Everything you need to know that Kirby Smart said about Texas

Two-time national championship winning coach Kirby Smart met with media on Monday ahead of Georgia’s top-five matchup with No. 1 Texas.

The Bulldogs, ranked No. 5, have national title aspirations but so far haven’t looked like the teams that went back-to-back. Georgia lost a tight game to Alabama after a frenetic comeback that saw them take the lead in the 4th quarter and then more recently defeated Mississippi State by the score of 41-31. That game was never in doubt but there were numerous uncharacteristic mistakes made by Georgia.

Perhaps they were looking ahead to the trip to Austin.

Here’s what Smart had to say today that’s relevant to the Texas Longhorns.

Opening statement

“Obviously a huge matchup. It’s going to be a top-10, two teams in the country. A lot of respect for Sark. I’ve gotten to know Sark really well over the last couple years. We take a trip every year together. Really enjoyed getting to know him and have a lot of respect for the job he does. The most complete team that we’ve seen or faced this year and probably multiple years. When you look at what they’re doing defensively, offensively, and special teams, they are clearly one of the best teams in the country with what they do. They’ve got a great quarterback, great defense, great scheme, it should be a great matchup. This is really why you come to Georgia to play in these moments. Once again on the road going to a place I’ve never been, I assume none of our players have ever been there either for a game. It should be exciting, great TV, looking for an opportunity for us to get better because that’s the most important thing. Can we show some kind of consistent improvement and play more consistent as a team? That’s our goal.” 

Difficulty preparing for the Texas offense 

“Well, they’re balanced. They do a great job of putting you in conflict in terms of run-pass, play-action, turn your back to the ball. They can take shots. They got really good wideouts to take shots with. I think they lost a couple backs, maybe in preseason camp, and I thought, okay they’re not going to have…well, these two backs they got are really good. I’m like, man, I’m watching them against Mississippi State, I was really impressed and then against Oklahoma they got better. So, it’s not like there’s these weaknesses. They’re big and physical up front on defense and offense, they’re built around the defensive and offensive lines. When you look at his record and you say, look at his record while he’s been there, each year it’s improved, well the trenches improved each year. They’re for real in the trenches. They got really good players. They’re built like an SEC team. It’s hard to prepare for him because he knows what he’s doing offensively. He’s really different in terms of what he makes you adjust to.”

What makes the Texas defense elite

“Size, speed, two best front guys. Every defense starts with train wreckers, big guys, physical guys at the point of attack that are hard to move. They got’em. They got guys on the edge that are elite rushers. They got an elite player out of the portal, they went and got the DB from Clemson who’s playing really good. They patched up some holes they had and they’re the complete package on defense. They’re really consistent. They don’t give up explosives. They’re really good in the red area. They’re hard to run the ball on. The consistency you watch them play with it reminds me of some of our better teams here, our best teams here. They’re good on D, they’re good on O, they’re good on special teams and they’re playing at a high level.” 

Texas and deep shots vs Georgia’s secondary

“It’s different because the deep shots, we’re talking about two distinctly different offenses (Texas and Miss St). When you watch the tape, when we played correctly, used the right technique, we played well. We did not win every ball. Joenel Aguero is a great example. He covered the guy exactly like he was supposed to and the guy made a great throw and a great catch. We’re going to take that. We’ll say, you know what we’re not going to win every battle. We’re not going to win every 50/50 ball but we’re going to try to win more than we lose. But when you don’t cover someone period, as the coach you’re going what is wrong here? We didn’t cover the guy, we had bad eyes, we looked in the backfield. Things that you harp on every day, they happen. That’s what offenses do, they try to give you eye candy and get you looking at the wrong thing. We have to remove those, right? But Texas presents a completely different…because they’ll have you sitting on the line of scrimmage because you think it’s a run and they ran right by you. They’ll have you looking at a motion and you don’t see the guy running down the field past you. They have great speed on the perimeter. They have great size. So they present maybe a different challenge than Mississippi State, but a challenge.”

On Texas D-tackle Bill Norton, a former Bulldog

“Bill Norton, what a great kid, man. This guy worked his tail off here, worked really hard. I go back to, I forget what year it was, it had to have been three years ago or four years ago, one of his key roles was special teams. He played on our field goal protection unit and was the best at doing it we had. He was a backup defensive tackle and played some snaps but that was his role. I want to say, maybe the Ohio State game or one of the games we lost somebody and he had to go in and take over and play a role and he did it with great pride. He was always positive and enjoyed practice and was fun to be around; funny guy. And now he’s been I guess two places and he’s playing for them. He’s doing a really good job. He subs in and rolls in as one of their backup DT’s.”

How has Sark changed as a play caller and designer now that he has the program humming

“I don’t know that he’s changed as a play caller and designer. His elite ability is to get players the ball. That’s what he’s elite at. He’s had really good wideouts before and they were really good. He’s had really good backs and he found ways to get them the ball. He’s had good tight ends, like he has now, and he’s finding ways to get him the ball. His offense is, uh, it is complicated because it has motions, shifts, a lot of window dressing, but he gets back to the plays he’s going to run and he’s able to be versatile enough to say, okay, I got this guy, I gotta get this guy the ball and some of the the plays are like ours now where they’re not designed for one player, they’re built for what does the defense do, I’m going to get it to my weapons. There’s probably more similarities between the two offenses than some of these offenses we’ve faced.” 

What stands out about Quinn Ewers

“His awareness. There’s nothing that he sees that he hasn’t seen. Quarterback, you get confidence by playing the position. You’re not going to have some guy that just doesn’t play go out there and play great. He’s played a lot of football, he’s a really good athlete, he’s been in Sark’s system. I think the comparisons between he and Carson [Beck] are so similar in terms of the kind of quarterbacks they are. They’re both better athletes than people think. They both have awareness of coverage and they’re really good in the pocket. This guy has taken off and hurt teams running when he needs to but he can also stand in the pocket and make all the throws and change the protection. I’ve really been impressed with him but that was even the case with him last year when I saw him play.”