Kirby Smart fires back at question posed about Georgia run game

Many expected Saturday’s matchup between Georgia and Arkansas to be a highly competitive game. That notion only grew stronger when Georgia announced that quarterback JT Daniels would not play in the game. Daniels aggravated his previous injury ahead of the game, leading to the quarterback’s absence per Georgia coach Kirby Smart. Instead of a close game, Georgia’s defense pitched its second consecutive shutout, beating Arkansas 37-0.

Stetson Bennett got the start at quarterback for Georgia, but he only threw the ball 11 times. Bennett completed seven passes for 72 yards. Georgia attempted to run the ball 56 times in the game, totaling 273 yards and three touchdowns on the ground.

Smart: Georgia did what they thought it would take to win

After the game, Smart was asked about Georgia’s offensive game plan entering the game. A reporter asked Smart how much of the disparity between rushing attempts and passes thrown was due to Arkansas’ defensive gameplan and Bennett getting the nod at quarterback for Georgia. After Smart was asked about Georgia’s “reinvigorated” run game, he had a strong response.

“Well, it’s called a scheme. It’s not a reinvigorated run game as much as it is you take what they give you,” Smart said to reporters after the game. “We felt like it was important to play the game patient but aggressive. I would have definitely thought there might have been 53 runs in this game, 57 runs, whatever there were because that was the kind of game plan that we needed to approach it with. And you know what, it might be different next week. The best teams I’ve ever been around can take on the personality of what they need to take on.

“I’m really proud of the offensive line, I’m proud of the offensive coaching staff who did an incredible job game planning against what is a very good defense in my opinion. A very good defense. They did a really good job of game planning for that. So, it had nothing to do with Stetson being the quarterback. It had nothing to do with the reinvigorated run game, it had to do with what we thought it took to win.”

Smart updates Georgia’s quarterback situation

Daniels has been dealing with a lat injury, and he aggravated it ahead of the game against Arkansas, ultimately resulting in him being ruled out. After the game, Smart addressed Daniels’ status, saying that he is week to week.

“Yeah, it’s week to week, guys. I mean, do your research on a lat injury. It’s one of the largest muscles in the body,” Smart said. “It can be strained, it can be stretched, it can be torn. Dak Prescott went through the injury, and Dak’s we think is more extreme than we think JT’s is. JT’s is a grade 1 lat sprain, and we think we’re gonna be able to get him back. But we don’t know when.”

While Georgia would obviously like to have Daniels back on the field, Smart believes in Stetson Bennett as his starting quarterback.

“We’re hopefully going to get him back, but I can’t explain it any more than that,” Smart said. “But I’m not losing sleep over it, guys. Stetson Bennett is a really good quarterback, I keep saying that and people don’t believe us but he’s a good quarterback.”