10B - The Michigan Daily - September 6, 2000 - SportsWednesday Irish get ready for showdown with Huskers LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) - Notre Dame is not a newcomer to this season's Top 25 as far as Nebraska coach Frank Solich is concerned. Solich, whose Cornhuskers have been ranked No. I since thle preseason, has had the Fighting Irish in each of his coach- es' polls. "I believed that they would be a very fine football team and deserving of being ranked" Solich said. And Notre Dame's 24-10 win over Texas A&M in the sea- son opener Saturday was enough to convince others. The Irish, out of the AP's preseason poll for the first time since 1986, are ranked No. 23 by the media heading into Saturday's game against the Cornhuskers, the first between the traditional powers since 1973. "They are on a very high note right now. They're playing 'with a lot of confidence," Solich said. "They really flow to the ball very quickly defensively. They get a lot of people involved in the tackle. They're a strong physical type of team on both sides of the ball."% Solich doesn't want.to fuel any talk in the Huskers' most anticipated non-conference game in years, so he isn't saying ,Where he put the Irish in the USA Today/ESPN coaches' poll, v$hich has Notre Dame at No. 25. "Regardless of who's favored and the point spread, they're going to be fired up and ready to play. They've had something good happen to them out of the chute, winning the first game and winning it impressively against a nationally recognized football program," Solich said. "I doubt that there's anything that can be said or done to inspire them any more than they've been inspired." Well, playing the No. I team might be a little bit more of an incentive for the Irish. But Solich wants the Huskers to treat it just like any other game and forget about "Touchdown Jesus," "The Four Horsemen" and the rest of the Notre Dame mvs- tique. Freshmen lead Blue at Eastern Open By Arun Gopal Daily Sports riter The Michigan women's cross-country team kicked off its' 2000 season on Satur- day with the Eastern Michigan Invitation- al, a non-scoring meet contested at Buhr Park. The meet was an opportupity for some of the Wolverines' younger runners to get some competitive experience. The hot, humid conditions on Saturday morning provided a tough challenge for all of the athletes involved and gave several unher- aIded runners a chance to shine. "We ran a lot of our kids that redshirted last year, some people that were looking to emerge into being some solid contribu- tors this year," Michigan coach Mike McGuire said. "I thought, for the condi- tions, we did a pretty good job." Colleen Lange, who completed the 5,000-meter race in a time of 19:36, which was good for fifth overall. Follow- ing Lange across the finish line were fel- low redshirt freshmen Rachel Sturtz and Nicole Johnson - who placed eighth and ninth, respectively --- and sophomore Andrea Steinhoff, who came in tenth. "Overall, I was happy," McGuire said. "I thought they competed. The big thing is. when you get conditions like this, -you find out who your competitors are, who's tough and who's not. For the first time out, dealing with these weather extremes. I thought we did a good job handling it." The youngsters in the Michigan lineup will be expected to assist a corps of returning veterans who led the Wolverines to a second-place finish in the Big Ten last year. Paced by seniors Lisa Oucllet, Katie Clifford and Julie Froud and juniors Katie Ryan and Erin White, the Wolverines are looking to rebound from what - by Michigan standards --- could be consid- ered a subpar year. Although the Wolverines had a solid runner-up showing at the Big Ten Cham- pionships. they placed just 15th at the NCAA Championships. Michigan had trouble replacing 1998 NCAA champion Katie McGregor and fought bouts of inconsistency all year But, a new year brings a chance,for redemption, and the Wolverines sound determined to make a return to past glory. "Realistically, our goal is to be in the top two in both the Big ren and the region, and be a top ten team nationally," McGuire said. "We kind of took it for granted for years about being in the top ten nationally, and we haven't been the last two years, so those are some focus goals that we have. "A lot of it is going to center on staving healthy and focused, and on [ids like the ones in this race stepping up NORMAN NG/Da, The Michigan women's cross country team is looking to improve on last season's 15th-place finish at NCAAs. Gamecocks finally show they can put up the 'W' COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP)- Lou Holtz