What's been said about Georgia this week by Alabama?
Georgia-Alabama is the talk of the College Football world. It’s a battle of two top-5 teams with implications on this season’s playoff. It’s also a game featuring a pair of programs that have plenty of history with one another before this matchup.
ESPN announced that College GameDay will be coming to Tuscaloosa to feature Georgia-Alabama as the game of the week. Later that day, the network’s top crew will cover the action on ABC (Chris Fowler, Kirk Herbstreit, Holly Rowe – 7:30 p.m. ET). However, the buzz is bigger than just a one-day affair. This one has a week-plus of talking leading up to it.
DawgsHQ has had you covered with everything that’s gone down on the Georgia side of things. We’ve been boots on the ground in Athens. As for Alabama, our friends at BamaOnLine are the best in the business. Let’s take a look at what’s been said by the Crimson Tide about the Bulldogs before the two teams square off on Saturday.
Alabama coach Kalen DeBoer
On being an underdog at home for the first time since 2007: “Yeah, that’s no one’s fault that that’s the case, but obviously, there’s good. If there’s one doubter that falls along with the ‘L.A.N.K.’ mentality. That’s what we get to do is let any of the naysayers know what we’re capable of and again, that’s no one’s fault that that’s what it is. That’s a tribute to what people see in Georgia and how high level of a football team that they have and to their credit that’s exactly what they are.”
On why Georgia has had such great success in the regular season: “There’s got to be a belief and trust when it comes to close games you can see finding a way comes down to wanting it, preparing. Because you do want it, preparing in a special way. They’ve just got great continuity. The physicality you see. The schemes, the schematics, especially defense that goes way back and Coach Smart has implemented his system and has a lot of people now around him that have carried that on over the years as well. Offensively, now you see some carry over from the last couple years with consistency there. With that comes confidence, with that comes belief.”
Crimson Tide defensive coordinator Kane Wommack
On Georgia’s offense: “… Looking at Georgia, this is obviously a team that has had tremendous success over the last few years. You look at their program, Coach Smart and his staff, they’re going into their ninth season together. We’re in our first season together. You think about all the things they have built within that program, they have really done a great job in terms of building a culture, recruiting base, developing great players within their program, and it’s showed up on the field. We’ll have our work cut out for us from that standpoint.
I think, offensively, Mike Bobo has had a tremendous career. He’s done a great job wherever he’s been. I think he has been very efficient with his offense the last couple of years. He’s done a good job of attacking people. He’s aggressive, takes shots, keeps you guessing, keeps you off-kilter, and has certainly committed to running the football as well.
I think their quarterback, Carson Beck, is as good as it comes in college football right now. Incredibly efficient with his decision-making. Does not take many sacks. Rarely turns the ball over. Takes care of the football. I think he does a really tremendous job in the intermediate throwing game. He has great accuracy. Really quick release, great decision-maker. Just so impressed by him the more I watch — and I’ve probably watched every game from the last couple of years here.
I think their running backs, they have a number of guys that are very physical runners, very detailed in their footwork. They’re patient, they set blocks up, and certainly can create explosive plays in their run game at any given moment. They’re committed to running the football. You’ve got to do a great job of being consistent in the fundamentals and schematically knocking out the run, down in and down out. As an offensive line, they’re big, they’re physical. They’ve been around for a bit, and then they have some pretty impressive offensive skill on the outside as well. It’ll be a great matchup.”
On generating pressure against Georgia quarterback Carson Beck: “As an offense, they do a really good job of minimizing the risk for their quarterback. They get the ball out of their hand, they try to establish the run, they get the ball on the perimeter early. They will take shots, and they’ll take shots early in the game, but you’ve got to find that fine balance of playing good, sound coverage, and also make it so that the quarterback doesn’t feel like he can sit in the pocket and pick you apart with long developing plays in the passing game. They do a really good job, if he has time, and he hits most of those things because he’s incredibly accurate at different portions of the field — the short game, the intermediate game, and certainly he can make the long throws down the field. This guy’s a complete quarterback. He’s really as good as I’ve seen in the last couple of years. I think, for us, we have to be mindful of making him uncomfortable, but you want to make sure you’re not sacrificing things from a coverage perspective in order to get that done.”
On what Kentucky did well defensively to limit Georgia: “I thought Kentucky played really hard. They played at a fever pitch. They were physical. They played with great effort and finish. I think they’ve got some guys up front that do a really good job in the run game from a D-line standpoint. And I thought they played the game defensively the way it’s supposed to be played. They were attacking on defense. They didn’t do too much. I think that’s something you’ve gotta be mindful of against these guys.
