Georgia football coach Kirby Smart met with the media following the Bulldogs’ 31-17 win over Tennessee on Saturday night.
The win keeps Georgia at two losses on the season and all but locks up its spot in the 12-team College Football Playoffs.
Following the game, Smart discussed the strong play of Georgia’s offensive line, the Bulldogs’ defense and much more. Here’s everything Smart said.
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On the play of Georgia’s offensive line
“It’s probably the first game that we haven’t subbed an offensive lineman the whole time. And we were concerned about that because we didn’t know how Tate would hold up. And that game meant a lot to Tate. Tate grew up in a Tennessee family and a dad that was a Tennessee fan. That game’s a lot of pride to him. And I thought his energy and toughness really showed. And just a week ago, he dinged it and couldn’t go. And he went out there tonight and really played physical, played tough.
But those guys, they took a lot of criticism from people. And really unwarranted, in my opinion, because it’s funny when you talk to people that actually know football, they know how hard it is to play in that environment. And then people just say, ‘Sacks, they couldn’t do this, they couldn’t do that.’ When you get behind in the game, it makes it hard. Tonight, they played aggressively, they played well.”
On Carson Beck’s leadership
“He talks to the team, he talks to the offense almost every week. And several guys talked to the team on Monday. But I mean, every time somebody hears that, they think like, ‘Ooh, team leaders speak to team. World changing event.’ It’s not that way. It’s just there was an emotional talk that I think guys really wanted to make other guys aware of the significance of this game and not to take it lightly on Monday.
“Carson carries himself well. And I’ve been very consistent, even with some of the dumbest questions in the world, no offense, about our quarterback, because we see him every day. He gets judged on outcomes and stats, but we don’t judge based on that. We judge based internally on what gives us the best chance to win. I’m never going to falter over what I see with my eyes. What I see with my eyes is a guy that’s really good in the pocket. He’s got poise, he’s got composure. He puts us in the right play over and over again and makes good decisions.”
On the play by Dominic Lovett to end the first quarter when Tennessee jumped offsides
“It was huge. I think it got going. I don’t know that, I mean, Carson threw some good balls before that. We just didn’t always catch them. And he’s done a good job of that. And we’ve got to continue to create depth in our roster. And I thought guys like Chauncey Bowens, Nitro Tuggle stepped up tonight and played, Anthony Evans fought to come back. We’ve just got more guys having to play.”
On Georgia freshman wide receiver Nitro Tuggle earning more playing time
“Practiced better. He practiced better. If he practices better again, then he’ll play more. And Daniel Harris has practiced better every day, every week. And the guys who practice better get rewarded for it.”
On Georgia receiver London Humphreys catch on game sealing drive
“Great catch down the sideline. That was a very unique play because we tried to get them to false start. They didn’t, and our center was off balance and was falling back and he just went ahead and snapped it. So it turned into a kind of a busted play that was a big play. And London’s been great. He’s been such a great kid, such a hard worker.”
On the performance of Georgia’s defense
“We stopped the run a little better and that gave us a chance. I was really proud of the secondary because you’re in some really tough cover environments out there, like in space. And some of it, they helped us. I think they dropped some balls that were like bang, bang plays, but they didn’t get behind us. And that’s the big achievement, keep them in front of you, tackle them. I wasn’t real pleased with the run stopping, but we did enough.”
On Beck lowering his shoulder on a run
“I didn’t talk to him about it, but I’m glad he did. I thought Mike and me, we challenged him with the backs out that we had some plays for him, and sometimes you’ve got to man up. I texted him earlier in the week and said, ‘If we do this, are you down with it? And he said, ‘I’m going to get it, Coach. Just give me the ball.’ And some of them were not by design. You know, the scramble was a great play that he scores on. And then he had another quarterback draw off of an empty that he broke two or three tackles and got it going. He’s a good athlete. Look, guys, he’s a good athlete. He can make plays with his feet.”
On the injury to wide receiver Dillon Bell
“It’s (his) ankle. I don’t know if it’s got a high component. We looked at it tonight. He was not able to go. I don’t know how severe it will be or how long it will be. It’s just — I mean, look, guys, there’s a bunch of injuries. Earnest Greene. I mean, we’ve had guy after guy after guy after guy go down. Smael, CJ Allen both gave us great efforts tonight, but they were unable to practice all week. And the back situations, Cash doesn’t practice all week. Makes himself available to help the team. It’s just, you’ve got to choose. You want to play these schedules like this, then you’re going to have that, you know? And they’re reducing our roster size, so it’s gonna make it even tougher.”
On the offense playing complimentary football, sustaining long drives
“It was huge. I mean, I didn’t think our defense got the stops when they needed to. Like, we want to create field position for our offense, and we didn’t. We gave up third downs, and then we pin, pin, pin, and then we’re down there at the 10-yard line, the 9-yard line, the 8-yard line. One of the biggest drives was the one that we got the offensive PI. And then we’re probably going to have to punt. I mean, we’re on head phones, it’s first-and-25, it’s hard to overcome. Nitro makes a big play, they get a facemask, which gives us the first down. Otherwise, we may not overcome that drive. But it was very complementary. I mean, somebody told me that they had a 15- or 16-play drive that ate up a ton of time, and then we had a 17-play drive that took up a ton of time. And the meat of the second half was in that time.”