talked about bringing South Carolina a. national championship. Gamecocks fans acted like it happened Saturday night. After South Carolina ended the coun- try's longest losing streak at 21 games with a 31-0 win over New Mexico State, fans rushed the field at Williams-Brice Stadium to celebrate. They ripped down both goal posts, tore apart hedges that lined the end zones and collected turf to commemorate the landmark victory - the first since Holtz returned to college football in 1998. Holtz had to shoo fans off the field -- they burst through security with 36 sec- onds remaining --- for the final plays. "I guess our students don't understand foot- ball as well as I thought they did," Holtz said. "I thought they knew it was a 60- minute game." But who could blame them after almost two years of waiting? "I enjoyed every minute of it, watching them tear the goal posts down, the shrub- berv down, it was a lot of fun," Andrew Heddy, football coach at Lugoff-Elgin High School, said from the infield at Darlington Raceway. "There seems to be a lot of excitement right now." Radio host Kevin Cohen, who listened to angry fans vent and criticize for 21 consecutive games, was absolutely giddy when he hit the air for this postgame show. "It is great to hear the happiness in people's voices." he said. "I'm ecstatic." Throughput the off-season, Holtz was hopeful that'his team would compete and surprise. They did a lot of both against the Aggies in the opener. The Gamecocks ran for two touch- downs in the first half-- they had only four rushing scores all last year -- out of a four- receiver spread offense that looked like it was created by a Bowden (Clemson's coach Tommy) instead of a I-oltz (South Carolina's offensive coordinator Skip). Lou Holtz had talked of a more tradi- tional power-I set earlier in the week. "I did not lie" he said. "I misled you when I said we didn't change much. It's in the playbook, we just didn't use it last year. The offense sprang Derek Watson for 114 yards and a 2-yard touchdown. Full- back Andrew Pinnock had two TDs and quarterback Phil Petty, often the target for stadium critics, looked confident and in control. "It felt great to be a part of this offense," receiver Jermale Kelly said. "We knew we had this in us all along. It was just a matter of proving it to everybody." South Carolina players gave Holtz an ice-water shower on the sidelines in the final minute. A group of students carried a 20-foot chunk of the yellow post through the gates with one saving, "W.ve're going to take this everywhere tonight." Everx'one walked ofd the field with a small twig, a few leaves hanging on, in their hands. "This is the best feeling I've ever had in my life, ever," sophomore Kristen Walker said from the field. T he (Columbia) State published a full- page picture of the fan-demonium, a sea of people swarming the goalpost with the headline "1, For All." It took about 10 minutes for both sets of posts to fall. Cleveland Pinkney, the Gamecocks 6- foot-2, 290-pound defensive tackle, had said earlier in the week that he'd be swinging of the top of the goal posts if the Gamecocks won. Instead, he just jumped around and screamed with team- .mates and fans. "We were having fun and enjoying the moment." he said. It seems like so long ago, instead of 1998, that a local Kroger grocery store made the announcement, "Attention Kroger shoppers, the impossible has hap- pened, Vanderbilt 17, South Carolina 14." Soon after, Holtz came to campus promising Southeastern Conference titles and national championships. One victory, no matter how critical to his team's psy- che, was not impressive. "I've been involved in a lot of wins," said Holtz, who's I11th all-time with 217 victories. "We've got things that we have to correct. I am proud of the team. They are coming together. (But) we can play better." They will have to next week when Georgia comes to Williams-Brice. A South Carolina victory would end its 18- game SEC losing streak. "I hope this is the start of a turn- around," said Heddy, the high school coach "I hope they beat Georgia." Multiple choice made easy. What is the best tool to get you through college and your career? a. iMac b. PowerMac G4 The iMac features an award-winning design and simple internet connectivity. The iMac DV brings you a complete desktop video solution at an affordable price. The Power Macintosh G4 combines supercomputing power with student computing pricing. d. PowerBook c. iBook 4 __ .............................. r The iBook incorporates the best-selling features of the iMac into a sleek, portable, on-the-go design. 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