Shawn Elliott reflects on return to South Carolina and Williams-Brice Stadium
Georgia State coach Shawn Elliott knew there wasn’t a lot of room for error if his team wanted to upset South Carolina on Saturday.
The Panthers, who compete in the Sun Belt Conference, held a lead for about four minutes in the third quarter against the Gamecocks. But USC blocked a pair of second-half punts and returned them both for touchdowns to defeat Georgia State 35-14 in front of a sellout crowd at Williams-Brice Stadium.
“One is deflating. Two kicks you right in the doggone back. Let’s just say that,” Elliott said. “When you are fighting and fighting, we are back and forth and moving the ball and we would stop them, those are tough to come back from.”
The loss somewhat spoiled Elliott’s return to Williams-Brice Stadium. He grew up in nearby Camden and won a state championship as a player with the Camden High Bulldogs in 1990.
Elliott was an assistant coach for the Gamecocks from 2010-16 and served as interim head coach when Steve Spurrier resigned in the middle of the 2015 season.
He still has plenty of friends around the program, including USC coach Shane Beamer. The two were part of USC’s staff in 2010 when Elliott was the offensive line/running game coordinator and Beamer worked with the cornerbacks and special teams.
Elliott and Beamer talked before and after the game Saturday. Elliott stood with his family near midfield for a few minutes after the game to take it all in.
“When you’ve got a friendship and you’ve got to play against someone, that is hard,” Elliott said. “I’m a guy that when you play them, there ain’t nobody that is your friend. ... That is a hard deal in this profession. We are all trying to win. That is what we get paid to do. So it’s tough.”
Elliott tried not to make Saturday’s matchup about him, instead focusing on his team and the opportunity to play a Southeastern Conference opponent to start the year.
Ellliott was pleased with the way his players handled themselves and said they can build on the game going forward. The Panthers host ACC foe North Carolina next week and plan to build on those first two weeks before getting into Sun Belt play.
Georgia State won its final seven games last season and defeated Ball State in the Camellia Bowl.
“The experience we had as a football team coming back to Williams-Brice Stadium and just the electricity that is in this environment is awesome,” Elliott said. “I think this is one of the top five stadiums in the country, if you ask me. We all had high energy, and emotions were running right to the top. It was a good thing to be back here and I thought our guys handled it well.
“The positives we have is, we did handle the energy and we didn’t back down from it. … I thought we executed offensively and defensively pretty well. I know special teams gave up a couple of blunders, which is a disappointing part of it. But there are a lot of positives and we are going to take them.”
This story was originally published September 4, 2022 at 12:54 PM.
