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Little things haunt USC Brown’s missed field goal, Turman’s penalty squelch team’s chances “Josh is a good kicker; he just happened to hit the upright.” That is how Steve Spurrier ( described the missed extra point in the second quarter that might have been the Ja(,e difference BfOOm between winning T,. , and losing pJ^/JT Saturday night in science Athens. That’s student the difference between good teams and great teams — the little things. Just a couple inches on a missed extra point and a couple inches on an illegal motion penalty that erased a touchdown pass, and I’m going into full fledged “this could be the year” mode. But even though the Gamecocks didn’t come out of Athens with a win, I feel a lot better about the rest of our year. One of the more ( encouraging aspects of Saturday’s game was the emergence of even more young players making big plays. True freshman Kenny McKinley made a great catch down the sideline on a broken play. True freshman Jonathan Hannah made a great catch on a big play after starting tight end Andy Boyd went out with an injury. True freshman Carlos Thomas had a big interception in the end zone to keep the Gamecocks up at the half. True freshman Mike Davis had a couple tough runs where he refused to go down. And although he is the old man in the group being a redshirt freshman,. Sidney Rice played like a young Randy Moss, only with fewer felonies. Of Blake Mitchell’s 22 completed passes, eight of them were to freshmen. A lot of so-called experts say that if freshmen are the ones making the majority of your big plays, it only shows a lack of depth. Those are also the same people who said Georgia was going to blow us out. Don’t listen to them. To me, if freshmen are the ones making the majority of your big plays, it can be a good thing. McKinley, Hannah, Thomas, Davis and Rice all have one thing in common: They all have a lot of time ahead of them to make a lot more big plays for Carolina. Even though I went to sleep thinking of all the little things we could have done better to come out with a win, I woke up thinking of all the little things we did right, things we never used to do in big games. The receivers ran 6-yard routes on third-and-5 (and the coaches called plays that required that). The running backs held onto the ball with both hands during contact. The young players made plays like veterans. The defensive backs broke on the ball aggressively but had no pass interference penalties. The cheerleaders decided to wear their black uniforms (great choice). I could go on forever. Many people will come out of this week saying we could have won if it wasn’t for the little things, but I don’t think it would have been a very close game without them. It is a little more encouraging to hear “man, if only we would have done a few more little things right” instead of “man, if only we wouldn’t have gotten blown out by 48 points.” We are not to the point where the little things don’t cost us games; they did, but we are to the point where the little things — catching passes we’re supposed to catch, not fumbling the ball, making blocks on an interception return — keep us in games. Although we didn’t leave Athens with a win, we did leave with a renewed sense of confidence and the reassurance that we can play with anybody in the country and have a chance to win at the end. Thanks to the little things. Volleyball improves to 6-1 fflatt ffloore FOR THE GAMECOCK Gamecock volleyball is rolling early in the season, as Carolina won two of three matches this weekend in Chapel Hill, N.C. USC’s volleyball team took a 4-0 record into the GlaxoSmithKline Classic in Chapel Hill, N.C. on Friday night. The Gamecocks were set to face Coastal Carolina on Friday followed by a Saturday doubleheader against Purdue and North Carolina. USC kept its undefeated record intact against the Chanticleers of Coastal Carolina in the first round of the tournament. The Gamecocks dominated the 3-0 victory. USC recorded 16 kills in game one, combined with only four errors, giving them a .387 attack percentage. Coastal Carolina did not seem to have it together, recording seven errors with an attack percentage of only .088. The Gamecocks jumped out to a 9-1 lead early, which was quickly pulled to 15. CCU pulled within a 24-19 margin before USC scored six straight points to win the game. With a 29-18 lead, the Gamecocks held off a small 6 point run to take the second I game 30-24. Shonda Cole ended the run with one of the Gamecocks’ 17 kills. USC won the final game 30 18 to take the match. The Gamecocks extended their win streak against Coastal Carolina to seven games. Cole led the team with 12 kills and recorded a career-high .524 attack percentage. USC (5-0) appeared to pick up right where it left off with Purdue (7-0), pulling out to 10 4 lead in game one of the match. The Boilermakers used a 9-2 I run to pull ahead 17-16 and eventually defeated the Gamecocks, 30-24. Play for USC looked somewhat inconsistent with 14 kills but nine errors. Game two was much of the same story as the Gamecocks jumped out to a quick 9-6 lead behind Nicole Miller with two kills. A block by Iris Santos propelled USC into the lead later in the game, 23-22, but Purdue tallied 6 of the last 7 points to take a 2-0 lead in the match after a 30-25 lead. The Boilermakers proved to be the power in the