What Shawn Elliott said after South Carolina’s 35-28 loss to Texas A&M

Here’s what South Carolina coach Shawn Elliott said after his Gamecocks fell 35-28 at Texas A&M on Saturday:

Shawn Elliott: “When you reflect back on the game … I think our team made improvements.”

— David Cloninger (@DCTheState) October 31, 2015

Elliott: “We need to make a few more plays offensively. The defense gave us a few more opportunities there at the end to win.” — David Cloninger (@DCTheState) October 31, 2015

Elliott says USC would have gone for two and the win if it had scored at the end.

— David Cloninger (@DCTheState) October 31, 2015

Elliott: “A loss is a loss. And we understand that. We’re very disappointed in what we didn’t accomplish.” — David Cloninger (@DCTheState) October 31, 2015

Shawn Elliott: ‘We were really close. But close isn’t good enough.’

— GoGamecocks.com (@gogamecocks) October 31, 2015

Elliott on Orth’s sacks late in the game: Line slid one way, and got overwhelmed. First-down sack dictated the next. — David Cloninger (@DCTheState) October 31, 2015

Elliott: “Perry was not the forgotten guy. I think Perry played pretty well. The INT for the TD … if he could have that one throw back ..”

— David Cloninger (@DCTheState) October 31, 2015

Elliott: “I’m behind Perry Orth at this point. I think our team believes in him.” Made mistakes, but whole team did. — David Cloninger (@DCTheState) October 31, 2015

Elliott on defense: “It was an improvement on a year ago, if you want to say that. We don’t get playcalls made to our defensive front.”

— David Cloninger (@DCTheState) October 31, 2015

Shawn Elliott: ‘You can’t pin the loss on Perry Orth. Perry was a bright spot.’ — GoGamecocks.com (@gogamecocks) October 31, 2015

Elliott: “There’s plays we could have both made” on offense and defense.

— David Cloninger (@DCTheState) October 31, 2015

Elliott on D changes: Tried to play press man. Nobody was redirecting receivers. Been a problem all year. — David Cloninger (@DCTheState) October 31, 2015

Elliott: Not taking over the defense at all. But there are obvious things the team can do to get better.

— David Cloninger (@DCTheState) October 31, 2015

Elliott: Looking to make significant improvements on the football team. Gamecocks didn’t back down — just didn’t play well enough. — David Cloninger (@DCTheState) October 31, 2015

Randy Capps

Randy Capps is a contributing writer for Saturday Down South. He covers SEC football, South Carolina and Georgia.