In preparing for his team’s trip to Williams-Brice Stadium, Eastern Illinois coach Adam Cushing tried to gauge what to expect as far as what the atmosphere would be.
Everyone Cushing talked to raved about South Carolina’s home fans, the passion they bring into the stadium and how loud it gets when “Sandstorm” is played on kickoffs.
Cushing said the atmosphere lived up to expectations, as Eastern Illinois lost 46-0 to South Carolina on Saturday. The game was the first for new Gamecock head Shane Beamer and first that Williams-Brice Stadium allowed at full capacity since 2019. Last year, capacity was limited to 20,000 because of COVID-19 restrictions.
There were no restrictions on attendance this year, and the announced crowd was just over 64,000 on Saturday.
“It was an unbelievable atmosphere. I heard all of that from so many different people coming into the game. If it lives up to all of this, it is going to be incredible — and it was,” Cushing said. “You could tell the fans were excited to be back in the stadium. That was evident from the jump and it was a really good atmosphere. I think they are really, really excited for what coach Beamer is going to do here.
“They are going to keep this thing rolling and I know for a fact the fans love being out there and being back in the stands. You can feel the energy, and our guys are going to take something from it for sure.”
Saturday’s game was the first time since 2019 that EIU played a Power Five opponent and first time since 2018 since they played against a team from the Southeastern Conference. Arkansas beat the Panthers 55-20 that year.
The atmosphere wasn’t the only thing that Cushing was impressed with on Saturday night. He also had high praise for Gamecock starting quarterback Zeb Noland.
The 24-year-old Noland was starting in place of Luke Doty, who suffered a foot injury last month and is hopeful to be back next week against East Carolina. Noland, who played at Iowa State and North Dakota State, had plans of being a graduate assistant at USC but was pressed into duty after Doty’s injury and the Gamecocks’ inexperience at quarterback.
Noland was 13-of-22 passing for 121 yards and four touchdowns before being replaced by Jason Brown in the fourth quarter.
“I give Zeb a ton of credit, and he did exactly what the coaches wanted him to do,” Cushing said. “You can tell he was savvy out there. There were times when the clock was running down and he did the right thing and times when play was breaking down that he did the right thing.
“You can tell he is a veteran quarterback and he’s got a ton of experience back there. He is going to be a good asset for their football team.”