WATCH: Kirby Smart, Stetson Bennett and Nakobe Dean Post-Tennessee Pressers

Georgia finished out its first undefeated regular season since 1982 with a 41-17 win over Tennessee on Saturday. The Bulldogs were down 7-0 before tying things up and trailed 10-7 at the end of the first quarter. However, 34-0 run and a Tennessee touchdown late resulted in the final score fans will see come Sunday.

Afterwards, Georgia head coach Kirby Smart, along with quarterback Stetson Bennett and linebacker Nakobe Dean, addressed the media to give his thoughts on how the Bulldogs played.

Kirby Smart

Opening comments
“Hats off to Tennessee, I think they’ve got a really good football team, I think Josh is doing a great job. It was a tremendous atmosphere to play a college football game in. I was really impressed with that. I can’t say enough about the leaders on this team. You know, after that game against Missouri, to have three guys stand up in the locker room ,and I don’t know what we won, 40-6 or whatever, I don’t know what the score was. But they said it wasn’t acceptable the way we approached the game, the way we handled the game. And I knew right then we were going to be okay this week. Now I still worried a lot. But those guys said those guys better be there to lift, everybody better be on time, and it just took over the team and it permeated trough them all week. And I thought Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, we had really good practices. Tough place to play. I think the way the game started, they start that way against people, and we talked to our guys about taking their best shot. But we didn’t come up here to take shots, we came up here to throw them. And our offense came right back with a huge drive, which I thought was huge for us to start that way, and give our defense some confidence, and let us to get our feet underneath us. They did a tremendous job. And I’m proud of the way the guys played.”

The way the defense was tested early, are you glad you got tested that way?
“Yeah. I think the better teams you play the better you get. Every week is a different test, and this was a very distinctly different test. And teams will see what they did, and they’ll replicate some of that. I’m proud of the way we prepared for it. We’ve got a defensive staff that burnt the midnight oil to prepare for it. This is not an easy prep. If you look at the teams they’ve played, they don’t have many low scoring totals. To give up the first drive, and then to come back and really do a good job the rest of the second half. And remember guys, they have four downs the entire second half. When you have four downs, it’s different. You’re not worried about third down, third down’s second down, then you’ve got fourth down to go for it because you need touchdowns. Yeah, I’m proud of the way our guys played defense.”

Injury updates, and were guys going down and coming back in, a lot of times because of tempo?
“I haven’t even talked to Ron. I don’t know even know. I know one time I went out there and Devonte sprained his knee, he thought. One time another guy got hit in the ribs. But I’ll check with Ron and see. Hopefully those guys are okay.”

On Jalen Carter being in street clothes and Stetson Bennett…
“He was sick. We had about five guys sick. Jalen didn’t feel well. We tried to IV him. He had over a 100 degree fever and we had to pull him at half because of his temperature. Warren Ericson was sick with the flu. Fitz was sick with the flu. We had several guys that were struggling, a little sick and under the weather.

“As far as Stetson, I thought his feet were a big difference in the game. His athleticism. The play he made on the touchdown run was special. I thought it was a decision, he made it and he stuck it. He made some plays with his feet. He made some plays with his arm. He can still play better. He can make good decisions and not try to make every play and elite play. There’s some times he’s got to decide to run it, throw it away, but he made some plays with his feet guys that really helped convert for our offense.”

Finish 8-0 SEC. 10-0 to this point. What have you accomplished at this point?
“You said it exactly Chip. You answered it. 10-0, undefeated in the SEC. That’s where we’ve gotten. It makes no guarantees for what’s going to happen in the future. We’ve got a lot of guys that we’ve got to try and get better and improve. We’ve got to tackle better. There’s a lot of things that we can work on to get better. You know what I love? The men in the locker room that are beside me, they know that. Nobody thinks they’ve arrived. There’s things we can work on to get better at and they’ll continue to do it. Tonight, they went through a tough gauntlet in our league and played well.”

