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Wake haults late Clemson rally Keith Parsons THE ASSOCIATED PRESS WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. — Given another chance at quarterback, Cory Randolph made the most of it. The Wake Forest senior threw a 6-yard touchdown pass to Kevin Marion with 33 seconds left and the Demon Deacons rallied to hand Clemson another heartbreaking loss, 31-27 Saturday night. “We were going to take a shot at it,” Randolph said. “I just put it in a spot where only Kevin could get it.” The comeback wasn’t sealed until the final play, when Tigers wide receiver Curt Baham was stopped at the 3-yard line after a 27-yard gain just as time expired. The referees huddled briefly before agreeing that it was over, setting off a raucous celebration by the Demon Deacons (2-3, 1-1 Atlantic Coast Conference). They drove 66 yards in slightly less than 2 minutes for the winning score after Clemson coach Tommy Bowden called for a fake field goal instead of letting Jad Dean attempt a 44-yarder that would have put the Tigers up by six. The poorly executed play was stopped easily, and Wake Forest took over on its 34. “We probably should have called it off,” Bowden said. “But I was trying to make something happen to win the game.” Randolph was 5-for-6 on the final drive and finished 20-for 25 for 222 yards, and he threw for a total of three TDs in his first action at quarterback this season. Ht started 20 consecutive games there earlier in his career, but he was moved to wide receiver in the preseason when Ben Mauk won the starting job. After a 1-3 start, coach Jim Grobe decided to make some changes, and Randolph played every snap against the Tigers. “It was a great game by 10 other guys on the field,” Randolph said. “Those guys really came together and got a good victory when we needed a victory.” The loss was the third in a row for Clemson (2-3, 1-3), but at least this one didn’t go into overtime. After winning their opening two games by a total of five points, the Tigers lost in triple overtime to Miami and. in one extra period to Boston College. Charlie Whitehurst bounced back from a rough start to go 28-for-42 for 304 yards for the Tigers, and James Davis ran for his first two touchdowns of the season. They rallied from a 21 7 deficit to take a 27-21 lead on Dean’s 47-yard field goal late in the third quarter. Nick Esarcs/t\W. GAMECOCK Auburn tailback Kenny Irons scored two touchdowns against USC, his former team, in Saturday’s game at Jordan Hare Stadium. pnvBncK • conunuED prod) to people wrong about my size and my abilities.” “Travis was all over the field,” Auburn coach Tommy Tuberville said. “He’s getting better.” Williams getting better might be a scary thought for the rest of the SEC. In Saturday’s game, he made 11 tackles, forced a fumble and recorded half a sack against the school that said he was “too small.” After the game, Irons and Williams were all smiles, as Auburn moved to 4-1 and the Gamecocks dropped to 2-3. “We was thinking, we’ve only got one chance or one opportunity to prove something and just to say ‘I told you so,’” Williams said. “I think we made that statement today.” DEFENSIVE STRUGGLES CONTINUE As for Carolina’s defense, stopping not only Irons but anyone on the Auburn offense proved to be a task that it simply wasn’t able to do. When all was said and done, Auburn ran for 123 yards, and Tiger quarterback Brandon Cox completed 19-of-29 passes for 245 yards and a touchdown. Irons was credited for 67 of those yards, 40 receiving and 27 rushing. The first half saw Auburn finish five of its seven drives with points, including a 5-for-5 conversion rate inside the red zone, allowing Auburn to take a 31-0 lead at halftime. The lack of huge yardage was deceptive, however, as four of the first-half drives started at the 50-yard line or in USC territory. Cox didn’t look like a first year starter in the win, spreading the ball around to eight receivers in the first half alone, completing 15 of his 20 first-half passes. He didn’t throw an interception and hasn’t since his four-pick day in Auburn’s season-opening loss to Georgia Tech. A bevy of Tigers contributed on the receiving end, but Irons led the Tigers with four receptions for 40 yards. The second half brought nothing but more of the same in what seemed like a meaningless half of football. Granted, Auburn did score an additional 17 points. The 41-point loss replaced USC’s loss to Alabama as the worst of the season and marked the first time Spurrier has lost three consecutive SEC contests in his career. The loss was Spurrier’s worst since a 42 point loss to Tennessee in his first season at Florida. Comments on this story? E-mail gamecocksports@gwm.sc.edu I PLflTUIlC • COflTIflUED PR0IT110 in the number, but the quarterback called the wrong formation,” Spurrier said. “The second one, Kenny McKinley, didn’t go in. We gave a three wide receiver set, and he just didn’t go in.” The rest of the night was sheer confusion for the Gamecocks, as the offense had only five drives with more than five plays. Many offensive woes came from poor starting field position, as the average start of a USC drive was its own 21. In fact, the team never started a drive in Auburn territory and had only one drive that landed them past midfield. After an improved performance from the rushing game a week ago, USC’s running backs were back to their . old ways, managing a meager 28 yards on 70 rushes. “I don’t know if there was anything they were doing to slow down the run game,” fullback Daccus Turman said. “You know football1 games go Nick Barrs/THE GAMECOCK Quarterback Antonio Heffner gets ready to snap the ball Saturday. Heffner struggled, leading USC to only one touchdown. back and forth just like a heavyweight fight. It seemed like they had the upper hand on us tonight.” USC’s longest drive of the night came with the game well out of reach, as Heffner engineered a seven-play drive covering 81 yards. It also featured the longest play of the night, a 45-yard touchdown pass to Sidney Rice. The freshman wide receiver from Gaffney has scored a touchdown in every game he has played this year, totaling four scores in four games. Rice finished the night with three catches for 63 yards. “We were ready to play. They just had a good game,” Heffner said. “Things didn’t go our way