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THi^fAMEGOCK SPORTS Page 10 fN/ ... M _A— V_ - M-. Monday, Sept. 19,2005 SOUTH gAROLINA (1-2) 14 — NO. 2oSfeLABAMA (3-0) 37 Reality check Jmm JKw/THE (JAMBCOCK Alabama receiver Keith Brown sprints past USC defenders on his way to scoring a touchdown. Brown scored twice for Alabama on Saturday. Gamecock defense fails to shut down Tides running attack fllex Riley ASSISTANT SPORTS EDITOR “Offensively, we were terrible.” “They were able to run. We were not.” “I’m frustrated, but not shocked. All you got to do is look at the stats. They could have beat us 50-0.” Those phrases escaped the lips of USC (1-2) coach Steve Spurrier after Saturday’s 37-14 loss to Alabama (3-0) as he tried to put his most lopsided collegiate loss since 1999, a 34-7 loss in the SEC championship game against the Crimson Tide, into perspective. “We’ve got to find a way to break even,” Spurrier said. “We’ve got to do some different things.” The Tide set the tempo early and often, scoring on their first drive, one that covered 80 yards in a little more than four minutes. Alabama quarterback Brodie Croyle showed no ill effects of a surgically repaired ACL, scrambling 15 yards for a diving touchdown to put Alabama up 7-0. USC’s only rally of the day came on the ensuing drive as sophomore quarterback Blake Mitchell led the Gamecock offense down the field for a 1-yard touchdown run by Mike Davis, the first of Davis’ career and the first rushing score by a USC running back this season. That would be as close as the game would be the rest of the afternoon, as Alabama rolled up 489 total yards and 23 first downs en route to the win. The Tide took the lead back for good on the next drive with a 46-yard touchdown pass to Keith Brown from Croyle that would put Alabama up 14-7. Alabama scored on its first four possessions with two touchdowns followed by field goals of 41 and 29 yards, taking a 20-7 lead into the locker room for the half. That lead continued to grow, as USC’s comeback hopes continued to fade with the Tide scoring a 27-yard field goal to open the second half, followed by a Kenneth Darby 22-yard touchdown run. Darby spearheaded the Tide’s rushing attacking, racking up 145 yards on the ground to lead the team. The entire Alabama ground game showed great poise, rushing for 338 yards with an average of 6.5 yards per carry. TIDE • 9 Katie Kirkland/TUB HAM CHOCK USC quarterback Blake Mitchell barks out signals against Alabama on Saturday. -SffStat Lin&4^ Total yards by USC offense in first half Rushing yards by USC in the fame, the third straight week USC has failed to rush for 100 yards 9:35 Tijjjnec^p«^$ltetefi by USC^^first half 5 Number of fumbles by USC offense 338 Rushing yards for the Crimson Tide 4 Consecutive drives scored on to start Saturday's game 6.5 Average yards per carry by Alabama on Saturday 0 Turnovers commited by Alabama Graphic Illustration by Laura-Joyce Gough /THE GAMECOCK Minimal output leaves Cock ’ri Fire offense shooting blanks Jonathan Hillyard ' SPORTS EDITOR The Gamecocks’ lack of a rushing game finally caught up with them, as a ball-control oriented Alabama team controlled the clock. After the Crimson Tide marched down the field methodically on the first drive of the game, sophomore Blake Mitchell and Carolina’s offense marched right back down the field. Answering the Alabama touchdown was freshman running back Mike Davis, who punched the ball in on fourth-down-and-1 from the 1-yard line. The touchdown drive lasted 13 plays and covered 75 yards, reigniting the home crowd. “I thought it was gonna be a good battle,” senior tackle Na’Shan Goddard said. “We was looking good at first, but things just got out of hand and went the wrong way after that.” . t • I I . *1 i ncn u almost looKcvi me Alabama defense put a lock on the Gamecock offense. Carolina didn’t record another first down until the first drive of the second half. The team managed only 21 yards of offense in the first half after its initial drive. USC rushed only eight times for 25 yards in the first half, while throwing 15 passes and completing eight for 71 yards. The absence of senior tackle Jabari Levey did not seem to affect USC s pass protection; the offensive line only gave up two sacks in the loss. After a second half of what almost seemed to be meaningless football, the Gamecock offense had mustered up 256 yards of offense to Alabama’s 459. Again, USC failed to rush for 100 yards, tallying only 71 yards on the ground. Coming into Saturday’s contest, Carolina ranked dead last in the SEC in rushing, a stat that would not seem to be improving. “If you’re not controlling the line of scrimmage, it’s gonna be tough,” Spurrier said. “We’ve got to find a way to somehow break even.” Turnovers also plagued the Carolina offense at crucial times in Saturday’s game. The Gamecocks fumbled the ball five times during the contest, although they recovered four of them. Mitchell orrense • 9 www. dailygamecock. com Love affair put on hold after Bama rolls USC Blowout loss reveals truth that Gamecocks have room to improve You see a beautiful girl from across the room talking to one of her friends. You calmly make your way over while at the same time coming up with an excuse to talk to her. As you approach the final few feet, you take a deep breath, force a confident grin, make a deal with the devil iu uc sure you don’t stutter and tap her on _ the shoulder. Jahfi As she turns BpOOID around she Third-year seems to be in political slow motion, scterjce and for that audtnt quick second before you force out a few words, your worst fears have come true. She looks less like Kate Moss and more like Randy Moss. Imagine that feeling of pure terror and disappointment — the feeling of total betrayal by your senses and the sudden death of high expectations. If you stretch that exact feeling over a span of three hours and 21 minutes and sprinkle in a dash of heat stroke, you’ve got the recipe for my Saturday afternoon. Those loud noises you heard coming from Columbia on Saturday weren’t because Rosie O’Donnell was on a treadmill; those were the sounds of people leaping off the Carolina bandwagon. As good as Carolina looked playing step-for-step with a top-10 Georgia team in Athens, it looked twice as bad getting spanked by Alabama on our home field. USC, as a fan base, has a habit of expecting coaches to walk in here and perform miracles. If I had a dollar for every time some goober told me “we won six games last year with Holtz, so we’ll win at least nine with Spurrier,” we would have been watching the University of Jake Fighting Jakes on Saturday instead of the Gamecocks. And as much as it hurts to admit this, deep down I felt the same way. The fact of the matter is that although the Gamecocks did win six games last year, they did it during a schedule that was about as easy as it could have possibly been without us dropping out of the SEC. They don t have that schedule this year, and while USC might be improved, unfortunately so is almost everybody else. For the love of God, Vanderbilt is undefeated. Unfortunately for Carolina fans, when Steve Spurrier moved here, he forgot to pack his magic potion. It’s going to take time. We are going to take a few lumps during the coming years. We do still have the ability to win more games than we lose this year, but no matter what the T-shirts say, we won’t be running up the score on good teams any time BROOm • 9