On when you came to think Stetson was good enough to lead to the national title?
“I don’t know if I ever didn’t believe he could. I’ve always thought Stetson was a good player. You say well why wans’t he the one? Well, at the time we were going with JT. JT being injured gave Stetson the opportunity to play in games and make the plays he’s made. You go back to the South Carolina game and JT played pretty well, right? Stetson had the interception I guess in the first series and first time he was in. Then Stetson got other opportunities to play after that and he’s done a tremendous job. I’m not going to overthink it with Stetson. We’re trying to go game by game to get him better. I’m so proud of what he’s been through. For a young man that was a 3 coming out of spring. A 3 going into fall camp, a 3 coming out of fall camp. What does it say about his character that he stuck around and he kept working to get better. That’s what your supposed to do in life overcome hurdles and obstacles and he’s done that. As far as forecasting him as a quarterback and winning, we’re worried about Charleston Southern right now.”

On how Stetson Bennett, Georgia offense handled Tennessee’s pressure…
“I’ll have to review the tape to see. They did bring some pressure. They brought some timed-up blitzes where they came through, and we didn’t block them right sometimes. You know, if you pick up those pressures, you’ve got a chance to make a lot of good plays. But I think our offensive line did a really nice job in the run game. You’ve got to remember, Stetson’s probably been the least sacked guy in the country this year. That’s a credit to Matt Luke, it’s a credit to Stetson, it’s a credit to Todd Monken for not putting us in those tough situations. That happened tonight more than normal.”

On if it’s too late to rotate two quarterbacks like Georgia did with Stetson Bennett against South Carolina…
“Yeah, we’re trying to make a decision that gives us the best chance to win, continuity, receivers. Again, we make that decision each week on what gives us the best chance to win. There’s a lot of runs that are packaged with reads off of it. When you read, you have to have the ability to pull. I know you guys are smart enough to watch that tonight, there were times when he had to pull the ball and run and he made them pay for when they chased the running back. That’s a big part. His legs have played a big part in his success.”

On the thinking behind moving Christopher Smith to STAR, Dan Jackson to safety…
“Chris is a very versatile player. Dan’s been playing well. We felt like, during the week, we worked that hard to try to get some depth. Bullard’s been a little banged up. We had to move Poole to STAR and repped Chris there throughout the week thinking it could help us because Chris has some good man to man ability. We had to play a different style defense this week, and I thought the changes we made really helped us.”

The play of AD Mitchell…
“AD is a good wideout. AD is a hard worker. AD is a young receiver that is growing up in the midst of conference play. He’s been more productive probably in practice than he has in the game. He hasn’t always gotten his opportunities in the game but I’m proud of how he works. He’s getting maturity and I’m certainly glad he got those opportunities in two-minute drive there to make some plays. He’s got to continue to work on his ball security but he’s a talented young man.”

On talking with Peyton Manning before the game…
“I got a chance to talk to Peyton before the game but it was more about his son. He wants me to recruit his son. He had me worried because he said he was going to play quarterback today. I was getting even more nervous.

James Cook’s performance…
“James, man, you talk about a guy who wills himself to win. I mean this guy wants to win bad. He doesn’t care what it takes. He’ll do anything you ask. He went out and played on a punt team he hasn’t played on in a couple of weeks. We didn’t have enough out there and he went out there and did that. I didn’t know (13 touches) for 147 but the guy makes plays and he’s getting better as the season progresses. I’m really proud of what James has done for James but I’m even more proud of what James has done for this team. Because when James speaks, he carries a lot of weight with the players. They respect James.”

The impact of Georgia’s linebackers against Tennessee…
“Linebackers are really good players, even better leaders, and well-coached. Those three guys have played a lot of football around here. We’re certainly going to miss them when they’re gone, but they are really good football players. They practice as hard as anybody on the team and Nakobe (Dean), Channing (Tindall), and Quay (Walker) have no egos. It’s just another microcosm of the entire team when you watch that unit that they don’t get upset over who starts, they don’t get upset over who makes plays. They make a lot of calls and they lead our defense.”

