Nov. 3, 2003

Weekly Football Release in PDF Format
Download Free Acrobat Reader

South Carolina (5-4, 2-4) travels to Little Rock, Ark., for this week’s contest against the Arkansas Razorbacks (5-3, 2-3). The game will USC’s second Thursday night appearance on ESPN. Kickoff at War Memorial Stadium is slated for 7:45 p.m. ET before a national television audience. Head coach Lou Holtz met with the media on Monday afternoon for his weekly press conference and offered the following comments:

(on injuries)
“We worked out on Sunday for an hour and had a long meeting with the team. Jason Capers, George Gause and Darel Slay could not practice. Hart Turner had a MRI on his Achilles and we are awaiting the report on that. He said he will be able to play. Troy Williamson could not practice yesterday and I do not know his status.”

(on the Mississippi game)
“Looking back at the Ole Miss game, I was most pleased with the conditioning of our football team. The on-field temperature was in the mid-80’s but we had very little problems with the heat other than some cramping.”

(on the defense)
“Moe Thompson played so well at Ole Miss. He can get better, but he plays his position very well. The other guy playing very well on defense is Dunta Robinson. Those two are playing outstanding football. Obviously we did not play as well on defense as we would have liked. The problem was not with all 11 positions but it affected all 11 positions.”

(on the offensive line)
“Travelle Wharton continues to play excellent football week in and week out. John Strickland played very well at center. Our offensive line in general, played pretty well. We can play better and we have to play better. Chris White played well, but had a bad snap early in the game. We moved to guard and played well and he could very well start there this week. Jabari Levey will start at the other guard and Na’Shan Goddard at the other tackle.”

(on the offense)
“Demetris Summers has to get the ball more. On the halfback pass he did not throw, he beat eight tackles before he stepped out of bounds. He is going to run the ball some and not look particularly good, but other times when he gets it, he really catches your eye on game day. Dondrial Pinkins has emerged as a quarterback. He has been through a lot of criticism and unjustly so, but he has really stepped up. Noah Whiteside made a lot of big plays. His confidence is growing and he is really becoming a threat. Matthew Thomas has continued to play well all year with the football and without. Syvelle Newton had never been a wide receiver and he has stepped in and made some great plays for us.”

(on the kicking game)
“Daniel Weaver is kicking outstanding in practice and is kicking well in games. I have great confidence in him right now. He is in a zone. Josh Brown is punting the ball well. Ever since we took him completed away from placekicking, his punting has improved tremendously.”

(on the Arkansas offense)
“They have 24 seniors and their offensive line is outstanding and a veteran group. Matt Jones is an excellent quarterback and is a threat to run. He just wins. You saw against Kentucky how he made some plays that should not have been there and he does this week after week. Cedric Cobbs is averaging 106 yards per game and six yards per carry and is one of the best backs in the country. You put him with that offensive line and a quarterback like Jones and they give you all sorts of problems. When you look at all that you understand why they are number one in the conference in rushing and in total offense.”

(on the Razorback defense)
“They shut us out last year. The closest we got to scoring was a field goal that we missed. They do a variety of different things on defense and are very athletic and talented. Their two corners are candidates to run as sprinters in the Olympics and are the two fastest corners in the country. They cover you well. Overall, the are systematically unorthodox on defense. They know where they are going and you do not.”