The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, September 16, 2005, Page B7, Image 15
IT’S NOT EASY BEING GREEN
Gators and Vo Is face off in crucial SEC East battle as season heats up
This week’s mind-boggling
headline comes from ESPN.com,
“Texas Tech safety to serve 30 days in
jail, miss games.” Vincent Meeks, the
player in question, apparently has a
strong, creative side of his personality
to go along with his penchant for
computer graphics.
Meeks, a second-year starter, was
arrested in 2003 for
trying to cash a $475
check he had made on
his computer. The
state of Texas, known
for its tough-on-crime
legal system, is
allowing Meeks to Todd
serve the jail term at his Green
own convenience, so as Graduate
not to fall behind in student in
school, as long as he sports and
. , entertainment
completes the term in management
the next six months.
Meeks remains a member of Texas
Tech’s team.
This past weekend’s slate of college
football games was thrilling, unless
you are a Big Ten fan. The “big three”
of the Big T<n — Michigan, Ohio
State and Iowa — lost to non
conference opponents. “Our goal is
when Vince Young leaves here, he
won’t be a candidate for the
Heisman,” said Ohio State linebacker
Bobby Carpenter to reporters in the
week leading up to the Texas game.
The linebackers certainly did their
part, limiting Young’s lethal
scrambling ability to 52 yards rushing
and punishing him with a fierce hit
every time he chose to run. Young,
however, won the game with his arm,
completing 18 of 29 passes for 279
yards and scoring two touchdowns.
The final touchdown was a 24-yarder
in the corner of the end zone that
gave the Longhorns the lead, with a
little more than two minutes left in
the game.
Young remains atop the list of
potential Heisman candidates.
Notre Dame embarrassed the
Michigan faithful in a 17-10 win in
Ann Arbor, Mich. Notre Dame won
the game with a gritty defense that
made the Michigan offense look
anemic. The Irish now have two wins
against quality opponents — both on
the road — in a year when many
prognosticators have said they might
lose at least four of their first five
games.
i iic marquee
matchup for week
three of college
football comes when
Tennessee travels to
Florida. Every year
these two teams
battle for supremacy
in the SEC East,
with the winner
looking down the
schedule to Georgia
as being their only
hurdle on their way
to a potential
invitation to the
SEC championship
game in Atlanta.
This rivalry lost a
little bit of its luster
during the Ron
Zook era but is
firmly back into the
epic category now
that Urban Meyer
has brought his
famous shotgun
spread-option
offense to Florida.
This is the game
that will prove
whether Meyers
offense will thrive in
a major conference
such as the SEC,
Graphic illustration by Laura-Joyce Gough/ WE GAMEdOdK
where defenses are bigger, stronger
and much faster.
Florida quarterback Chris Leak is
one of the great passers in all of
college football, but a collective groan
will be heard by Gator fans the first
time Leak runs an option keeper and
takes a hit from one of Tennessee’s
talented linebackers.
Tennessee heads to the Swamp after
announcing quarterback Rick
Clausen will be the Vols’ signal caller
after a lackluster performance by
sophomore Erik Ainge in the season
opener against UAB.
The most exciting player to watch
on the field is Tennessee’s defensive
lineman Jesse Mahelona. Mahelona,
from the “Big Island” in Hawaii, plays
with organized fanaticism. Leak will
rely on his offensive line to protect
him from Mahelona, and if they
don’t, Leak will be quite sore come
Monday morning.
The key matchup here will be the
teams’ running games. Thirteen of the
past 15 winners in this series have
out-rushed the other team. This is
much more than the two teams’
running backs — it’s about the big
nasties, the big men, the guys that
open those running lanes.
Nothing is more demeaning to a
team than to see its defensive line and
linebackers get manhandled by the
opponent’s offensive line all day long.
Prediction: Tennessee 34-Florida
33
The Miami Hurricanes head to
Death Valley this Saturday for a game
with the Clemson Tigers. Miami is
the more desperate team here, having
lost its opener to archrival Florida
State.
Clemson has looked impressive,
starting with two straight wins. In
defeating Miami last year, 24-17, the
Tigers were able to salvage their
season. This time, they control their
own destiny, and a win would propel
them to the top of the ACC’s Atlantic
division.
The biggest surprise this year has
been Clemson’s running game. The
tandem of talented freshman James
Davis and redshirt junior Reggie
Merriweather has led the Tigers to a
148.5 yards-per-game average. This
has provided a balance to an offense
lacking in years past.
I’ve picked Clemson to win the
past two weeks, and they have. Lest
anyone here at Carolina question my
loyalty, hey, all I can say is that I
would love to pick against the Tigers.
But since they have come through
«
-
'
Graphic illustration by Laura-joyce Gough/THE GAMECOCK
for me twice in the past two weeks, as
Roy McAvoy said in the movie “Tin
Cup,” “You ride ‘er ‘till she bucks ya
or you don’t ride at all.”
Prediction: Clemsorf 21-Miami 14
Other notable games
Notre Dame vs Michigan State:
First home game for Charlie Weis and
the Irish.
Notre Dame 35-Michigan State 13
Florida State vs Boston College:
Seminoles head to Beantown to
welcome BC to the ACC.
Prediction: FSU 14-BC 10
Georgia Tech vs Connecticut: The
Yellow Jackets are riding high after
wins against Auburn and UNC.
Upset Special: UCONN 27
Georgia Tech 21
I was a paltry 3-2 on predictions
last week. Picking Southern Miss
against Alabama was a stretch, but
they were leading at the half.