On Channing Tindall…
“I think it was brought up, he’s got to take on a larger role with some of the guys we have injured and out. He’s taken on that role. He’s always embraced that role on third down of being a guy on third down that can rush the passer. We were fortunate that he was able to do that tonight. He made a couple of really good flash plays with his speed. He’s extremely fast and that fumble was a big play.”

On the Georgia secondary…
“I’m proud of the way those guys played. Those two corners went out and played. We left them on an island all game. they hit some plays, they got behind Kelee, they made some plays on DK. They got some good wideouts. We thought that going into the game, we were going to have to play well on the perimeter. They’re tough to defend. Tennessee is going to be a good team because of the way they play. They make you play one-on-one outside. It becomes feast or famine. If you can’t win one-on-one, they’re going to have a long day. But when you can, they’re extremely explosive. So I thought those two corners did a great job. The other four guys that played, Brini, Lewis, Chris and Dan all did a nice job rotating through there.”

On Stetson Bennett’s running ability…
“I don’t try to make him run more. You have to protect the quarterback too. He’s not a guy of stature that needs to take a lot of shots. We need to be smart with the carries he gets and he has to be smart about sliding and getting down because these guys he’s going against big, physical guys. . There are things he can work on in terms of the pocket. He’s got really good patience in the pocket but when it’s not there, he has to make a decision to go, hit it vertical and not try to escape it outside, especially when he’s got the protection that our guys have been able to have.  Really proud of his feet, that have made it a new dynamic that our offense needs.”

Stetson Bennett

On overcoming a slow start to win going away

“This is a tough place to play.

They have an explosive offense and talented people on defense and there’s 102,000 people in the stands.

We weathered the storm and kept chopping, and you saw it at the end.

It was a more balanced effort going into it until the last few drives, which is what you want out of your offense.”

On the performance of James Cook

“Thank goodness he broke 100, he’s been due for that kind of game, He’s a great player, leads this team, he’s explosive, he knows what to do. He has a knack for finding space, and I loved seeing him do it.”

On putting Georgia’s season into perspective, his take on the Bulldogs’ defensive adjustments

“39 years, it’s special I think the reason for that is we’re a real talented team, but we respect everyone we play.

We go in every week and not think we’re God’s favorite team, we know that no one will give us anything, so we have to earn it. 

Tennessee give them credit, they came out and punched our defense in the face, and then they got up and allowed 3 points the rest of the game, well 10 points, but 3 points the rest of the time it mattered.”

On the offense taking what the defense gives

“I don’t know how you quantify taking what they give you, but if they give you something I’ll take it. 

They mixed in their coverages, they did a lot of different stuff. 

They played some trap, they played some man, played Cover 3, they brought a lot of pressure to 12 personnel, they kept my mind busy.

Like I said, they are a talented team, they came out hot, but we kept going and kept chopping.”

On his ability to run the ball and whether he’s always liked to run the ball

“The touchdown I rolled out, I’m supposed, the play is for me to roll out and continue outside, the defense flowed when we motioned Marcus across, they didn’t run with it or bump, so there were three guys ran with them, so I just stopped and cut up under the defensive end and saw green grass and just ran.

Honestly, my dad has tried to get me to run more because I’ve always been pretty fast.

It’s always a little less painful the next day to throw it.”

On Tennessee bringing pressure and how Georgia handled it 

“There’s the one, I think it was second quarter, when I threw it away at Zamir’s feet, we kinda botched that protection, but overall I didn’t get touched that much. The one sack in the third quarter when I was rolling out left toward the. Minus half the field, I got a little lazy and got deep in my drop, but overall, if I didn’t create the pressure, there was none.

Nakobe Dean