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Keeping an eye on Lou
Admit it, you doubted Lou Holtz. You thought South Carolina had fallen so far down the rabbit hole that only the Mad Hatter would ever see them again. But the Gamecocks' 21-10 victory over Georgia was classic Holtz. A ball-control running game. Force the opponent to make mistakes, then capitalize. Bulldogs quarterback Quincy Carter threw five interceptions and lost his cool. I'm not ready to say South Carolina is going to play for the SEC East title. The offense is still young and the Gamecocks are not deep in talent. But I'm paying a lot closer attention. So is Georgia.
Coming out party for HuskyWhen Rich Alexis began playing football at his suburban Miami high school, his father wanted him to quit. Numa Alexis wanted Rich to play basketball, a safer sport, and forced his son to quit football twice.In the spring of his junior year, Rich brought home a box of letters from college football coaches who watched him practice and wanted to give him a scholarship. Dad relented. Last Saturday Washington freshman Rich Alexis took a pitch from Marques Tuiasosopo and ran 50 yards for a touchdown against Miami, a school 20 minutes from his house. "Of course," Rich said after Washington's victory, "Dad's a Husky fan."
Another pickled victimLast month Minnesota coach Glen Mason and trainer Doug Locy saw the heat wave in Texas and began plotting for Saturday's game at Baylor. Mason introduced "Baylor breaks," sudden practice breaks during which everyone drank a bottle of water.Last week, as Waco baked in triple digits, Locy began giving the players more water, and everyone's new hydration rage: pickle juice. But while the Gophers drank and drank to prepare for Baylor, they lost on Saturday to Ohio. Then on Tuesday, it rained in Waco and broke the drought. The heat wave is over. Maybe you can't be too prepared. Or maybe, in the case of the Gophers, no good deed goes unpunished. Yale goes for 800Yale coach Jack Siedlecki has been pushing the Elis to win their opener Saturday against Dayton. Dayton? The Flyers aren't in the Ivy League. But this is about history. Yale has 799 victories. Siedlecki watched Michigan the last two weeks get wins No. 797 and 798. Nothing against UCLA, whom the Wolverines play Saturday, or Illinois, their next opponent. But Siedlecki doesn't want to depend on them. He wants Yale to be the first to reach 800. As a nod to the Elis' rich history, I hope they get there Saturday. Sports Illustrated senior writer Ivan Maisel covers the college football beat for the magazine and appears each Saturday on CNN's "College Football Preview." Click here to send a question to his mailbag.
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