What Georgia coach Kirby Smart said the 44-41 overtime win at No. 15 Tennessee

Everything head coach Kirby Smart said after No. 6 Georgia’s late rally to win 44-41 overtime win at No. 15 Tennessee Saturday afternoon at Neyland Stadium in Knoxville:

Opening Statement

“A lot of respect for Tennessee and the atmosphere that was created here today. It was a great college football game. I’m really proud of our guys. We talked about coming in here and conquering this place, which is not easy to do. When you do something like that, you have to make your own way. You have to absorb blows. I don’t think I had any idea how many blows we would have to absorb. But we did. And we got a resilient group. I think that’s a really good football team we just played. I don’t think we played our best football, especially defensively. Give them a lot of credit that they made plays down the field. I got a lot of respect for their quarterback.

“But just some guys that you mentioned, Bo comes in off the bench and plays right tackle. Unbelievable. Gunner took some shots today and stood in there and made some big-time throws. I thought the offensive staff did an incredible job. That’s a really good defense we just played, guys. And they, outside of probably two drives in the second half where I felt like we stalled out, they did unbelievable. We kept them off balance, off tempo, Mike and Put a great plan together. A couple special runs that we had not run that really helped us. So just all in all, a great game. But I feel almost like we have to apologize. I don’t think that we should have won that game, but they outplayed us in a lot of ways. But that’s the way it goes. I’ve had one against them about nine or 10 years ago that certainly didn’t go that way. So it comes and goes.” 

What Georgia quarterback Gunner Stockton showed him

“He’s so tough. He takes shot after shot. I thought he did a good job with the run game, I’m talking about his run game. It saved us on a couple third downs. In the red area he made a couple runs. That plus-one run game can be good for us if he can protect himself. I thought he grew up today. He grew up a lot. He stood in there. And the fourth-down throw he made was really good. And protection was better. I still wouldn’t trust the pocket to stay in there, but you know that’s who he is. I think we’re going to evolve with him where we can scramble and make some really big-time plays if he’ll keep his eyes downfield when he scrambles.”

The touchdown on fourth down to tie the game in the fourth quarter

“I don’t know what they were in. We were just going to take a shot there. We needed to score fast. We didn’t need to keep milking time. And so I felt like they were defending the sticks and we were trying to get a touchdown. And sometimes you get an advantage when people play the sticks. We were willing to take a shot and we didn’t need to, because it was no guarantee that we were going to get the two (point conversion). So I was on the headphones the entire drive saying, hey, we need to score quickly because we may have to get the ball back. I can’t assume it’s a tie. The two-point conversion was the play of the game because that actually gives us a chance.” 

This being a young Georgia and winning on the road in a hostile environment

“Yeah, they grew up. I mean, defense for two weeks has heard about how good they are. They got punched in the face. I did think we played the run well early. And then we started having to make some adjustments to sacrifice some on the run to protect some guys. And in the past we’ve played (Tennessee) well. We didn’t give up big plays. Today we didn’t do that. It’s not all on the corners. We didn’t have a guy in the middle of the field. There should be a guy in the middle of the field. They can’t throw that ball to the first one. We misjudged the ball. They’re correctable things, (that’s) a good thing. And we really weren’t beat. We just misplayed it and that’s tough to swallow.”

If Georgia has to win these kind of games to have a special season

“Yeah, most people you would say, I mean, I would prefer it not be this early in the season. But I mean, it doesn’t get any easier from here. Our league, I don’t know what’s going on in college football today. But this league is tough. I mean, every Saturday, I think games are going to be like that. I told our team, I would not be shocked at all it’s four-quarter game to come down to one possession, which it did.”

The progress made by Georgia running back Josh McCray

“He’s a big man. He was a difference maker. We thought our advantage was our conditioning level. We felt like we were a better-conditioned team. And I really thought there after the first drive, something happened. All right, here we go. We’re getting ready to rock and roll and try to, but (Tennessee) bowed their neck. They were a playoff football team (last season) and they stopped the run and they forced us to do different things. But McCray was great today. He was really instrumental. I told him in overtime, I said, guys, let’s get this big guy going. And of course, Nate had the big run and then (McCray) came in and he finished it off. He’s a great complement to what we have.”

Winning five times at Neyland Stadium 

“Well, I lost a lot of times in a row as a player, still still sticks with me. Have my memories, good and bad, of playing here. Five in a row is a lot. Going back to Alabama, it’s probably more than that.”

How this game helps Gunner Stockton’s confidence 

“I think it’s immense. Still I want to judge by watching the tape. There are plays in there he made that can be made. He’s got to settle down and have confidence. The best thing he’s got is his legs. And he’s got a good arm, but he’s got to trust his legs and use them to extend plays, not just run. These guys are fast and all that. He tries to run the sideline and he might only get two or three yards. Or if he runs north and south and sticks it up in there, he’s going to find some honey holes in that pocket. I think right now, when he steps back, it’s hard to pass pro for a quarterback that goes back and does those things. He’s growing up, he’s getting there. I’m going to tell you what he did now, there’s a lot of information goes through the building. Check this, do this. They had a great plan. I felt like we put together a lot of (a) check system around him. And this crowd noise, he did a really good job of it. First drive, guys, that was like clockwork.”

Georgia’s defense keeping its confidence after giving up points 

“That defensive group in there, they ain’t losing their confidence. One player may have a little doubt, but that group in there, they think they can stop anybody anytime. That’s the fun group to be around. They knew it in overtime. They thought they were going to block the field goal. I mean, they believe and they’re a confident group. Now we got to play smarter. Look, that’s a hard game to prep for. We worked the hell out of our guys to get ready for that game and probably overworked those guys. It came down to things that, we didn’t not execute, we just got beat over top or didn’t make a play. And it’s frustrating because I thought we would play better defense.” 

