What Was Said: Kirby Smart after rivalry win over Georgia Tech

ATHENS, Ga. — Georgia defeated in-state rival Georgia Tech on Saturday in Athens, capping off a second straight unbeaten regular season. It’s a fifth straight victory for the Bulldogs over the Yellow Jackets and put Georgia’s senior class, celebrated before the game, as the winningest group to come through Georgia in program history. Georgia head coach Kirby Smart addressed the significance of the win, how his team played and what things look like going forward after the game. Here’s what was said.

Kirby Smart Opening Statement

“First I want to thank our fans for coming out. You know, it’s a great atmosphere. I felt there’s some lulls in the game at times and sleepwalking through it. And that always scares you, and I think our fans kind of pushed us over the edge for some momentum there in the game. Georgia Tech ran a lot of credit to their staff. Staff has changed over and then worked really hard this year at putting game plans together and you can tell they’ve done a lot of work. They did a good job defensively and a good job offensively with a game plan. I’ve got a lot of respect for the staff and the players, the way that the players competed in the game. I thought special teams came through today. And it’s the first game in quite a while that we made some plays in special teams to kind of give us some momentum and get us rolling. so proud of that. All in all, it’s on to the next one. Great regular season for this group. They’ve done everything that we’ve asked him to do, and they only get bigger from here.”

Smart on if he was emotional on Senior Day…

“I don’t know I think I’ve been through more emotional ones than this one, for some reason. This one was so so fast and rushed. We would we were trying to fly through there to get through them. We got started a little bit late because Tech got out of there a little later. I have to catch myself from stopping and spending too much time because you start having memories of sitting in the home and convincing kids to come and you see the first year, the second year you have them. And look this group has meant so much. What was it, 46-5, Claude, what was the number?

Yeah this group was 46 and 5. How many games we play the COVID year? We did get to 10 because of the bowl game and we only got nine regular season games right? And then the 10th was the bowl game so we got shorted one game in a year that you were already shorted games. And they still came out as the winningest group ever. Their leadership is our consistency. Meaning everybody’s like well, how do y’all come out and do it each week and not let down and not do this? Well their leadership is our consistency and each and every one of them for walk ons to scholarship players is deserving of the recognition.”

Smart on getting everyone’s best shot…

“I think everyone gets our best shot. It’s not like, well, you’re the hunted, you’re the target. I don’t believe in all that. I believe it’s about us being the attacker. We probably didn’t start as fast today as we have in the past. You’re not going to start every game guns a blazing, and we had to respond to some adversity again. We probably should have had a bigger lead at half, but the way things fell it just didn’t happen. They actually did a good job of shrinking the game as well.”

Kirby Smart on the Vince Dooley tie and why he didn’t wear it on the field… 

“I was going to, but I chickened out. I didn’t want it to be a distraction to the seniors and want them saying, well we don’t change our uniforms, why did you? So, I decided to wear it the press conference if things went well. I told Derek if I could, and he and Mrs. Barbara were like ‘Oh, we’d be honored.” She had his tie, and this is the tie he wore to so many games 

Derek gave it to me. I probably didn’t do the shirt and sweater justice that he does, I honored him with no visor. He did it right for a long time. He did so much for this community. It’s just a small token of my appreciation for all the things he did at Georgia.”

Smart on giving up just 1-yard of offense in third quarter and the defense’s day…

“We played much better after the half. We made some adjustments. They did a really nice job. I’ve got a lot of respect for Chip Long, Brent Key, Jim Chaney. Those guys know football. They didn’t just forget football. Not only do they know football, they know us. That part was good for us to make some adjustments and do some good things and come out and give our offense the ball back.”

