WATCH: Kirby Smart gets Georgia-Auburn rivalry week underway

ATHENS, Ga. — Georgia head coach Kirby Smart spoke with reporters mid-day Monday in Athens. The Bulldogs, coming off of a loss against Alabama on Saturday, begin preparation to play Auburn this week and will look to put the loss behind them. Smart was asked several questions about Georgia-Alabama and the way things played out in a crazy one Saturday night before turning the attention to the next game. Here’s everything the head coach had to say, plus video from the press conference.

Kirby Smart Opening Statement

“Yesterday we got in super late obviously on Sunday morning, and then got started on Auburn on Sunday. They’ve got a really good football team. I’ve got a lot of respect for Hugh. I’ve gone against him for a lot of years. Obviously the record may not indicate, but the record doesn’t speak for what this team is. But they’ve got a really good football team, and today we start on them. With that, I’ll open it up for questions.”

Smart on improving execution…

“How do we increase the execution? Yeah, you try to show them on tape and explain where we went wrong. You check your quality control of how much did we rep that, how much did we rep that versus that look, did we do it enough that we can actually say they should have gotten it right? Because if you do everything once and you only get one look at it — which that’s not what anybody does — that’s not enough. But if you do everything 10 or 20 times, you can’t do as much. And so you get lower execution but you get higher volume, and it’s a constant balance between what you’re doing and how well you execute. And plus on defense it’s hard because you don’t know what you’re getting. You don’t dictate the play. They dictate the play in the formation and you respond to it. So it’s offense, defense, both. And there’s great examples of really good execution, and there’s great examples of poor execution.”

Smart on if the offense needs to play more desperate early given its fourth-down success Saturday… 

“I don’t know. I don’t have a great answer for that. I can’t sit here and say they need to play desperate. I think that’s not a good choice of words to play desperate. I think they need to play aggressive and play loose, but I don’t want to ever be playing in desperation. But there was good execution. There was some good execution on third down. There was some poor execution on third down. Some of third down was knowing you have fourth down, which is not really the case in every game. That was a very different game to evaluate from a standpoint of the second half because everything was very different than maybe a start of a game. It’s hard to even evaluate because of that because you had to throw the ball. You had to catch up. But I’m certainly proud of the resiliency they showed to do it. But just as proud as I am of that, I’m disappointed at the start of it. But like I said, we’ve got to go get ready for Auburn, who’s a really, really good football team.” 

Smart on the dip in third-down success on offense this year compared to last year…

“A little bit lack of execution, a little bit — well, let me go back. The reason we were number one in the country in third downs last year is because we had very short distances. So we did something right on first and second down, and when we did have third downs they were third down minimals because we converted a ton of plays on first and second down last year. So when you start backing it up on third down, it doesn’t take a PhD to realize you’re not going to be as good. So the inevitable question from the media is why are you down on third down? Because they’re longer. Why are they longer? Because you’re not doing as well on first and second. And those all lead to execution. What can we do better to avoid third and longs because you will not be successful in third and longs. That’s way more critical decision-making than I can’t just analyze third down. You’ve got to analyze the whole thing.”

Kirby Smart on tackling issues and if some of it stems from swarming to the ball…

“Yeah, we grade swarm. We chart swarm, which is effort to the ball by other people. Football is played in a way now that there are a lot of one-on-one battles and throws. It’s not usually in a phone booth. If you miss the tackle, which means A, B, C gap.

You’re not in those tight areas, but you usually tackle well. We don’t knock back tackle well, meaning when contact’s made, does he stop and go backwards? If he’s falling forwards for three and four yards, that’s been more our MO is falling forward, not knock- back tackling, which we’ve got to do at a better rate. But I don’t think it’s a swarm problem. I certainly think that we tackle at a high rate historically, and tackling as a whole is down across all of college football. But certainly for us defensively, we want to tackle better. Some of that has to do with who you’re playing against, and I think a lot of them that we had the other night were pretty good players.”