third and final game, winning 30-12. The Gamecocks had nine errors and recorded only seven kills hitting -0.091. Seeming to pick up where they left of yet again, the Gamecocks dropped game one against the Tar Heels, 24-30. USC bounced back in game two, holing the Tar Heels to 0.098 hitting. With game two tied at 21-21, the Gamecocks took advantage of UNC errors, pulling into a 29-26 lead. USC won the game on incredible effort on block assists by Cole and Belita Salters. The 30-26 victory tied the match at 1-1. UNC led the third game 28 26 and looked to take a 2-1 lead in the match, but the Gamecocks tied it at 28-28 after two Tar Heel errors. Sarah Morgan gave the Gamecocks the lead with a kill, but the match was tied on a USC service error. A kill by Cole combined with an error by UNC’s McKenzie Byrd gave USC the 2-1 lead and control of the match. More errors put the Tar Heels down 27-25 in game four. North Carolina’s last-gasp effort failed as an error by Camilla Ihenetu of the Tar Heels followed a Shonda Cole kill, giving the Gamecocks the game 30-27 and the match against the home team, 3-1. Comments on this story? E-mail gamecocksports@gwm.sc.edu --'lOfVm I,mm„ . t 1 c i • . All ri i First Quarter Sidney Rice's Third Quarter Fourth Quarter 1:18 rS&rSgffi 0:35 Zi^ZT 5:15 ; ^ leading to a Josh opportunity to extend Brown field goal. their drive. Ko Simpson drops a Kicker Ryan Succop Georgia converts a possible interception, misses a 47-yard third and 22 to keep allowing Georgia to field goal that would the ball away from continue their drive Second Quarter have given Carolina Fourth Quarter the USC offense, and score early in the Q' 1 f) a 12-10 lead. C.OO UGA would run four second quarter. ^a» _Ja^eO additional minutes Time refleett amount of time left in quarter. ^ dock. Graphic Illustration by Laura-Joyce Gough/THE GAMECOCK loss • connnueo froih 10 Kicker Ryan Succop would also miss on a 47-yard field goal attempt, but USC had several chances to rectify special teams struggles. But missed opportunities began to pile up, ultimately costing USC another chance at upsetting a top-10 opponent. The Carolina secondary largely shut down the Bulldogs’ passing game, holding Georgia quarterback D.J. Shockley to only 112 yards through the air. Despite tallying two interceptions, a few additional Shockley passes went in and out of the hands of Gamecock defenders. Preseason All-American Ko Simpson saw two passes slip through his hands in the first and third quarters and also tipped the pass that led to Joseph’s touchdown. “I’m just running before I’ve got it in my hands,” Simpson said. “I’m just trying to score. Next time I’ve got to catch it first.” Again, in the fourth quarter, junior college transfer Brandon Isaac stepped in front of a Shockley pass only to see the ball bounce away from him in a harmless incompletion. In what might have been the nail in USC’s coffin, Georgia found itself backed up on its "own 8-yard-line in a third-and 22 situation. With more than five minutes to play, a stop would have given Spurrier and his offense an abundance of time and most likely good field possession, but it was not to be as Shockley found UGA receiver Bryan McClendon for a 27-yard-gain and a first down that would allow the Bulldogs to eat nearly four more minutes off the clock. The Gamecock offense was hot faultless in jhe loss, as a second quarter touchdown pass from quarterback Blake Mitchell to receiver Sidney Rice was called back for an illegal shift. Senior running back Turman was ruled to have not completely stopped after going to the left side in motion. The cliche of “good teams make plays when plays need to be made” was painfully evident for Carolina on Saturday. While USC fans have no shortage of what ifs to point to, Spurrier and his team are not embracing that philosophy. “We can’t dwell on the past,” Rice said. “This game’s gone. We’ll never get it back. We just have to look toward the future.” Comments on this story? E-mail gamecocksports@gum.sc.edu DRUIGS • CORTIRUED FROIR 10 armed touchdown pass to Rice under heavy pressure. The Gamecocks were forced to go for the 2-point conversion to tie the game, but an overthrow to Rice from Mitchell would leave USC 2 points short, 17-15. The Bulldogs put a dagger through the heart of a USC comeback as Shockley completed a pass to McClendon on a third-and 22 that would eat more than five minutes of clock. When USC finally got the ball with 1:11 remaining, Mitchell couldn’t squeeze a pass between tight Bulldog coverage as two incompletions and a 9-yard sack would put the Gamecock offense in a fourth-and-19. A quick toss to Kris Clark, who would flip the ball to Rice, didn’t gain the needed yardage, ending the game and USC’s chance of an upset. “We didn’t come in here to prove anything; we knew we could do it all along and we just fought it out all the way to the end, and we came up on the bad end of the stick,” Joseph said. “I really don’t think about it as a moral victory. We played hard and just came up short.” Comments on this story? E-mail gamecocksports@gwm.sc.edu SEPTEMBER If 11:00 AM - 2=00 PM GREE||E SIRfcEl, OUTSIDE RUSSELL HOUSE RAIN LOCATION : RUSSELL HOUSE BALLROOM _wwmgcauiigp Rl&QdffGXi? SEPTEMBER 12 - 15TH GREENE STREET, l|| FRONT OF PRESTON COLLEGE THANKS FOR ALL the HELP! registration is now closed. k_-A * _I _,_____ _ _¥_t _._. ___ „__ _ ^ ___; ,_ . . _