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Spurrier would be post-Holtz wonderboy ■ If Lou steps down, evil genius would get Gamecocks winning Have you heard the rumors? They started a couple months back as murmurs, barely audible over the talk of conference championships and bowl games and quarterback controversies. Now that the dreams of a conference championship have vanished, a bowl game is a virtual lock, and injuries, not talent, have ,-, decided who will run the offense, the speculation surrounding the Gamecock football team focuses on one issue: Who L_ _i_ JOEL head coach at WALLACE USC next season? nFrH-TCAR Everyone PRINT 7 JOURNALISM seems to dnnk STUDENT the elder Holtz will step down after the season, and with good reason. His comments over the year do nothing to quell that conjecture, and what better way for the legendary coach to ride off into the sunset after it appears he has finally finished what he set out to accomplish when he took the job in 1999: He has made USC a respectable program. One would expect fans to be a bit reluctant to let Lou go, but that doesn’t appear to be the case. The reason why? Steve Spurrier. There isn’t a single person out there better suited to continue what Lou started. Everything to this point has fallen into place just the way it needs to if the Superior One ends up being the next head coach. Everyone thought he would go back to Florida, but he didn’t. Then they figured he’d take the head job with the Dolphins after Dave Wannstedt’s departure, but the Dolphins have said they have no intentions of even talking to Spurrier. The only legitimate contender for the Of Ball Coach’s services is North Carolina. But after the Tar Heels upset Miami, it looks like Bunting’s job is safe for another year. That leaves us as a leading candidate for the man with the visor. I hope we hire Spurrier. I hope we get him into Augusta National, and I hope we throw so much money at him he can’t say no. It has been my opinion that in Lou’s tenure here at USC, we have improved dramatically in terms of our talent pool. I just don’t think our players always have the confidence necessary to contend week in and week out with the big boys in the SEC. So if it’s confidence we need, who better than Spurrier? Look up “arrogant” in the dictionary, and Spurrier’s picture should be there. His coaching style is completely different from Holtz’s. While Holtz is busy talking up his opponents week in and week out, Spurrier is either still gloating over last week’s game or he’s thinking of new ways to run up the score in the next one. That’s exactly the type of man we need to bring us to the next level, where we expect to beat Georgia and Tennessee and Florida every year instead of just being happy that we kept up with them for the first half. Bring on Spurrier. Bring on the visor. Bring on the temper tantrums. Most importantly, bring on some championships. IS-MTSF-:-n-1 If you are interested in writing for the Gamecock Sports section, please e-mail gamecocksports @gwm.sc.edu ■ NEWTON Continued from page 12 looked less than stellar this season. Georgia quarterback David Greene threw for three touchdowns against Florida, and Mississippi State rolled up 38 points in its win over the Gators. Other than the 80,000 screaming Gator fans and a tender ankle, Newton will have to guard against thinking ahead to next week’s showdown at Clemson. “I don’t particularly like playing on Saturday night,” Holtz said. “You get ■ ■ MOMENTUM Continued from page 12 Florida’s passing game has always been enough to stress out any opposing team’s defensive coordinator. This year, however, the Gamecock defensive staff will have much more to worry about. Gator running back Ciatrick Fason leads the SEC in rushing and all purpose yards. “He is a great back, a tremendous back,” Holtz said. ■ BASKETBALL Continued from page 12 including a 1-7 stretch midway through the half. But Rocky Trice showed a flash of brilliance and ended the shooting drought as he elevated for a long-armed dunk that seemed to be the exclamation point of the night. “Obviously, we’ve got a lot of work to do,” USC head coach Dave Odom said. “The good news is we have plenty of time to do it, and we will get it done.” USC managed to shoot a respectable 50 percent from the floor (26-52) and went 5-12 from three-point range. But the most impressive stats were Carolina’s 24-29 from the free-throw line, 37 total rebounds and five blocks on the night. The downside was Carolina’s 23 home about three in the morning and have a lot of preparation to do the following week (for Clemson). I don’t need to elaborate on that.” Holtz’s main goal is to make sure the crowd does not affect the team’s play, especially his quarterback. “Florida really feeds off the Swamp,” Holtz said. “I’ve never seen a place where the momentum shifts so much. When they get the momentum, somebody’s got to step up and make a play for us.” Comments on this story? E-mail gamecocksports@gwm.sc. edu USC quarterback Dondrial Pinkins will again be sidelined due to injury, and sophomore quarterback Syvelle Newton will be called upon to captain the Gamecock offense. USC would appear to have the momentum heading into the match-up at the Swamp, but Florida does have a bit of momentum in the head-to-head series: the Gamecocks have not defeated the Gators since 1939. Comments on this stoiy? E-mail gamecocksports@gwm.sc. edu turnovers. “Not a real impressive performance,” Odom said. “We will build upon it for sure. We’ve got to work on executing our plays a little better. We came out so pumped up that we forgot our basics.” “We have a lot of things to improve on,” Powell said. “We’ve got to pick it up and play with more intensity.” Powell, the most vocal leader on the squad, led the USC offensive charge with 21 points on 7-13 shooting and a perfect 6-6 on the free-throw line. Kinsey followed Powell with 18 points, while Gonner added 15. The Gamecocks will take nearly two weeks off before hosting Western Carolina in the season opener, Nov. 21. Comments on this stoiy ? E-mail gamecockspoits@gwm.se. edu "BLACK MAGIC/BELIEVE" »OVWL BOl/A'/J/ QOCOCKSI BEAT CLEM SON!/ Show your team support By wearing a BLACK ^ SILICONE Bracelet! ~ _Buy 10 and get t FREEl Buy 20 get 4 FREE! (Onlint sale only/) IAIso available at: SC Bookstorey Carolina's Spirit Shop, WG's- Blythe wood, I _Addams Bookstore, Gamecock Stopy Piggly Wiggly-Forest DriveI Cancun, Acapulco, Jamaica & more! HTRAVEL CUTS 1 -800-592-CUTS (2887) See the world your way Call or book online! .14 .2 noon 'til 5pm Bring us your used clothing, skis, snowboards or in-line skates Fri. 11/12orSot., 11/13 from 9am-12. We'll sell them for you and give you 100% of your proceeds in credit at Jeff Price! ALL SKIS & SNOWBOARDS up to 40 4 off retol AIRWALK SNOWBOARD BOOTS $50 value to $180 KIDS SNOWBOARD PKG. (Includes board, binding, and boots!) $1 9995reg. ®300 TECHNICA SKI BOOTS 50% off LADIES FERA in-the-boot BIB $4995reg. $139,95 ADULT SNOWBOARD PKG. (Includes board, binding, and boots!) S34995reg.S730 LADIES STRETCH PANTS 5p S1 995values to $199 GROUP OF TENNIS SKIRTS $2’5 . INLINE SKATES _$2995(values to $90) ROLLERBLADE ALL PROTECTIVE GEAR $5 ea. I I_I If you have any questions or comments about the Sports section, please e-mail Sports editor Jonathan Hillyard at gamecocksports@gwm.sc.edu. 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: 12 FSU at NC State 21 Boston College at 10 West Virginia 19 Iowa at Minnesota 4 Wisconsin at Michigan State 5 Georgia at 3 Auburn 17 Miami at 11 Virginia 25 Texas Tech at 23 Texas A&M Alabama at 15 LSU North Carolina at Wake Forest USC at Florida ♦ FOR TIE-BREAKING PURPOSES, PLEASE INCLUDE YOUR SCORE FOR THE USC FLORIDA GAME. AND DON'T FORGET YOUR NAME! 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