Game Plan USC v UMASS

a freetimes publication

october 19, 2016 | USC VS. umass

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A R T S • E N T E R TA IN M E N T • NE W S • C OL U M BI A • YO U R PAW S

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USC VS. umass | october 19, 2016

The Basics A 6-foot-6, 245-pound senior from Powder Springs, Georgia. Appeared in 44 games, starting 13.

Last year, he led USC with 4.5 sacks.

WHAT THE BUCK? English plays a hybrid defensive end/outside linebacker position known as a buck.

His job is getting to the quarterback.

ON PACE For the second-most sacks in a season in team history. Jadeveon Clowney holds the record (13).

HIS DIGITS Leads USC this year in sacks (six — more than the rest of the team combined), quarterback hurries (three) and forced fumbles (two).

RANKED SACKER His six sacks this season rank …

• Ninth in the nation • Second in the SEC

PUT SOME ENGLISH ON IT

Darius, how do you feel after a sack? “It makes you want to go harder on the next play.”

What do QBs say after a sack? “Some guys say something [you wouldn’t say in front of kids]. Some guys say, ‘That’s a good hit’ or something like that.”

Do you trash talk? “Sometimes if it’s a tight, close game you get into the trash talking, but other than that, I try to stay focused on what I’m doing.”

What the difference between Will Muschamp and Steve Spurrier? “Coach Muschamp definitely has a lot more inten-

KICKOFF

what BOOM says “He doesn’t say a lot, but he’s a guy who is really, really proud of how he is playing and how he prepares himself, and he’s been a great example for … a lot of our young players who are playing,” Muschamp says. “You need to have that, to show young guys, ‘This is how you prepare like a pro.’ ”

sity. He’ll get up in your face and cuss you out. It’s all positive tough.”

Photos by Allen Sharpe

BALLERS

DARIUS ENGLISH, THE BUCK October 19, 2016 | USC VS. umass

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KICKOFF | BALLERS

3

OPPO RESEARCH

UMASS MINUTEMEN

4

Folks around here get quite antsy when so many Yankees cross the Mason-Dixon.

THE BASICS 2016 RECORD: 1-6

NOTABLE WINS: Florida International, Redcoats SERIES RECORD: First battle between major fighters from

Massachusetts and South Carolina since the burning of Columbia.

THEIR MASCOT: Just look left. Yikes. (Can schools stop trying to make mascots that look like real people?)

CONFERENCE: Independent (One of four schools going it alone. Call UMass the “Notre Dame of New England” minus all the prestige.)

Here's looking at you, creepy UMass mascot.

(Photo: Sam the Minuteman's Facebook page.)

TRADITIONS: UMass doesn't list any. (Back in the day freshmen wore

beanies until the team scored the season's first touchdown. We call that hazing today.)

KEY STAT: UMass averages just less than 20 points a game, 11th worst in the nation. (Wait, who’s the worst? Really? Wow, should not have trash talked about that one.)

USC 2016 SCHEDULE

GET TO KNOW UMASS LOCATION: Amherst DISTANCE FROM BOSTON, THE ONLY CITY YOU KNOW IN MASSACHUSETTS:

Record: 2-4 (1-4 SEC)

95 miles

WHAT IS UMASS KNOWN FOR?: Its campus food is rated best in the nation by The Princeton Review. That’s worth hanging your tricorne hat on.

FAMOUS ALUMNI: Richard Gere attended

the school on a gymnastics scholarship but did not graduate. Bill Cosby got his master’s and doctorate degrees there. (Pretty sure that fact is no longer in the brochures.) So really, just Dr. J.

MINUTEMEN TO WATCH

SEC Game = ★

9/1

at

vanderbilt

nashville, tenn.

★

USC, 13-10

9/10

at

mississippi ST.

STARKVILLE, miss.

★

MSU, 27-14

9/17

vs.

east carolina

columbia, s.c.

9/24 at

kentucky

lexington, ky.

★

UK, 17-10

10/1 vs.

texas a&m

Columbia, s.c.

★

A&M, 24-13

10/8

georgia

Columbia, S.C.

★

UGA, 28-14

vs.

USC, 20-15

10/15

bye

Has a thing for earth tones: Played at Brown and coached for the Browns.

