Georgia State Head Coach Shawn Elliott
“First of all I'd like to say how much I appreciate what our seniors have done for us. Those guys – I think we have 12 that are leaving this year – what they've seen and what they've gone though, and I remember when they arrived they were lifting under a tent. They made the first bowl game, then they get their first bowl win and finished 3-1 against Georgia Southern. I really just appreciate what they've done. I just told them in the locker room they just laid a great foundation that they can't even see right now. They can't see the growth and some of the other things right now because of the hurt in this game that we played, but I appreciate every last one of them to go through what they've gone through.
The game was certainly not the way we hoped it would have had gone. Coming into the game we were down a couple guys – we lost a right tackle, lost a safety, lost Tra Barnett in practice. We put together a lineup as best we could and went and fought as hard as we could. But we made some blunders that were unfortunate. I thought our defense came out and played well in the first half and kept us within striking distance. We couldn't solidify the run game in the first half at all. But I thought we had an opportunity if we could just piece together a drive in the second half – we took a chance with the onside kick in the second half, we said all week if we got a look we were going to take it and the ball didn't get the bounce like we thought. Southern was able to punch it in from there and distance themselves. It was a tough ballgame. Anytime you play your rival at the end of the year it hurts when you're on the losing end because we all understand what's at stake and it's not a good feeling. The things that we have right now in our heart, we need to remember them and cherish them and put them in our pocket and pull them back out when it's time.
I told them it's going to be a great, but tough and physical and mental offseason and we've got to break each other down – players and coaches. We've got to understand that there's got to be tremendous development in the offseason from a physical standpoint and a mental standpoint. January, February and March will do us quite well.
On the early interception and what he expects to see from Dan Ellington moving forward…
“Dan throws the pick off his back foot trying to make a play – you can't fault a man for trying to make a play. He was trying to make a spark and it didn't turn out the way he anticipated. There's one of two ways you can go about it. When things aren't going good you can go over there and jump on their butt and really beat them down and it doesn't do anything to them. If you see Dan, you understand what he is. I'm at the office on Thanksgiving, about seven o'clock that evening. Dan's sitting there by himself watching film. I understand what Dan is about. He's an exceptional football player and a very good quarterback. That play right there wasn't indicative of his play. Dan is a heck of a player and he's going to be a force next year for us. The first thing he told me in the meetings last spring was 'Coach, all I want to win.' And he meant it. And you can see it in his play.”
On what he learned about his team this year…
“I learned you can't go out and have to depend on 22 or 24 freshmen and two redshirt freshmen to go out win you a championship. There was a lot of youth on the field at times. When I say youth, I mean their parents had just dropped them off in June. And here they are they're starting their first college football game in August and it's tough. You don't go from stepping on campus to big things happening. You've got to have experience. It is something that is necessary on all levels – business world, team sports, whatever it may be, you've got to have guys that have done it and done it the right way. These guys had to learn on the fly.
And we learned a lot as coaches. And having to coach young men like that you learn a lot because they're thrust into the lineup without having to earn it as much. There's a lot we learned this year.”
On the foundation that these seniors set this year…
“I see a team with a lot of grit that doesn't quit and understands that if we're going to win we're going to win together. They're not a team of a lot of bickering. When seasons like this occur, there can be a huge fallout from guys pointing fingers at one another and not practicing hard. But those guys kept it together. And they kept the rest of the team practicing hard. I never once felt like we went out to practice and wasted a day. They never cashed it in and said 'this is where we are and where we're gonna be, why go out there and do it this way.' I think our seniors, it was important that they led the message and the charge in practice and kept the young guys keep their heads on straight and kept our team moving in the right direction.”
Georgia Southern Head Coach Chad Lunsford
“First off, I just want to say how proud I am of these players, and how proud I am of this staff—tremendous buy-in this year, tremendous job of just buying in what we wanted to do, our plan to win—the Georgia Southern man— the do-right part. The whole thing of our guys just really buying in; it's just awesome. You know, to be able to go from 2-10 season to 9-3, we are still learning. We are still learning as a football team—how to win the right way and all that kind of stuff—I can't say enough about them. I'm really proud and looking forward to the bowl game and getting the number ten (win).”
“We talked about it all week: The process over emotion. Because anytime you get into these types of games, you worry about getting too hot and not concentrating on what got us there. But what our guys have to understand is, Georgia State and Georgia Southern are rivals, but we are really trying to win Sun Belt Championships. We are really trying to win bowl championships. And, so, Georgia State is just another game to get up on that ladder. Our guys have to understand that it's always about process and not emotion.”