Smart on the slow start offensively and not allowing it to fester…

“It’s sticking to the plan. It’s going in not knowing what’s going to happen. We talk all the time about we’re going to try to outscore our opponents in the fourth quarter and win the fourth quarter every game. The first thing we go over when we come in next fall is how many fourth quarters did we win? You guys know, some fourth quarters that we’re already ahead in. Does the fourth quarter matter? It matters at Georgia. It doesn’t matter who’s on the field, we want to try to outscore them in the fourth quarter. That helps give you confidence that no matter what happens early, you’re going to be OK. You’ve got to keep chopping. Don’t hit any panic buttons. The more times we snap it, the more (inaudible).”

Kirby Smart on Kenny McIntosh playing well…

“He’s been good all year. When he flips the switch and really starts going, he’s got great vision and great hands. He’s a weapon. I hate that he’s been a little banged up and beat up. He’s missed practice with a deep thigh bruise. He had two different ones. It’s like, man, can we lessen his load and lower the burden on him to try and keep him fresh.”

Smart on how he feels about team with games getting bigger…

“I’m excited to see our team. It’s much easier to coach on a week like this week then it was a week like last week. It’s different. Nothing against Thanksgiving. It’s not my favorite vacation, I like to eat but it’s tough. There’s a different schedule. There’s a lot of variables that you can’t control. You know what? Brent Key can’t control it either. It’s not like I’m saying it’s an unfair advantage but you lose a routine as a coach. It worries you a little bit. I like the routine we keep when school’s in and we have our normal schedule. I’m looking forward to watching our guys prepare for LSU. They’re a really good, hot football team.”

Smart on any updates on Marvin Jones Jr. and Zion Logue…

“Not sure.”

Kirby Smart on where he thinks Georgia has improved the most this season…

“No, I don’t know. It’s up and down. It’s all relative to who you play. You can say, ‘oh they’ve gotten so good at this,’ and then next week it’s not there. It’s a model of consistency and making sure you’re good in every area you can be good in. There’s no area that we can’t improve on. Let’s be honest, we’ve got a lot of areas we need to improve.”

Smart on meeting Vince Dooley the night before the National Championship game…

“Yeah, I talked about it the other night at his event. I got off on whatever floor it was in Indianapolis, I think the 15th or 16th floor. Thing dinged, I was tired and had my briefcase bag and was by myself heading to my room. He was sitting right dead in front of the elevator, just sitting there. I thought, ‘this is strange, why is he sitting here?’ He was waiting on his son to come back up with a key. We shared a couple of intimate moments and I kinda waited on his son to come back up with the key. God put him here so I should talk to him. See what’s going on. I just thought it was a sign before the game. Looking back now, it’s not about that game but just spending time with someone with that much wisdom. Just thought it was interesting that he was there that night 

Smart on what happens to the tie now…

“It goes back to Derek, man, or to the Dooleys. Derek and Daniel got it for us. I don’t know what they’ll do with it. This tie has a lot of victories under its belt, I know that. He won a lot of football games. Claude (Felton) was probably here for every one of them.”

Kirby Smart on any lessons taken from Vince Dooley…

“Honor and dignity that he represented this place with. I always want to leave it better than you found it and he did that to a degree that’s unmatched. He came in when this place was really down and he really put this place on the map and laid a foundation for all of us coaches that have followed him. He did it with class and dignity and he always won with that and he always lost with that. He always represented the University of Georgia the right way, just such a kind, knowledgeable man.”

Smart on Kelee Ringo settling in as that game went on…

“He made some good plays and he had some tough plays. He got targeted a lot. I’ll have to go back and watch the PIs. I can’t really say. A couple of them were on their sideline, bang-bang plays. You feel like in our league they’re going to let them play and the PIs, pass interference, were their best conversions. But he made some nice plays where he turned back-shoulder. He got a ball out over on our sideline. He continues to work. He understands playing out on that island, guys, is tough. You get targeted a lot out there.”

Smart on what Stetson Bennett’s impact has been on this program…

“Incredible impact. He’s a leader, he’s tough, a competitor. He’s just been around for what seems like forever now. He embodies our team with his competitive toughness. He’s got to keep doing the things he’s doing for us to be successful. We know we’ve got to play better on really all three phases, better than we did today, if we want to get where we want to go.” 

