Oct. 3, 2012

The University of South Carolina football team worked out Wednesday afternoon at the Bluff Road practice fields. The sixth-ranked Gamecocks (5-0, 3-0 SEC) are preparing for Saturday’s SEC Eastern Division showdown with the fifth-ranked Georgia Bulldogs (5-0, 3-0 SEC).

Game time is set for 7 p.m. at a sold out Williams-Brice Stadium in Columbia. The game will be televised nationally by ESPN with Brent Musburger and Kirk Herbstreit in the booth and Heather Cox on the sidelines.

Despite having to shuttle his tackles for much of the season, offensive line coach Shawn Elliott is pleased with how his group has performed for the most part. “We all can get better,” noted Elliott. “With Mike (Matulis) having the injury last week we had to install Brandon (Shell) at right tackle so it was kind of a new combination group that was playing together. But all in all, I’m optimistic about where we’re headed. I think we can improve. I think we’re getting better and I think we’ll see the results.”

Elliott knows the Georgia defense has some standout players, but he doesn’t game plan any differently for them. “I don’t target any players. Those guys are great players – Jarvis Jones, the big Jenkins guy inside – but it has nothing to do with the game plan. We’re not going to change our game plan. We’ve got to go out there and do our job. If we changed every week we’d never be good at anything. Hopefully we’ll stick with what we do and play well and go out there and put on a good show,” added Elliott.

Junior quarterback Connor Shaw knows he will have to keep his emotions in check this week despite playing against his home state school. “You can’t let the game get bigger than it is,” said the Flowery Branch, Ga. native. “It’s another SEC conference game and that’s how we treat it. We know it’s a big game and I’m from Georgia. We have a lot of guys from Georgia. But we just can’t treat it more than it is. It’s just a game.”

The Gamecocks will return to the practice fields on Thursday afternoon.