Smart on Nate Frazier, the running backs and when Roderick Robinson might be back…

“Yeah, not sure on Rod. Nate’s doing a great job. He’s improving week to week. He takes a lot of pride in his performance. He’s a hard, hard worker. He’s very conscientious about it. Trevor’s been playing really good. Cash opened some things up for us the other night. We didn’t get to play Branson near enough. But there’s no explanation. He’s not doing anything wrong. Really, the opportunity didn’t present itself the other night because of the type game. It’s very clear to see the type game it became after three series or four series. That wasn’t going to be a patient, methodical game that might fit Nate more than what it turned into.” 

Smart on what he has seen from the team since the Alabama game…

“Well, I haven’t seen them much. To be honest with you, Sunday is their day off. So I don’t get to see a lot of them. I visited with a lot of guys, and they’ve been in good spirits. They’re excited for an opportunity to go play. They know what’s at stake with Auburn. It’s a huge historic rivalry. This game has always been that way. For me, when you turn the tape on and you watch their defense and their offense, outside of turnovers, they’re a really good football team. They’ve turned the ball over, and they’ve made that very clear. Look, they’ve got good players. They’ve got good wideouts, quarterback’s playing better and better, and they’ve gone back and forth between them.

But the focus for us is on them because I know what they can do. I know what kind of coach Hugh Freeze is. I know what kind of offense they’ve got. I know their defensive coordinator. They’re going to have a good team and be ready to play.”

Smart on if anything jumped out after rewatching the Alabama film…

“Yeah, some things probably did. Some things that when you sit back and watch the tape pop up, but nothing that I would want to share. We’ve got guys that, we’ve got to do a better job as coaches, do a better job as players, and do a better job as an organization, but nothing that’s important to share.” 

Kirby Smart on how hard it is to get freshmen ready to play…

“Yeah, those guys didn’t really play much. Well, it’s been an ongoing process since most of them got here midyear. So we had 15 practices in the spring. We had summer. We had 26 practices in fall camp. Then we’ve had all the practices up until now.

And I think those guys are continuing to get better. You always worry about a little bit of a lull in there when they hit a road of, well, am I going to play or am I not going to play? So that’s usually passed by now. We’ve played however many games, four games. So they start to realize, oh, well, I might not be up right now. And that’s when you get alarm bells ringing. We may need them.

So how hard is it to get them ready? It’s hard. You’ve got to prepare. You’ve got to get ready. And really, in the cases that you get guys playing, it’s usually a phenomenal talent or a need, a tremendous need, meaning you have a deficit at that position. He’s got to go play. In the case of KJ, he’s a talented player.

We have other talented players, but sometimes you have people in front of them. And it’s about growth, development. We talked today, you know, Jordan Davis hadn’t really played at this point in time this rest of the year. Quay Walker didn’t touch the field. Eric Stokes didn’t do anything. Ladd (McConkey) was on the scout team. They were all pretty good players.”

Smart on Georgia being a more penalized team… 

“I don’t know. They gave a more heightened awareness. It was one of the big things going into the season. They were going to call defensive holding at a higher rate. I don’t know what those statistics indicate. I know we’ve had it called a few more times than we have in the past. That was not a call the other night that was really called very much. But we are higher at penalties, and there’s no great explanation. There’s also not a stat that says being higher at penalties equals losses. 

Usually you’re at wrestle teams to get penalized, to play aggressive, and sometimes that works in reverse. So I don’t have a great explanation for you. 

Smart on play of Georgia’s tight ends… 

“You know, it’s different because I’m evaluating that room based on that room. I’m not evaluating that room based on last year. It’s a completely different room. Certainly have made some plays and left some plays out there and continue to grow and get better is the hope. I’ve got a lot of confidence in those guys’ ability. We’ve got good players in our tight end room.

Smart on doing anything differently coming off of a loss… 

“I don’t think so. I think we have a very set routine here, and we don’t make our routine based on outcomes. So whatever number of wins we’ve had prior to this one, we did the same thing we’re going to do today. And I really believe in that process. I believe in, you know, telling the truth about the opponent,telling the strengths and weaknesses of who you’re about to play, and that you coach every week. 