today. It comes back on me as the quarterback, but we will move on.” USC’s offensive showing was its worst under Spurrier, as the team totaled 199 yards on 52 plays for an average of 3.8 yards per play. “It was a combination of a little bit of everything,” tackle Na’Shan Goddard said. “We were just missing things here and there, and the next thing you know, we’re back on the 10-yard line, and that put the defense in a bad position.” All that, coupled with a defense that couldn’t shut down the Auburn offensive onslaught, made it a long ride home for the Gamecocks. “We were overmatched all the way around in this game,” Spurrier said. “It wasn’t much of a ballgame, but that’s the way it happened.” Comments on this story? E-mail gamecocksports@gum. sc. eau f Volleyball remains unbeaten at home Carolina sweeps Ole Miss, MSU in weekend set IDiquel Jacobs STAFF WRITER Having played its last eight matches and 11 of its first 12 matches on the road, USC’s volleyball team returned to the Volleyball Competition Facility for the first time in 24 days. The result was a weekend sweep against Mississippi State and Ole Miss that* kept the Gamecocks (9-5) undefeated at home this season and evened Carolina’s SEC record to 2-2. “It was great to be back in our own gym and see our own fans,” junior Shonda Cole said. “It was awesome. I loved it.” With almost 400 fans welcoming the team back to Columbia, Carolina took Friday’s match against the Bulldogs in four games (30 19, 23-30, 30-27, 30-20) before returning Sunday to sweep the Rebels (30-26, 30 22, 30-26). Alter dropping last seasons conference home opener to Mississippi State in straight games, the Gamecocks managed to control the majority of the match this time, paced by junior Iris Santos’ double-double with 13 kills and 27 assists. Cole continued to play well for Carolina, hitting a 0.367 clip with 11 kills and.zero errors. “It was good (for the first SEC home game),” USC coach Nancy Somera said. “It’s always good to get that win. I’m more pleased with the fact that we did some things better in this match than we did last weekend.” The Gamecocks claimed game one, mostly because of a quick start, with the Bulldogs not recording a kill until they were well behind, 13-5. Carolina would stretch the lead as much as 12 points before claiming the game, 30-19. It was in the second game that Mississippi State (9-3) finally settled down. Carolina led 16-15 before a 6-point run helped the Bulldogs put the game away, 23-30. “Volleyball is such a game of momentum,” Somera said. “We’re the home crowd and they’re the visitors, and we played a really flawless game one. They made a lot of errors though, so . really they just settled down (after game one) and settled into their game a little bit.” Both teams relied on scoring rallies to keep the third and fourth games close, but the Gamecocks ended the third game (30-27) with a 9-2 rally before gaining the match with a 30-20 win in the final game. Ole Miss (6-10, 0-4 SEC) gave the Gamecocks a try Sunday, but the Rebels’ losing streak remained, as they have not defeated USC since 1992. Carolina excelled on the defensive front, recording 10 team blocks and 51 digs to Mississippi’s 30. “I thought it was one of our best offensive and defensive afternoons,” Somera said. “Defense really was the difference maker. We dug 21 more balls than they did. It wasn’t like we were digging balls and giving them free balls. We were dig, set and attacking them. Our transition game was really nice this afternoon.” Cole touted the team’s defense. “We’ve been working on our defense a lot,” Cole said. “It’s helping us in games. We want to be a ball control, defense-oriented (team). Tonight it really showed, because we had a lot more digs than we have been in the past. # i^TVl^UUV W11L& 11/ UkVVI against the Rebels, from the 30 combined digs of Sarah Morgan and Dinelia Concepcion to the balanced offensive attack between Cole (17 kills), Morgan (7 kills) and freshman Marija Milosevic (8 kills). Senior Lauren Ford turned in another solid performance, finishing the weekend with 20 kills while hitting 0.485. “We definitely have several options out there,” Somera said. “It’s nice for the setters to be able to base the distribution on what the opposing team is doing with their blocks and still have somebody put the ball away for you. It’s nice having offensive weapons, but it’s a combination of the ball control, the setting and the attackers that really makes up your offense.” wnue sweeping tne rceDeis and with Carolina at 2-2 in the conference heading into Friday’s match at Georgia, Somera is more concerned about the overall development of her team rather than what goes in the win-loss columns. Clearly the first-year coach is looking forward to returning the Gamecocks back to the SEC elite, where they were perennial NCAA Tournament participants until only three years ago. “Our plan as a staff was to not worry so much about the outcome and focus more on becoming a better team so that by midseason, we’re kind of hitting our stride and doing some really good things out there. I think we’re on track; we’re starting to do some things better. We’re starting to play this game at a higher level.” Comments on this story? E-mail gamecocksports@gwm.sc.edu BRoom • connnucD PRom io fan to do? It became apparent to me this morning that the Gamecocks are, in fact, going to play the remainder of the games left on the schedule. No matter how much the fans and students whine about coaching, complain about players and sit around feeling sorry for themselves, at least six more games have yet to be played. USC’s chances of making it to a bowl are in serious doubt. Right now it looks like they can’t score and they can’t stop anybody from scoring. So, I’d say things aren’t looking up. The choice is pretty clear. Things might not go as well as some people expected this year. Saturday might not have been the last time USC gets blown out this year. I will probably go to at least one more game I wish I never saw. But what am I supposed to do? Stop going? Stop watching? Stop caring? As unfortunate as it might seem, that isn’t an optipn for me. But USC still has plenty of games to play and, obviously, plenty of room for improvement. Maybe being a Carolina fan was my first bad football decision, but it’s a decision I’ve made. And I’m sticking to it.