The Charlotte Observer from Charlotte, North Carolina • 95

Sunday September 3 1995 SECTION BOS (The (Charlotte (Dbsernr College Kickoff Edwards sinks USC Robert five touchdowns ted Georgia past South Carolina despite a 405-yard day from quarterback Steve Taneyhill (left) Rude awakening for Gamecocks By STAN OLSON Staff Writer ATHENS Ga Fans of South Carolina football in dreamland since the long-awaited first bowl victory back in January were rudely slapped awake Saturday by a comerback-tumed-tailback named Robert Edwards Edwards a junior converted to running back by desperate Georgia coaches only after the spring game ran where even Herschel Walker never could scoring a school-record five touchdowns in the 42-23 SEC mauling of South Carolina in Sanford Stadium And he scored all five touchdowns in the second half The Gamecocks had entered the season on a cloud receiving votes in Top 25 polls and expecting an even better year than last 7-5 effort But Edwards trampled such lofty thoughts into Bermuda grass as most of the 86117 watching roared their approval The sudden turn of events South Carolina led 17-7 after the first series of the third quarter left Gamecock players stunned is a reality said quarterback Steve Taneyhill be reading any papers this week about how good we are for They will be listening to their coaches and their coaches are not happy men Please see Bulldogspage 15G Balanced attack drubs Catamounts By CLIFF MEHRTENS Staff Writer CLEMSON SC 55-9 football rout against Western Carolina will jump off television screens and newspaper roundups And what a confidence builder for top-ranked Florida visit next Saturday The Tigers were barely challenged scoring 48 points in the first 34 minutes Saturday in front of 65000 at Memorial Stadium win by this margin will open a lot of said Clemson quarterback Nealon Greene going to be a real focus on can we put points on the board against Florida State and can our defense stop Those questions must wait For now Clemson can bask in its balanced 412-yard attack (210 rushing 212 passing) and the biggest outburst since a 59-0 blowout against Long Beach State in 1990 The Tigers limited Western Carolina (0-1) to 132 yards it was a fairly well-played game by our said Clemson coach Tommy West plenty of room for improvement not ready to stand up and say arrived But been significant improvement better than any time last The Tigers eased to their 12th season-opening victory in 13 seasons They scored on their first Please see Tigerspage 1 5G Tigers roar Clemson used a balanced offensive attack in routing Western Carolina 55-9 before a crowd of 65000 at Clemson Memonal Stadium Notre Dame stunned Perennial Big 10 doormat and 28-point underdog Northwestern came into South Bend and shocked the No 9 Fighting Irish 17-15 for the first time since 1962 Page 13G College football pages 13-16G Defense DAYS TO KICKOFF: Defense Defense Defense Chase for title heats up Championship race likely to take turn at Darlington event By TOM HIGGINS Staff Writer DARLINGTON SC The 46th running of the storied Southern 500 scheduled today at Darlington Raceway probably will prove pivotal in the chase for the NASCAR Winston Cup Series championship between Jeff Gordon Sterling Marlin Mark Martin and Dale Earnhardt That was the opinion Saturday of highly respected former champions Darrell Waltrip and Bill Elliott "This is the key said three-time title winner Waltrip "What happens here will have a great impact on the championship is going to leave Darlington without a Said Elliott: circumstances are going to hit somebody and play a big part in deciding the championship And this Darlington track produces about as much trouble as any place we The 367-lap race on the egg-shaped 1366-mile speedway dating to 1950 begins at 1 pm (ESPN) Gordon 24 starts the 23rd of the 31 Winston Cup events with a 176-point lead over fellow Chevrolet driver Marlin toward the championship worth a minimum $13 million Ford star Martin trails by 280 points and seven-time champion Earnhardt who also drives a Chevy is 294 behind Earnhardt winner of nine Win- Please see NASCARpage 23G Falcons know what hit them By CHARLES CHANDLER Staff Writer ATLANTA Forget How do three Carolina Panthers' linebackers define Lamar Lathon: have a lot of rules or responsibilities just all-out reckless abandon got to be a wild Carlton Bailey: 1 1 maniacs whose only concern is to get to the football knock the guy down and basically inflict Darion Conner: got to intimidate got to be relentless Every down every play nonstop you be stopped defense" And the Carolina Panthers a team whose glamour players throw run or catch the football Instead Lathon Conner and rookie cornerback Tyrone Poole guys who hit cover and chase The identity of the Panthers was established when Dorn Capers the successful defensive coordinator of the Pittsburgh Steelers was hired as head coach Please see Defensepage 1 1 Panthers bring us all together today ATLANTA I know if I read it or heard it but somebody said (or wrote) that the Carolina Panthers will change my life change it some I expect to clean up on frequent flyer points But the Panthers will not significantly affect the way 1 live And be surprised if they significantly affect the way you live either If pre-Panthers you were one of those people who looked out the window and saw possibilities those possibilities will still be there be there even if the Panthers lose to the San Francisco 49ers by Please see Sorensenpage 1 0G Inside Sports Martin wins 200 Mark Martin wins the Gatorade 200 at Darlington while Johnny Benson finishes second and increases his points lead Page 23G Seles cruises At the US Open Monica Seles breezed into the fourth round Page 17G Riley cashes In After getting the OK It take long for Miami to sign Pat Riley to a huge contract as its new coach Next page PANTHERS POST-GAME POLL an NFL game without a little armchair quarterbacking? Make your call to the The Panther Poll After each Panthers game this season ask your opinion about a key call or critical play Just dial (704) 377-4444 then punch 1075 hear the weekly question then cast your vote Read the results in The Panthers special section on Monday NFL PREVIEW: Week 1 capsules8G NFL GameDay8G PANTHERS-FALCONS: Countdown to Kickoff9G Game previewIOG Photos by BOB LEVERONEStaff DE-FENSE1: The Panthers swarmed over the Giants (above) last week with Paul Butcher (53 top photo) and Lamar Lathon (54) leading the celebration Also Inside sports 3G Baseball 4-6G Golf 7G Outdoors 12G Update 20G Olympics 24G.