They give you a lot of window dressing and eye candy, whatever you wanna call it. A lot of formations, a lot of shifts, a lot of pictures, and you’ve gotta be able to fundamentally line up and execute. And yet at the same time, do enough to be able to create negative plays and takeaways. And so there’s a fine balance there, but I thought Kentucky did a really nice job of that.”
Alabama quarterback Jalen Milroe
On Georgia’s defense: “I think number one, the strength of their linebackers. They have a really good linebacking corps, that plays hard to the ball. They have a great nickel safety in Malaki Starks, who plays really hard. They ask a lot of him … he’s a special kid. [Mykel Williams], he’s a good player, he plays hard. He’s going to try to give us fits up front, so it’ll be so important for us to have our hands inside, making sure we identify where he’s at on the football field. They have a lot of guys that are gritty. [Chaz Chambliss] plays his butt off, constantly flying to the ball, always around the ball. They have a great coach in Kirby Smart. He’s a great coach, he’s definitely defensive minded, so he’s gonna put those guys in position to give us fits, give us a lot of things that we haven’t seen before this season. It’s all coming from preparation, it all comes from identifying where the key players are at, and just trying to eliminate bad plays.”
Crimson Tide offensive coordinator Nick Sheridan
On Georgia’s defense: “I think they’re excellent. When you look at them, there’s lots of things that stand out, but first and foremost they have quality players, I think at all three levels. Long, fast, explosive players. And then on top of that, I think the coaching staff up there does an excellent job. They’re excellent coaches. They have a great system in place, they have years together running that system. So it’s a great challenge, they’re excellent.”
On Georgia’s pass defense: “Anytime you talk about pass defense its a combination of the rush and the coverage matching together and complimenting one another. Certainly they do a nice job in that area. They play tight coverage, they mix up their defenses, and then they can rush and create pressure on the quarterback. I think both ends of the defense, the back and and the front end, do a nice job of complimenting one another, and making that a challenge.”
On Georgia safety Malaki Starks and game planning for safeties: “I think the that stands out is his versatility as a player. He can play close to the line of scrimmage, and he can play in the deep middle part of the field. He can cover man to man. I think he’s an excellent football player but obviously has experience in their system. They can put him in different spots and different personnel groupings, and he’s excellent in all areas.
As far as accounting for those players, I think that’s always your challenge each and every week as you game plan is how to put your players in the best position and create the best advantage you possibly can based on who you’re going against. And certainly he’s an excellent player that has had great production, you know, very versatile. Can play lots of different spots, lots of different techniques. He’s a great player.”
On game-planning against Georgia’s defense, which has only allowed one explosive play: “Well the explosive play cutup is not long, so that didn’t take a very long time to watch. I think what you’re looking at is structure. You’re looking at personnel, and you’re trying to match things that you do to the challenges that they present. I think that’s what you’re doing each and every week. Certainly they’ve done a great job of that to this point, and it’ll be important for us to execute at a high point on Saturday.”
Alabama offensive lineman Tyler Booker
On Georgia’s defense: “Very well-coached defense. A lot of playmakers. Stout up front. Linebackers play very fast, downhill. And their secondary is elite. So I’m very excited to see how we stack up against them, very excited to go compete against them. This is why you come to the SEC, this is why you come to Bama, for games like these.”
On his relationship with former IMG teammate and fellow New Haven, Conn. native Ellis Robinson: “I love him to death, but he’s not wearing crimson, so you know the rest … I try to show him the ropes through everything that he’s going through. We both went to prep schools, then we went to IMG and now we’re at two of the top schools in the country. So just going through it before him, I tell him some things that helped me, some things that I could have done better. I’m just always in his ear trying to help him. I just wanna see him be great because it’s not often that you see two kids from New Haven, Connecticut be on this big of a stage.”
Crimson Tide defenders Deontae Lawson and Tim Keenan
Lawson on Georgia running back Trevor Etienne: “He’s got some juice to him. Great back. He can do it all. He can run between the tackles, run outside, catch the ball out of the backfield. So it’ll be a challenge for us, but the only thing that matters is us executing and doing our job and preparing the right way.”
Keenan on Georgia’s run game: “Downhill. Ain’t nobody trying to side-step nobody. It’s SEC running. It’s gonna be real tough. We’ve just gotta make sure we do what we need to do, follow Coach’s plan, fit the right gaps, have good gap integrity and we’ll be successful.”
Lawson on the Georgia offensive line: “A physical group. They work together well. It will be a challenge for us, but we’re ready for it.”
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