KNOXVILLE, Tenn. -- Lou Holtz considers the Bible his playbook for life. Lately, he's says he's been spending a lot of time in the book of Job.

	South Carolina's attack has been hurt by Derek Watson's rib injury.

Holtz, his family and his football program have been through one tribulation after another since he took the head coaching job at South Carolina. And Saturday at Neyland Stadium, he knows the Gamecocks might, in a proverbial sense, get swallowed whole by a big orange fish.

"We come over there," Holtz said, "with very little chance of even making the game competitive."

The Jefferson Pilot network, which televises a weekly SEC game, apparently agreed. It passed on a chance to carry No. 4 Tennessee for the first time this season, leaving the 1:05 p.m. (EST) kickoff for pay-per-view.

South Carolina coveted national attention when it hired Holtz last winter, following a 1-10 season that cost Brad Scott his job. Holtz, two years in the CBS broadcast booth after retiring from Notre Dame, was a public-relations coup.

Sure enough, college football fans from Key West to Walla Walla can identify the Gamecocks in 1999 -- they're the team with the nation's longest losing streak.

The streak is at 18 as South Carolina comes in 0-8. An 11-10 loss to Vanderbilt last week probably doomed the Gamecocks to a 0-11 record. South Carolina's annual stretch run of Tennessee, Florida and Clemson is the toughest in the nation, even in the best of times.

UT coach Phillip Fulmer said he's got too much to worry about on his own campus without trying to appreciate all Holtz has gone through in Columbia.

"I don't know what all has gone on there," Fulmer said, "but I do feel for coach Holtz's family situation, with his wife being sick. I know how tough that is."

Beth Holtz continues to battle cancer and is recovering from surgery at their home in Orlando, Fla. Her husband revealed Tuesday that one of their neighbors was Robert Fraley, the sports agent who died in a plane crash Monday with golfer Payne Stewart.

On a football front, Holtz said one place he wishes he could turn for help is none other than Tennessee. He considers Fulmer and his staff "the most underrated coaches" in the country.

"I do regret we can't visit the University of Tennessee coaching staff," Holtz said. "I'm sure we would not be welcome there, but if I could go anywhere in the country that's where I'd go."

And if he could borrow any quarterback in the country Saturday, it might be UT's Tee Martin. South Carolina has tried six different quarterbacks this year. Holtz said the most likely candidates for Tennessee are walk-on Kyle Crabb and converted receiver Carlos Spikes.

Holtz tried to recruit Martin to Notre Dame and watched from the broadcast booth as Martin's career bloomed.

"I knew he'd be a winner," Holtz said of Martin, 18-1 as a starter.

Holtz also tried to lure UT offensive tackle Chad Clifton to South Bend. What Holtz wouldn't give to have Clifton protecting his quarterback. The Gamecocks' offensive line has suffered more casualties than the Seventh Cavalry at Little Big Horn.

"When I took this job it looked like we had seven offensive linemen coming back," Holtz said. "Out of the seven, we've gotten a total of nine games (played) combined.

"We've played five defensive linemen who moved to the offensive line and had to play that same week. It's been just a quagmire."

Here are a few more reasons why the offense has scored only five touchdowns all season:

Last year's leading rusher, Troy Hambrick, was kicked off the team over the summer. Sophomore quarterback Phil Petty, who threw two late TD passes in a 49-14 loss to UT last year, hasn't played in more than a month because of a knee injury.

Big-play threat Boo Williams went down for the year after five games. Freshman tailback Derek Watson, who picked South Carolina over UT, showed early promise, but has been shut down by a rib injury.

"Our numbers are absolutely pathetic," Holtz said, "but when I look back, I don't know what I'd do different, and I can't fault the players, either."

No one can fault the defense for much of anything.

Aside from a poor effort against Arkansas and a drive here and there, the Gamecocks have been impressive despite getting little help from the offense or kicking game. They rank No. 9 nationally in total defense UT is 11th allowing 280.9 yards per game.

But, wouldn't you know it, South Carolina's best defensive player, outside linebacker John Abraham, is banged up and won't play against the Vols.

"I've never seen anything like it," Holtz said.

Except maybe in the book of Job.

(Mike Strange writes for The Knoxville News-Sentinel in Tennessee.)