Quotes from Coach Elliott’s October 26 Press Conference

Photo: Jordan Crawford for THERSdayNight.com

Georgia State head coach Shawn Elliott addressed the media on Monday afternoon ahead of Saturday’s showdown with #20 Coastal Carolina. Here are some selected quotes from that looking ahead to the game with the Chanticleers as well as looking back at the win this past weekend:

On the 36-34 win over Troy last Saturday:

“We’re a pretty happy group today. Victory Monday is what we call it after we get us a win, and going down and getting that win – coming out of Troy, Alabama, somewhere we’ve never won before as a football program, we’ve never defeated them two times in a row. And just how the game unfolded, it was such a battle to the very end and we expected it to be exactly the way it played out. So we were really thrilled to death. Our players, at times, didn’t play their best in certain areas but found a way to stay poised and confident and come back in the second half and just solidify the victory. It was very pleasing to see us go into halftime and be down and have to come back out. And [Troy] had a nice drive after the start of the 3rd quarter, they drive it all the way down there, and…Antavious Lane makes the pick and the strong return to get us kind of going and really excited our sideline. I thought our sideline support was fantastic. The guys were out there pulling for each other and we just came away with a very good win.”

On Saturday’s matchup with #20 Coastal Carolina:

“We’ve got a very good Coastal Carolina team rolling in here Saturday at 12:00pm, another [Sun Belt East Division] conference foe, and them being ranked 20th in the country is pretty neat, to tell you the truth. They’re very, very worthy of that ranking, they’ve got a good football team. Coach [Jamey] Chadwell has done a marvelous job in all three phases with his program – offensively, defensively and their special teams. And I may be wrong on this, but I think there’s only 11 undefeated teams in college football right now and they’re one of them, so it’s going to be a big contest for us. We expect another hard-fought game, but we understand that each and every week. I mean, it’s just what we’re about in this conference. We all have a chance to knock each other off. And if we practice and prepare the way we should, we should have an opportunity to go out and play a very good ballgame. So we’ll see how it all plays out, but we’re looking forward to this Saturday.”

On the defense’s performance this season, and specifically their ability to create turnovers:

“If you look at us this past Saturday creating those turnovers, against Arkansas State you had another turnover for a touchdown. I mean, it’s really remarkable to see that they are generating those turnovers at a very, very high rate. I think they’re playing very, very well. When we do look at our defensive stats and kind of evaluate where we are, we give up the big play sometimes. We’re very, very good at stopping the run at this point in time, but we’re giving up yards through the air. We’ve got to put some pressure on….our pass rushers to get to the quarterback and manage that game a little bit better, but I’m thrilled to death. 

You take a guy like Stretch, Jordan Strachan, and just what he did this past Saturday…and then the week before, he caused another one and Blake [Carroll] returned it for a touchdown. Antavious Lane is another guy that just gets his hands on the football a lot. And as long as we continue to do those types of things, we’re going to have a chance. Opportunistic defenses like that, that can take the ball away, in the end are very, very successful, and I think that we’re on track to be that.”

On OLB Jordan Strachan’s performance and his return from a season-ending injury at the beginning of 2019:

“Had he not torn his ACL against Tennessee, he was going to have an extremely successful year for us last season. He had that injury, and he had to battle back physically as much as mentally, but he was a guy who made so many plays in our fall camp and preseason practices and continued to do it right up until each and every game, so it wasn’t no secret that he had that ability to create explosive defensive plays, whether it’s in the pass rushing or it’s in his coverage. It’s amazing to think that he was a free safety and now here he is – he’s an outside linebacker coming off the edge and he’s got great power and presence in his pass rushing ability, he’s got a knowledge of stripping the football and getting it out of the quarterback’s hands.”

On QB Quad Brown limiting his mistakes:

“I just told him…’Listen, punting the football is a good thing, it’s not the worst…’ He seems to think it’s the worst thing ever, I’m like, ‘Listen, a lot of times, that’s beneficial,’ so… You don’t have to win the game with every throw, and I want him to understand that. He’s a great young man that has a lot of confidence, and I want him to understand that the game can’t be won on each and every play, so sometimes tossing that ball out of bounds and having that 4th-down punt come up is a good thing. So he’ll understand that, but that’s just him being competitive and wanting to be successful on every single play. I certainly don’t fault him for that…I love that mentality, but he certainly does need to understand that punting can be beneficial for us too.”

On what Coastal Carolina presents on offense:

“They’re so creative offensively. They’ve got their option attack, they’ve got some inside run game. So they can hit you on the perimeter and they can hit you with the play-action pass, and then they have their inside zone runs and things of that nature – the old Belly G play is something we’ll have to take care of as well.” 

On preparing for Coastal given the unknown status of Chanticleers starting QB Grayson McCall:

“As far as the quarterback, we’re not going to prepare any differently. I expect him to play, our staff expects him to play and we’re going to prepare as if he’s going to play until he shows up on Saturday in street clothes… We’ve got to prepare for a very, very good offensive football team and be ready to go, whatever they bring out.”

Kickoff for Saturday’s game at Center Parc Stadium is at 12pm EDT.