Michigan really let me down last
weak. Still, a 9-2 overall record for the
season puts me ahead of most of the
so-called experts.
r~-;-"1
Read sports.
Alabama fans still living in denial,
USC secondary searches for stick em
Spurrier makes little
Shula look like rookie,
night games really suck
1. Do Alabama fans realize we
have won the past two games
against them?
Apparently not. Even after
going to their stadium last year
and beating them like they stole
something (20-3 is a blowout by
Lou Holtz standards), Tide fans
still give Carolina no respect.
Fine, thats cool, but listen:
You used to win 15 years ago,
but this is 2005. You aren’t
scaring anybody. You have a
very good defense, a mediocre
offense and a coaching staff
that couldn’t out-scheme my
intramural flag-football team.
Alabama is a decent SEC team,
but I’ve got news for you: You
aren’t as good as you think, the
Gamecocks aren’t as bad as you
think and nobody has had a
second thought about Alabama
I football since 1992.
Well, I know I feel better
now.
2. Will USCs running game
show up?
So far this season our
running game is ranked 111th
out of 116 Division I-A teams.
To say that the running game
has been unimpressive would
be like saying Ralph Friedgen
should cut back a little bit.
Blake Mitchell has impressed
me with his toughness, but if
we don’t get some sort of
ijunning game goiijg to slow
down the pass rush, he is going
to pull a Patrick Ramsey and
get clotheslined at the 50-yard
line. This could end badly, so
don’t say I didn’t warn you.
3. How many interceptions
will USC’s secondary drop this
weekend?
If the object of football was
to almost catch the other team’s
passes, but then somehow not,
I’d be booking my flight to the
Rose Bowl as we speak.
I don’t mean to complain too
much because obviously
breaking up a pass is much better
than allowing a completion, but
if the USC secondary would
have caught all the passes that hit
_ _t_
to get a schedule of nothing but
night games?
These 3:30 p.m. kickoffs for
football games in the South kill
me. There isn’t enough time to
properly tailgate, traffic is worse
because everybody is trying to
arrive in about a four-hour
window instead of all day long,
and if I wanted to be packed in
between a bunch of sweaty
dudes all day I would have gone
to the Citadel.
5. What is the biggest
mismatch of the game?
The biggest mismatch by far
is Steve Spurrier versus Mike
Shula, Alabama’s coach. Mike
Shula is to SEC coaches what
C_
UV.1V1U1VV.
backs in the
hands, they’d
still be putting
points on the
scoreboard in
Athens.
Because
Alabama
quarterback
Brodie CroyR
has roughly the
same top speed
as that kid with
the iPod that
a.j
luith Jahe Broom
Third-year political science
student
ALABAMA
was to the
Spice Girls.
Sure he’s there,
but he’s
nobody’s first
choice.
Mike Shula
is only a coach
in the SEC
because Mike
DuBose and
Dennis
Franchione
resigned
always chases the yellow shuttle
in front of Gambrell, we wont
have to worry about him running
like we did against Georgia.
Hopefully, this will mean
Carolina’s defense can take a few
more risks and create a few more
turnovers.
4. What’s it got fig to take for us
because Alabama kept getting
caught cheating, and Mike
Price was fired before he even
coached a game.
Any time you get hired
because the guy before you was
caught taking three topless
8R00IR#B4
In Brief
USC, Clemson game moved
to Thanksgiving weekend
USC and Clemson officials
reached an agreement this
week to begin playing the
annual in-state rivalry game on
the weekend following the
Thanksgiving holiday,
effective next year.
“This move was predicated
on the addition of the 12th
game to the schedule,” USC
Athletics Director Eric Hyman
said. “Both schools agreed it
was best to play the rivalry
game on the final weekend to
conclude the regular season.”
The Gamecocks and Tigers
have met 102 times on the
gridiron, with consecutive
meetings since 1909. The
teams have played on the third
Saturday in November for the
past 20 years. Originally, the
i
game was played in Columbia
during what became known as
Big Thursday, part of State
Fair festivities. USC and
Clemson began the home
and-home series in 1959.
Clemson holds the lead in the
all-time series with a 62-36-4
record.
—Alex Rile^'
-I
GAMECOCK CHALLENGE
THE CHALLENGE: Every week,
The Gamecock’s readers and
staff test their sports knowledge
with game predictions.
Mississippi at Vanderbilt
Wisconsin at North Carolina
8 Florida St at 17 BC
5 Tennessee at 6 Florida
12 Miami at 20 Clemson
Mississippi StatTulane_
Arkansas at 1 Southern Cal
Michigan St at 10 Notre Dame
Illinois at 15 California
Alabama at South Carolina
Jonathan
Hillyard
Sports
editor
(8-2)
Vandy
UNC ~~
BC ~
UF
Miami
Miss St
SCal
Mich St
Cai
use
35-7
Alex
Riley
Asst. Sports
editor
(5-5)
Vandy
Wis
BC
UF
Clemson
Miss St
SCal _
_ND
Cal
use
31-10
Stephen
Fastenau
News
editor
(7-3)
Vandy
Wis
FSU
UT
Miami
Miss St
S Cal
ND
Cal
use
24-4
Michael
LaForgia
Editor in
chief
(5-5)
Miss
Wis
FSU
UF
Miami
Miss St_
SCal
ND
Cal
use
21-14
Steven
Van Haren
Copy desk
chief
(6-4)
Vandy
Wis
FSU
UF
Miami
Miss St_
SCal
ND
Cal _
use
21-10
Ben
McMillan
Reader of
the week
(6-4)
Vandy
Wis
FSU
UT
Miami
Miss St
SCal
IMP
Illinois
use
21-14
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