Kirby Smart on Auburn receivers Malcom Simmons and Cam Coleman… 

“Fast, athletic, great size. I mean, they were phenomenal players coming out. They both have special attributes in terms of ball skills, playmaking ability, speed, dynamic receivers. And, you know, those guys, you want to catch them when they’re young. You want to catch them when they’re early in the season, not as they’re getting seasoned vets of the SEC. You can see these guys growing up on tape as they make more of them play.”

Smart on Jordan Hall, Sacovie White and London Humphreys… 

“Yeah, hopeful that all of them are able to play.” 

Smart on communication of offensive line, play without Tate Ratledge…

“The offensive line did some really good things. I thought we challenged them to communicate better. We had better communication, especially in the front. We were able to run the ball with some success there early while it was still relative.

It’s hard to evaluate the offensive line in that game because of the way the game went. Now, they did some good things and some things they can do better, but it’s a different evaluation because it became such a different kind of game.”

Smarat on Hugh Freeze offense…

“Yeah, it’s the RPO game. He’s hung his hat on the ability to have RPOs, and I think he’s done a good job adjusting to where it’s not just that. For a while, he was an RPO guy. When RPOs came out, he was ahead of the game at doing those. He’s evolved. He still does those.

He still has the quarterback make decisions on plays, whether to throw it or run it, because you can take advantage of defenses doing that. But he’s added new wrinkles and twists that you see in the NFL, you see across college football, using motions and eye candy and sorts of things to create an advantage or create a leverage or a mismatch. So he’s done a good job evolving while keeping the RPO game. The RPO game is the biggest difference. They are fully committed to being able to do and throw RPOs.”

Kirby Smart on defending the edge, what fixes were made in the second half…

“Well, some of that scheme, some of that’s player. It’s shared. And so improvement of what we’re calling based on where they’re attacking and how we’re playing it technique-wise is a combination of things.

You can improve on those. But the common fan likes to talk about contain, but contain is built on the call and a lot of things outside of just keep contain. It’s not that simple. There’s defenses where you’re built to go underneath, defenses where you’re built to keep it secondary. Sometimes it’s a corner, sometimes it’s a linebacker, sometimes it’s a defensive end. It’s a shared responsibility that we all have to get better at.”

Smart on Auburn quarterback Payton Thorne…

“I think the guy’s a really good football player and a really good athlete. Whatever noise or criticism they get from people, I don’t respond to that because I watch what’s on tape. He played really well against us last year. The three games I’ve seen him play this year, he has done a tremendous job of knowing when to go with his feet and when to make throws, decision-making. He’s a really good quarterback. He’s a good athlete, which when you have that combination along with the skill players they have, it becomes hard to defend.”

Smart on the slow starts, what coaching staff can do to adjust…

“Put together packages of plays that sequence, making sure the players understand exactly what the plan is, how to do them. Each game’s been different. Clemson game was different than the Kentucky game. The Kentucky game was different than the Alabama game. The Alabama game, first play of the game, we have a great play open up and then we have a shot play that we think is going to work and we don’t hit it. Then we have an OPI that’s rarely called, but it’s called and then you’re behind the eight ball. But it’s not that it was unsuccessful, it was that, hey, we had a plan to attack, didn’t hit on some of those, you’ve got to come back the next drive and flip the field. I’m always looking at it, did we create field position advantage if we weren’t explosive? We did in the first drive, but then we didn’t for a while and there was a little bit of lack of communication. So there’s a lot of things that go into that and I think it’s very clear that we’ve got to execute and communicate better, but I also think we have the players to do it with. I’m very confident in our offense and our offensive players.”

Smart on Mykel Williams, how he played and he how’s feeling…

“Yeah, he’s sore. That’s all I know. I talked to him and he was sore, but I don’t know much more. I’ll know a lot more today.”