 "Photo: Courtesy of Tennessee Sports information")
It's been said before that the mark of a great program is its ability to reload talent. If that's the case, Tennessee will get plenty of opportunities to prove its prowess as a program when redshirt freshman tailback Arian Foster makes his first career start against Carolina on Saturday in Knoxville, Tenn.
With senior leading-rusher Gerald Riggs Jr. out for the season with unspecified lower leg and ankle injuries suffered in last week's 6-3 loss to bitter rival Alabama, it's Foster's turn to carry the ball against the Gamecocks.
Anyone hoping for a reprieve against Tennessee's trademark rushing attack had better think again.
"If you didn't know about Riggs and you saw (Foster) in there, you'd think 'Oh my goodness.' It's not like we got a break, we're just going to get more Foster now," said John Thompson, USC co-defensive coordinator.
Foster, the 6-foot-1-inch, 211-pound running back out of San Diego, was plugged into duty last week against Alabama after Riggs went down, rushing for 56 yards on 14 carries with no touchdowns. He and Riggs combined for 138 yards on 34 carries for the day.
"The way they played Saturday, you know, was kind of some old-school Tennessee," Thompson said. "With the way we've played the run, I'm sure that's what they're going to try to do."
Tennessee has struggled on numerous occasions on offense this season, scoring only 7 points at Florida and six at Alabama.
"Offensively, we have absolutely been our own worst enemies," Tennessee coach Phillip Fulmer said this week. "We haven't reached our potential."
The Vols would love to have a repeat performance from last year when they came into Columbia and downed the Gamecocks 43-29. In that game, then-senior Cedric Houston amassed 190 yards on the ground, teaming with Riggs to carve USC's defense for 246 yards on 36 carries with one touchdown.
The Gamecocks haven't fared much better against the run this season, coming in at 10th in the conference in total rush defense. In seven games, USC has allowed 1,173 yards in 308 attempts, averaging 167.6 yards per game. Still, after a roster shake-up at linebacker, Carolina held Vanderbilt to a paltry 41 yards rushing last week, the defense's lowest total of the season.
Thompson was pleased with middle linebacker Dustin Lindsey's performance in his first career start last week and expects to have the 6-foot-3-inch, 213-pound sophomore starting there against the Volunteers this weekend.
"I think (Lindsey)'s doing good. He's making more plays. You know, we got to get some playmakers in there. That's what he's done," Thompson said.
The Gamecock secondary will match up with a receiving corps that some think might be the most talented in the country, but does not have a receiver with more than two touchdown catches. Junior Jayson Swain leads Tennessee with 233 yards receiving on 13.7 yards per catch, but the Volunteers spread the ball around well, passing to numerous receivers.
If the Gamecocks are able to shut down Foster and the Tennessee ground game, the burden will be on Vols senior quarterback Rick Clausen to carry the offense. Clausen started the year No. 2 on the depth chart behind sophomore incumbent starter Erik Ainge, but assumed the starting duties after he led the Vols to a 30-27 overtime come-from-behind win at LSU on Sept. 26.
Clausen has 90 completions on 149 passing attempts so far this season for 1,073 yards and three touchdowns.
Yet a slight controversy still exists, as Fulmer is apt to pull Clausen for Ainge if Clausen struggles early. As far as the Gamecocks' defense is concerned though, there's very little difference at all between the two signal callers.
"They're both really talented quarterbacks, and they've both won a game, so (preparing differently is) really not going to be an issue for us," Thompson said. "One of them's right-handed, one of them's left-handed. That's really the biggest difference."
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