10/22 vs.

umass columbia, s.c.

SOME DUDE AT QUARTERBACK

10/29 vs.

Tennessee

columbia, s.c.

★

TBA

11/5

vs.

missouri

Columbia, S.C.

★

TBA

11/12

at

florida

gainesville, fL.

★

TBA

11/19

VS.

W. CAROLINA

COLUMBIA, S.C.

11/26 AT

clemson

clemson, s.c.

MARK WHIPPLE, HEAD COACH

They have a starter, Ross Comis, who has been hurt and not very effective compared with backup Andrew Ford. So the coach has been playing both. What a concept.

DA'SEAN DOWNEY

Junior linebacker leads UMass in sacks, forced fumbles and alliteration.

KICKOFF | OPPO RESEARCH + schedule

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NOON

TBA TBA

USC VS. umass | october 19, 2016

2001

’ n i v i L et n r a G

how usc's marching band chooses what to play

By Kyle Petersen

I

t can be difficult to remember in the endless dissection of the game itself, but the joy of going to a football game is, in part, the pageantry. It’s about the tailgate preparation, the players charging into the stadium to “2001,” the space-alien nacho cheese we eat at halftime.

And a bit part of that pageantry, almost to the point of anachronism, is the marching band. Despite the staid and stuffy uniforms, the energetic group of student musicians often serves as the life of the party when charging through a contemporary pop hit or good-time classic, or, conversely, provide the sincerest moments when they perform plaintive tunes like the alma mater or “Taps.”

While the marching band is integral to the proceedings of a college football game, the how and why of their musical choices can be a bit mysterious.

“In the spring we solicit suggestions from the band, and then we compile what look like the most popular things,” explains Cormac Cannon, director of the Carolina Band. “Then we sit down and look at what songs would actually transfer to a marching band playing them. Then we add two or three new things each year that are a little more contemporary. We also keep the stuff we’ve been playing a long time as well, that the students like to play and the fans like to hear.”

According to Cannon, the song selections are almost entirely studentdriven by a committee, and are then refined by the staff.

“The thing about a song that works for the band is something that has a melody, usually a sung vocal line, and not just something that’s more rap or speech-based,” he says. “Also, things that rely on electronics don’t work as well for acoustic instruments. Things that are by solo singers are usually best, because they have melodies that work on instruments and can still be recognized as the same song.”

USC's marching band song choices are almost entirely student driven. (Photo from USC) He also says the selections are made with different demographics in mind, from students to alumni who have been attending football games for 50 years.

“We don’t play anything because another band plays it — we try to play things that our students and our fans will like, things that are meaningful for them,” he concludes. “We try and give the students as much input as they can have.”

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October 19, 2016 | USC VS. umass

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LIVIN' GARNET | 2001

5

BEER ME

Photo by Tug Baker

a taste of the south in a can

By Tug Baker

A

n instant Carolina classic has been released and distributed that matches all the criteria I recently laid out for a perfect tailgating beer — a lower-alcohol craft beer available in tallboy cans.

Truly, no beer available deserves a spot in your cooler this week more than the Gullah Cream Ale from Revelry Brewing in Charleston. For starters, it comes in a handsomely designed 16-ounce tallboy can for maximum space saving and avoidance of annoying glass bottles.

And while it’s not the lowest of alcohol-by-volume beers, 5.5 percent is still low enough that you can enjoy a few and remember the fourth quarter.

Finally, there’s the fact that not only are you drinking craft beer — you’re drinking South Carolina craft beer. (My last recommendation came from that other Carolina.) What better way to show off our state to any Massachusetts fans that might swing by your tailgate.

Not only is this a great beer that goes down smooth on a “famously hot” game day in Columbia, but it’s an award winner. The Gullah Cream Ale took home a gold medal at the 2016 U.S. Open Beer Championship in the American Cream Ale category and silver in the category the year before that.

The Gullah Cream Ale is made with yellow and white dent corn from Geechie Boy Mill on Edisto Island and truly tastes like the South, making it perfect for pairing with your best Southern tailgating food.