On what it meant to the Georgia defense to get Smael Mondon back at linebacker
“His confidence, his ability to make plays and tackles, his instincts are huge. I think back to all the games he didn’t play in. He missed all this time for this time, and he’s gotten good reports on his foot. He’s had two or three x-rays that look like it’s healed. So that’s great news for him.”
On Georgia punter Brett Thorson tackling Boo Carter on a punt return
“Amazing. I mean, that’s what they do in Australia, right? He came out of nowhere. I was thinking this guy might be a linebacker. I mean, it’s the first real punt return we’ve given up in, I think, two and a half years. And we thought we had a good plan. We had three gunners out there. We missed tackles on that play. And we think their returner is really good. We challenged our guys. But he broke out. And getting him on the ground, what was the result of that drive? Was it three? I think it was three. So we ended up holding to a field goal, a four-point play, and a tremendous effort by him. I can promise you we don’t practice tackling much with him. He did it on his own.”
On what Georgia wanted to prove
“That their resilience held. And no matter who, next man up mentality. And the kids in our room that haven’t played yet, and sometimes they want to pout. They need to realize that you don’t know when your time’s coming. Will you work while you wait, is what we say. Will you work while you wait? And Chauncey Bowens worked while he waited. And it paid off for him. Nitro, he had a great week of practice. We need more of that.”
On Georgia’s receivers responding to a poor performance at Ole Miss
“It’s awesome. It’s great. I think we can do better. I think we can do better. And I think we gotta do better. Because we’re gonna keep playing really high quality opponents. And we gotta get healthy. And we gotta get better.”
On tight end Oscar Delp’s performance
“I thought Mike did a great job with the tight end passing game. Ben made some plays. Lawson had the play that probably would have been a huge play. The corner came off his man and makes a break up. And then Oscar had a huge touchdown. Oscar could have had a bigger night too with the throw over the middle there where he got popped and the ball came out. But proud of those tight ends, man. They haven’t had the year they wanted to have, but they had a really big night tonight.”
On the pressure Georgia generated on Tennessee quarterback Nico Iamaleava
“It’s hard to get him down. I mean, that guy’s a tough competitor now. I mean, I got a lot of respect for him to go through what he went through this week. He’s got great quickness, great vision, and he’s a really talented quarterback with a bright future.”
On if it’s easier to coach after a loss
“I don’t know that it’s easier. I’ll be honest with you, it’s not. I mean, you can make a case, it’s challenging, but you got their attention. I think it’s more about morale and how you lead. How you handle losses says a lot about you. And these kids are gonna grow up to be contributors to society and how they respond to tough situations, man. They’re so much more prepared for bad things to happen in their life because of what they do in this organization and what they go through and the criticism they take. They’ll never be as criticized as they are by the outside world in this sport. And I’m proud of the way they stuck together and kind of bonded and came out and played well.”
On Georgia’s 92-yard scoring drive to ice the game
“Just impressive, man. I mean, we never came into a fourth down, I don’t think, the whole time. And I was willing to, I really wanted to go for it on the fourth and five at midfield earlier. And I was like, you know what, we’re playing good defense. We’re playing great momentum. And we’re across the 50, and they had jumped offside a couple times. But going back to that drive, it was tremendous. I thought Mike dialed it up. We had a bonehead mistake with 12 in the huddle. You can’t do that, cannot do that. Ultimately, you cannot do that, but he stuck with the play call. He didn’t change it, and he was aggressive. And Carson made a great decision, because Carson can check that play if they have pressure. And it was a little cloudy, and if he checks it, we’re probably not gonna hit that big play to Ben. And Carson did a great job, putting a good play, a good package together, and made a good decision there. And then Nate scored, and Chaz was the fullback, so he was fired up.”
On how Georgia navigated the SEC slate
“I’ll let y’all judge. I mean, everybody thinks we should win every game. I’m very proud of our team. If you told me that this group would be this resilient, I would probably say I don’t doubt it, because they’re great kids. And they played the toughest schedule in our league, and we still got two games left of tough teams. Georgia Tech’s been a great team, and UMass has played three or four SEC teams already.”
If Georgia was overlooked in the CFB Playoff rankings
“Like I said after the game, I don’t know what they’re looking for. I really don’t. I wish they could really define the criteria. I wish they could do the eyeball test where they come down here and look at the people we’re playing against and look at them. And you can’t see that stuff on TV. So I don’t know what they look for, but that’s for somebody else to decide. I’m worried about our team.”
On the selection committee criticizing Georgia’s offense
“I think they’re gonna always do that, because that’s what I said about the eyeball test. But they’re not in that environment. They’re not at Ole Miss in that environment playing against that defense, which is top five in the country with one of the best pass rushers in the country. And they’re fired up. They got a two-score lead, and they’re coming out to play. They don’t know, they don’t understand that. So they’ll probably look at this week and say, well, we just played against one of the best defenses in the country. And we went for 453, and could have been more. So it’s just the tale of each week. And we’re trying to be the cumulative, whole, really good quality team. And not be on this emotional roller coaster that’s controlled by people in a room somewhere that may not understand football like we do as coaches. We as coaches look at people and say, what can we do better? How do we get better? I respect their decision. I respect their opinion but it’s different in our league. So, Go Dawgs.”
