised that based on what I thought we were supposed to be doing from college presidents, it looks again like a possible example of the tail wagging the dog,” he said. If you have any questions or comments about the Sports section, please e-mail Sports editor Jonathan Hillyard at Ngamecocksports@gwm.sc.edu. . 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