And why not do breakfast this week? After all, since the UMass game starts at noon, a beer containing corn that is used to make some of the best grits in the state sounds like the perfect pairing with some biscuit sandwiches.

WHERE: Craft and Draft, 2706 Devine St. COST: $11.99 for a four-pack, $2.99 for a single MORE: 803-764-2575

GAMEDAY GRUB

Photo by Jessica Atwood

6 LIVIN' GARNET | beer me + gameday grub

pigskins to eat while watching the pigskin fly

By April Blake

W

hat is a pork rind, exactly, other than a snack oft associated with indulging in a day of food and football? It’s the skin of the pig, fried or roasted and is often the byproduct of rendering lard, which in the process makes the tough skin of the pig edible. The frying process makes pork rinds shrink considerably in size from the original product, but makes the end result come out fluffy and crisp.

Pork rinds come in two varieties — in a bag from the gas station or grocery store, and fresh made, like from Maurice’s Piggie Park. Let’s compare and contrast, as each kind has its own merits.

Bagged, store bought rinds are available from many companies, including Golden Flake, Baken-Ets and Mac’s. The bagged versions frequently come in flavors like red hot, barbecue, and vinegar and salt, which gives the lightly flavored pork some needed zing. Another addition to these, however, is preservatives, like maltodextrin and monosodium glutamate to keep them shelf-stable for a longer amount of time.

Then there is the kind that you can get from Maurice’s Piggie Park, bunched cutely in clear plastic bags, illustrating their homemade origins. Their fresh dehydrated pork skins are fried and seasoned just as they’ve been doing for the past 60 years.

To snag a bag of the homemade kind, call ahead to one of Piggie Park’s Midlands locations to make sure they are in stock, as they tend to sell out quickly. A quart sized bag runs $3.

Either way you go, pork skins are a way to eat nose to tail, which ensures that more parts of the animal are being eaten than are being wasted — a delicious way to call your snacking efforts sustainable.

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USC VS. umass | october 19, 2016

Gamecock fans for you. A loser’s mentality that will do anything they can to pick up a win.

HBC, thanks for this s#!tty season.

Really? You’re not being a real USC “fan” by selling your tickets to Georgia fans.

My Gamecock buddy said, “Is it raining or is that Georgia fans spitting on us?”

The USC football team needs to open a new can of quarterbacks.

Why not try Elliott Fry at QB? Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness: But, you know, I don’t think our founding fathers were thinking about playing a football game in a potential hurricane, especially a game that could be rescheduled. But then again, that’s

Coach Muschamp, during the Georgia game, had a Band-Aid on his lip. With all the money he makes, can’t he at least have a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle Band-Aid? Everybody is wondering why Muschamp was wearing a BandAid during the Georgia game. He obviously got bitten by a Bulldog.

Hope the dog had its shots.

Isn’t it kind of strange that Will Muschamp’s last name has “USC” and “champ” in it? Yeah.

I just hope the Gamecocks can beat Russia this week.

Got a Gamecock or football-related beef or boast?

Call 803-765-0707 x126 or email RantAndRave@free-times.com

Can you catch a punt? — tyler Dear Tyler: I probably can catch a punt, and I bet you can too. What we need to remember is that this team is a work in progress. They are going to do good things and some dumb stuff, too. We just need to support our team and coaching staff, and most of all, Believe!

Gamecock Jesus

you didn't blow away in the hurricane? — bill Hey Bill! I’m still here and glad you are too! Since there were no Gamecock games, I slept through much of the storm. Sorry I couldn’t make it to the meet and greet at the Georgia game, but my host and I had other obligations on Sunday. We hope to reschedule soon, stay tuned.

Believe! Gamecock Jesus love it when the gamecocks have a game during the state fair. you going to the fair? — barb Hi Barb: The fair is a lot of fun, although it has been a few years since I’ve been. Fried mushrooms. London broil. Mmm. And I am old enough to remember when they served beer! It’s exciting when the fair and the Gamecocks are in town at the same time, just a little hard to get around.

Hope you can enjoy both. Believe! Gamecock Jesus

ASK GAMECOCK JESUS

Got a question for USC’s top super fan? Send it to editor@free-times.com.

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SQuawK

7

UM

ASS

go GAMECOCKS!!

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