His message after Tennessee’s missed field goal to end regulation

“I didn’t say anything. I talked about whether it’d be defense. I talked about what breakdowns we had on previous drives and told Coach Bobo what works in the red area. Let’s focus on what works. We’re not going to do a bunch of hoo-ra at that point. I think the biggest thing is we got to play defense first. And we got the stop, which was huge. Put that kicker right back out there after that kick, which he drawed. And I thought Mike and the offensive staff came up with an awesome play that we’ve, we put a play in that we thought would really help us, and it plays off other plays. And that run they had was a designed scheme run that we got from some NFL teams.” 

Georgia running the ball well

“Well, that’s who we are. If we’re going to be good this year, we’re going to have to run the ball. We’re not going to drop back 35, 40 times a game with Gunner and be a drop-back pass team. We can’t. We can’t play behind in games. We can’t do that. We have to be a play action, run, let our quarterback make some design runs, which he did. I mean, it worked to perfection other than the fact that we couldn’t stop them defensively.”

Gunner Stockton throwing the ball from the pocket

“I thought that they didn’t play us like those other teams did. They weren’t soft in coverage. They had better rushers. They grabbed us a lot. I thought the officials ended up calling some holds, but we kept feeling like we’re running by them and they’re grabbing us. We weren’t getting to hit some of our shots. I thought the wideouts played extremely hard, played really well, and Gunner made some plays and probably missed some, too.”

If he thinks Tennessee will make the SEC Championship game

“You just never know in this league, right? I mean, the schedule both of us got are so hard and who knows what could happen in this league. There’s a lot of really good teams in this league. So it’s going to be about who can avoid injuries, which they’re down some guys. We’re down some guys. We got Ernest, he couldn’t finish the second half. We had to go to our third, fourth tackle. And it’s just crazy that the depth level that I think are going to be all over college football, but especially the SEC, and then throw nine games in a couple years, we’re really going to have a hard time having a good team.”

The play of OL Bo Hughley

“I didn’t know they made the change. They basically told me over the headphones, he thought that Bo was going to play better and he thought he would finish stronger than him. He was getting a little sloppy and a bit tired. And, you know, I think we were going to have to find a rhythm of playing guys. It was hot today. We were worried about the conditioning level. We practiced hard this week and you’ve got to be careful on the practice field, some of those guys got tired. I hope they can come back strong next week.”

The touchdown to tie the game in the 4th quarter from London Humphreys

“I thought the catch he made on the wheel route on the sideline was even harder where he reached out and got it, but felt like he faded back into that ball and caught it. I couldn’t tell from where I was if it was a bobble or not, but talk about a huge play. Wow.”

London Humphreys being emotional after the game

“I mean, gosh, I’ve never met a kid as nice as him. I mean, he is just the most humble, light, best kid. He had the fumble last week and he came over to me in the fourth quarter and was like, Coach, why didn’t you yell at me or cuss me out? I was like, buddy, you’re just too nice. I couldn’t do it. I know that he plays so hard on special teams. He’s from the state. He’s played at Vandy. I mean, you ought to hear him. He’s just so intelligent and so hard working that it could not have happened to a better man.”

Georgia freshman OL Dontrell Glover

“I mean, geez, a freshman guard coming in here and playing? I mean, incredible. I don’t know how he played. They were saying one of the runs that we thought we should have scored on, we kept having to kick field goals in the red area. One of them, they had a run through, they said it was his, but I mean, he didn’t come in here. This guy shows up and he played on a great high school program. Well coached, really well coached offensive line and walks in and just starts playing and he’s natural picking things up. I mean, where would we be without him right now? He has been a blessing to us.”

Georgia DB Joenel Aguero

“Well, it was some good and bad. You know, he missed a couple tackles there. He had the man-to-man late in the game. It was third down. If we stop him, we get the ball back. And Joenel works really hard. That game was a little anxiety for him because he doesn’t like tempo, having to get lined up, thinking, changing calls. He gets frustrated with that. And he didn’t get to play against them last year. We moved Dan Jackson down there. And he played well. I was really happy.”

Proving naysayers wrong

“I think we know who we are, you know? I mean, I don’t mean this directed at Tennessee, but I told our players, it’s like, there’s a lot of whistling by the graveyard. You know, a lot of people don’t know what that saying means, but there’s a lot of whistling by the graveyard. That ain’t who we are. So I’m not saying, I don’t think – Tennessee’s physical and they’re tough, but there’s a lot of outside of whistling by the graveyard. A little bit of acting like one thing, but we feel like our team is a certain identity. We’re not gonna go down without a fight. We’re nowhere near where we need to be. We got some kids that aren’t afraid of fighting.”

Winning this game with a young team

“It gives you confidence on the road. Look, guys, we’re going to be back at home against a really good team. We’re going to be on the road against really good teams. I mean, it can be good and bad. It’s how you take that medicine. And I’m going to make sure they take it the right way, and we get better from it. We have to improve, and that’s the goal. We want to be on an elevating trajectory, not a falling one.”

What he learned about his team

“They never say die. We told them coming in it was going to be blow by blow. How many could we take? Could we sustain? Could we keep throwing back? And we did, but we also cut it way too close. So when we got a chance to put somebody away, which I thought we did, we got to do it.”