What Georgia players, coaches said about Ohio State offense

ATLANTA — LSU piled up 549 yards of total offense against Georgia in the SEC Championship. The quarterback pairing of Jayden Daniels and Garrett Nussmeier combined for 502 passing yards.

There were some leaks in Georgia’s vaunted defense, but it didn’t matter.

The Bulldogs were in control and secured the No. 1 seed in the College Football Playoff with a 50-30 win. It was a minor blemish for an otherwise daunting unit that ranks first nationally in rushing defense and second in the country in scoring defense. Even after losing quite a bit of defensive talent to the NFL Draft from last year’s national championship team, Georgia is strapped with star power on that side of the ball.

And on its defensive staff.

Georgia coaches and players spoke to the media this week about facing Ohio State. Here’s what they had to say:

Georgia co-defensive coordinator Glenn Schumman

ON IF THERE’S ONE PLAY THAT STICKS OUT FROM WATCHING OHIO STATE QB C.J. STROUD:

“I think in general when you have an extremely talented player like he is, it’s never one play. Consistency is what makes somebody different, and he’s consistently accurate. He has great touch. He’s a good decision maker, and he trusts his playmakers around him. I think that all those traits sound easy, but they’re tough to have on a consistent basis. So he’s consistently accurate. He consistently has good touch and decision making, and he trusts the people around him. And I think his consistency is what makes him different.”

ON OHIO STATE’S OTHER PLAYMAKERS:

“I think it’s a really well-rounded offense across the board. Obviously certain guys get more of the accolades, but the receiver room is deep, whether it’s both guys outside or it’s the play makers in the slot. The tight end has done a really good job on vertical balls, and, as a blocker, the running back room has been by committee, and it’s been productive throughout. Everybody who’s been in there has run the ball well. And I think when you look at that, you have a talented offensive line with great size. So it’s a really well-rounded offense. And that makes it easy to trust the guys around you. But they each have their own skill set, but I just think it’s a really well-rounded offense.”

ON WHICH TEAMS OHIO STATE REMINDS HIM OF:

“I think it’s fair because of the passing success to make reference to those two teams (Tennessee and LSU). I also think they run the ball at a high level. They’re running the ball for almost 200 yards a game, which Tennessee runs the ball well. I think there’s some carryover to Florida in terms of the type of sets and run game they have as well and some of the passing game concepts that show up there. So I think there’s little pieces. I mean, guys, football is — you can watch six different teams and see carryover from each team, so there’s a little piece of what they do offensively in everybody we’ve played to an extent.”

Georgia co-defensive coordinator Will Muschamp

ON WHAT STANDS OUT ABOUT OHIO STATE QB C.J. STROUD:

“Wow, I mean I think he’s an elite passer. That’s the first thing that jumps out. He can make all the throws. He puts the ball in catchable areas where a lot of people just don’t have that talent to do that. And he certainly can. I think it was Michigan State two years ago, he takes a zone-read 70 yards for a touchdown. Against Northwestern, with 5:30 left to go in the game, designed quarterback run out the back side. So he has legs and athleticism to evade the rush and create off-rhythm plays, which is obviously very difficult to defend, but the number one thing that jumps off the film is his ability to throw the football.”

ON IF THE BULLDOGS WILL FOLLOW MICHIGAN’S DEFENSIVE BLUEPRINT:

“No. We do what we do. But Ohio State was up and down the field the first half, and Michigan got off the field on third down and they had a couple of turnovers.”

ON WHAT HE REMEMBERS FROM PLAYING IN 1993 CITRUS BOWL AGAINST OHIO STATE:

“It was a good win for the Dawgs. We had a pre not game, but I guess a luncheon, and [Kirk] Herbstreit got up and threw a pass across the room — I knew we had a shot to win. (Laughs). Make sure he knows I said that.”

Georgia safety Chris Smith

ON OHIO STATE QB C.J. STROUD:

“I would say he’s an elite passer, very poised with his game, and you can tell they run everything through him. Like coach said, he got legs. He can pretty much do it all. He’s a Heisman finalist, and that just says enough for the kind of player he is.”

ON OHIO STATE’S 1,000-YARD RECEIVERS AND IF THEY REMIND HIM OF ANY SEC WIDEOUTS:

“I would probably compare them to actually the last game we played, LSU had a lot of great receivers as well as Ohio State, and they all bring different things to the game as wide receivers, but they’re all special talents at the end of the day and something that we have to be able to account for and focus on.”

ON PREPARING FOR OHIO STATE’S PASSING ATTACK:

“We’ve just been focusing on our technique and fundamentals. It’s been when a month that we’ve had to be able to practice and get prepared for this game, and just locking in on a game plan. That game is in the past. We know we didn’t perform our best and we can perform better, and that’s what we want to do for this game on Saturday.”

Georgia defensive lineman Zion Logue

ON IF OHIO STATE HAS AN ADVANTAGE COMING IN OFF A LOSS:

“I don’t think it’s a big thing. Last year, it was a wake-up call for us because we knew that it was a one-game season from that point on. So I think it was everybody stepping up their conditioning. If they needed to hydrate better, they got hydrated better. It was just the little things because we knew we had to step up in Miami to go handle business in Indianapolis. So I think that loss really woke some guys up and put things in perspective for us.”

ON WHICH TEAMS OHIO STATE REMINDS HIM OF:

“I’ll tell you two teams, Tennessee and LSU, just because those guys, they run it a little bit, too, but they can sit back in the pocket and let it fly around the field a little bit. I think we respect their quarterback, just like we did those two teams. And college football respects their quarterbacks as well. So I think those are the two teams that I would stack them up against.”