Kirby Smart on what can you say about the job Brian Kelly has done at LSU…

“He’s an incredible coach. He was an incredible coach when he was at Notre Dame and he’s an incredible coach at LSU. He came to this league because he wanted an opportunity to play the best and get opportunities to go to the playoffs and win SEC championships. He’s at a storied place that’s got a lot of tradition and history.” 

Smart on what does it do for a program to have a player like Stetson who players look up to as embodying team values…

“It’s great. It’s just tremendous. It’s not Stetson, guys. This game’s not about Stetson today. This game’s not about me. This game’s about the seniors. That’s part of the reason I didn’t put this on because I didn’t want the senior thing to be about that. I wanted the seniors to be appreciated for what they did. I know he’s part of that group. But there’s really almost three classes within that group of seniors. They’ve been through some tough times, some great times. It’s not easy to play at the University of Georgia and hold the standard that we hold you to every day at practice. They toed the line.” 

Smart on Nolan Smith on the sideline warning and his impact on the team…

“They actually got all of us. It wasn’t just him. It looked like it was him, but it was all of us. As long as he’s excited, I think I’d much rather have to coach the excitement out of them than into them.”

Kirby Smart on the red zone offense on Saturday…

“You know, kind of indifferent. There was times that I thought we did some good things, some time that the execution was there and a poor decision by one or two players affected us. But I was pleased with our field-goal kicking.”

Smart on what kicker Jack Podlesny has meant to this team…

“He’s meant consistency. He’s an insurance policy, you know? Like, when you play really good defense, your field goal kicker matters. When your field goal kicker doesn’t matter is when you go and play a good defense and all of a sudden you’re having to score touchdowns every time. Pod’s given us that resiliency and really reliance. We’ve relied on him heavily in some tough moments. I’m thinking back to Missouri and Kentucky. He did some good things today.”

Smart on South Carolina beating Clemson and what it says about the SEC…

“I don’t know what that does. I know that South Carolina’s a really good football team. I mean, I got to watch them play Tennessee last week, and what they did was pretty incredible now. They scored however many possessions in a row. It was just crazy. And that’s hard to do on air, and they did it against a defense. They’re playing really good football right now, and Shane’s doing a good job. So, I know — I don’t need the College Football Playoff committee or any person to tell me what the SEC’s like. Look, I was born and raised in this, and I know how good it is. I know how physical it is. I know how hard it is to play in this league. Week in and week out, it’s tough and physical. Now, everybody always wants a piece and everybody wants some of the SEC. They talk about it, and they don’t play in it year round. So it’s different when it comes to bowl season and it’s a one-game matchup, but if anybody’s wanting an invitation, they can come play in this league. It’s tough.”

Kirby Smart on running counter a lot on offense…

“We think some of our backs run it well, and we think our offensive linemen run it well. It compliments some of our play-actions. It’s a physical identity-type run. A lot of defenses don’t like playing it. It creates a lot of contacts, and contact’s what we’re about.”

Smart on players like Stetson, Brock Bowers and Ladd McConkey who weren’t highly recruited playing such big roles…

“I think it just shows we evaluate — look, those three guys were all good football players in and of themselves. They don’t need verification from a service to say they’re good, you know? Like, they’re not looking for that. They’re looking for an opportunity to go play with teammates, and they love football. And you wish you had more guys like that because for them, it’s not about their stats, their accolades, their wins and losses. It’s just about their camaraderie and playing. And that’s what I love about all three of them.”

Kirby Smart and Georgia head to Atlanta next Saturday for the SEC Championship Game against LSU. It’s the Bulldogs’ fifth trip in seven seasons under the direction of Smart, winning it in 2017. Kickoff time between the Bulldogs and Tigers from Mercedes-Benz Stadium is set for 4:00 p.m. ET on CBS.