What Georgia players, coaches said about Ohio State defense

ATLANTA — Ohio State has a statement to make defensively on New Year’s Eve against Georgia in the Peach Bowl College Football Playoff semifinal.

The last time the Buckeyes were on the field, they allowed five touchdowns of 45-plus yards in an embarrassing loss to Michigan.

It tainted what had been a bounce-back season for Ohio State’s defense under first-year coordinator Jim Knowles. The Buckeyes are trying to put that defeat in the fluke category, and they have a chance to get a lot of critics off their back with a strong defensive performance against the top-ranked Bulldogs.

That’s easier said than done, considering undefeated and defending national champion Georgia is 10th nationally in scoring offense (39.2 points per game).

Georgia coaches and players spoke to the media this week about squaring off against Ohio State’s 4-2-5 defense. Here’s what they had to say:

Georgia offensive coordinator Todd Monken

ON OHIO STATE DEFENSE FEELING LIKE IT HAS ADVANTAGES OVER GEORGIA: “Well, I mean, they should have confidence. They have a good football team. I’m not going to sit here and say that we think in terms of this X, Y and Z. We have advantages. We have a good football team. Our tape proves that. Their tape proves it. So, at the end of the day, we got good football players. They got good football players.

“At this point, it’s going to come down to execution. It’s going to come down to our preparation that leads up to this, and it’s not going to come down to whether we think we have advantages or we don’t think we have advantages because, at the end of the day, both teams have good players. It’s going to come down to doing the little things well in execution.”

ON HOW HE ANTICIPATE’S OHIO STATE RESPONDING TO MICHIGAN EXPLOSIVE PLAYS: “Oh, you know, a couple of the plays at the end of the game came when they were trying to stop the run. So it’s kind of hard. The game was kind of at the point where they had to get a stop and they had a couple of long runs, but, early in the game, they went zero and missed a tackle on hitch route. They were a second away from getting a sack, and they missed a tackle, and he went the distance. And they had defenders run into each other one time on a wheel route. They caught him in a cloud coverage and hit across the field raised route. So they were able to take advantage of I guess what you call sometimes a miscue by the defense or some play-action, but again, the game is really simple. It’s really how do we be explosive, how do we not turn it over, how do we get third downs? Do we score touchdowns in the red zone, and how do we not lose our place and put you behind the chains?

“And [Michigan] did those things. They were able to be explosive. They didn’t turn it over. They held Ohio State at times. So it gave them a chance to continue to plug ahead. They’re no different than any other team you play. If you’re not able to be explosive, you’re going to have a hard time scoring. It just worked out in that game that Michigan hit some plays that gave them a chance to be explosive. … If you don’t find ways to be explosive, you’re going to have a hard time scoring points.”

ON OHIO STATE’S DEFENSIVE FRONT, AND THE BUCKEYES EDGE RUSHERS IN PARTICULAR: “Well, they’re long and rangy. And I think the one thing is they’re twitchy inside. I know you’re talking about their outside guys. They create issues with their looks. So you have to be careful and not chase ghosts, but you have to be prepared because they’re not afraid to pressure you. As these guys said earlier, from the field, from the boundary, different players pressuring you. So you have to be dialed in to what looks they’re giving you, but definitely their edge guys can create issues.

“Again, like any team that we’ve played in the past that have had really good players up front, the best way to be able to negate that is to be able to run the football, be able to get the ball out of your hands, be able to protect, chip when you can. And if we’re able to do that and not be in long-yardage situations or get behind, then it doesn’t eliminate really good players, but it limits their ability to affect the game.”

Georgia quarterback Stetson Bennett IV

ON WHAT STANDS OUT ABOUT OHIO STATE’S DEFENSE: “First of all, they have really good players, and they execute their system. They try to cause havoc. They can come from a lot of different places. They do their assignment, and, in order for us to be successful, we have to do ours. And that’s trusting Sed (center Sedrick Van Pran), whenever he’s making the calls and talking to him. But at the end of the day, they’ve got a really good football team. We’ve got a really good football team, and it’s going to come down to who executes better on Saturday.”

ON IF HE SEES ANY ADVANTAGES OHIO STATE’S DEFENSE HAS: “Yeah, certainly. I don’t really want to get into the particulars right now, but obviously they were undefeated until the last game of the season. It’s hard to do that. And we were, too, last year until we lost to Alabama, and then we ended up winning it all. So we certainly are not taking Ohio State lightly. Like they said, they’ve got advantages all over the board. So we’re going to have to go play football.”

Georgia center Sedrick Van Pran

ON WHAT HE SEES FROM OHIO STATE’S DEFENSIVE FRONT: “One thing that comes up a lot on film is that all of them do their job extremely well. They play really well together in the system and, of course, guys flash. The media gives a lot of guys attention, but one thing I see about this defensive front seven is really that they all do their jobs collectively together. Nobody is a blinking light. Nobody is trying to be this big guy. Everybody is collectively working together, and that’s huge. That’s why they’re so good and why what they’re doing is working. So really what I’ve seen on film is that they all just really do a good job together like working for one common goal.”

Georgia running back Kenny McIntosh

ON ADVANTAGES GEORGIA’S OFFENSE HAS: “I’ll say an advantage we got is just how connected we are as a team to go out there and play. We done had some tough wins this year, which makes us different — stand out from last year’s team. We had to pull out our composure during some games we had to play. This team fought back.

“This team shows so much connection and resiliency. Just go out there week by week, practicing how we practice and going out there on Saturdays to execute and buy into the game plan and going out there and doing what we do. So I’d say that’s our advantage, how connected this team is and the composure we have.”

Georgia left tackle Broderick Jones

ON PREPARING FOR OHIO STATE EDGE RUSHERS ZACH HARRISON, J.T. TUIMOLOAU AND JACK SAWYER: “Yeah, I really don’t try and just single out one specific player at a time. I would rather just watch the whole scheme of the game just because, you know, they switch so many people out every time. So I just try and look at the scheme and how they will play if certain people were in. I just don’t try and single out 44 (Tuimoloau) or 9 (Harrison), even though they are great pass rushers. They will be a big challenge for us. But I believe, at the end of the day, it’s really about the defense as a whole and the way we play, and not just the specific two players.”