Kirby Smart talks about in over Georgia Tech
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00:00 A few opening comments and then we'll take your questions.
00:04 Yeah, a great atmosphere for college football. I'll tell you
00:07 what, it was a lot of fun. Having that kind of atmosphere.
00:11 I think our kids really enjoyed it. But our fans showed up and
00:14 did a great job made it feel like it was like 5050 with our
00:19 fans out there. A lot of credit to Georgia Tech, they did a
00:21 really good job played hard played physical. I thought
00:24 Buster and his staff did a great job with the run plan. We
00:27 expected to get a lot of quarterback run, they did a good
00:29 job of that. But once again, our kids show up very resilient,
00:33 tough. I mean, this game is not measured by stats and rushing
00:39 yards and first downs is measured by heart. And you got
00:42 to have a whole lot of heart to go out there and fight and play
00:44 like our guys have done week after week after week. I mean,
00:48 you see across the country in these rivalry games, what
00:51 happens and I know better than anybody that it can go either
00:56 way in these type games, very emotional, very different week
01:00 in terms of Thanksgiving and everything going on. But I
01:03 thought our offense played with a lot of consistency, we're able
01:05 to run the ball really well. And really physical up front and a
01:09 lot of scrimmage on the game for us.
01:10 Really physical, he's getting his pads down running through
01:22 contact. Breaks a lot of arm tackles, you know, I saw two or
01:25 three of their guys have to go out from having to tackle him
01:28 because he's really physical and downhill. But make no mistake
01:31 about it. It's not just him. It's a lot of them dudes up
01:34 there in front of him. It's quarterback run checking. It's
01:37 front line moving people, tight ends receivers blocking
01:40 downfield. It's a team effort. And he was a big, big part of
01:45 that tonight. I mean, even Dejon had some good runs, but I
01:47 thought Kendall was really physical.
01:55 Says we got a tough one next week. I mean, it's it's it's
01:58 humility is a week away. That's what we say around our place.
02:01 And it's a great honor. I mean, it's something to look back on.
02:04 And it's not one person, you know, it's, it's, I'm thinking,
02:08 right, that's three different teams, right. And there's,
02:11 there's a lot of kids that aren't in that locker room that
02:13 were a part of that. But, you know, that's not the focal point
02:19 for us. Focal point for us is to get better, you know, and we
02:23 got it, we got to continue to get better. Our kids have a lot
02:26 of pride, and they want to get better. You know, offense felt
02:28 like they left points out there. Defense feels like they didn't
02:31 play the quarterback run game as well as they should. So the
02:34 good thing about the locker room is a lot of guys know there's
02:37 work to be done.
02:38 Define close. I mean,
02:44 they could play that plate. I mean, 100% they could play that
02:51 plate. I don't think you measured on it was a
02:54 championship game. It was a state championship game. And
02:56 they wanted to play all of them wanted to play. Look, guys,
02:59 we're beat up. We got two freshman linebackers out there
03:00 playing. I don't know 50% of snaps smiles out there, fighting
03:04 his tail off. He's he's hurt and beat up. And we got everybody
03:08 does. We're not gonna whine and cry about it. We just got to get
03:11 the next man up and got to continue to make plays with the
03:14 other guys.
03:18 Yeah, he was more sore this week than he's been. I mean, he was
03:21 not able to do much during the week and he tried to go he
03:26 wanted to go. But it just means he's sore. He's got to be honest
03:30 with us and tell us
03:31 really important. I mean, he's a good football player. He's a
03:41 jack of all trades. He's a great kid hard worker makes plays with
03:47 the ball. I think the offensive staff deserves a lot of credit
03:51 for finding different people. I mean, when you talk about five
03:55 starters being out on offense from like different spots, and
03:58 then still to go out there and do what they do, they, they just
04:01 find the next man who's the next man to touch the ball and they've
04:03 done a good job of that.
04:04 Kirby, you think your team's good enough to earn a playoff
04:07 spot now? Or do you think it's gonna come down to next week?
04:09 I really wouldn't want to answer that. You know, if I mean, I'm
04:13 so worried about what we're doing, and getting better that
04:17 I'm only that for you guys, you know, like, what, what, what?
04:21 I'm not worried about lobbying for anything. I'm worried about
04:24 playing for an SEC championship, which is really hard, really
04:30 hard to get. And there's one of the greatest venues in all
04:35 sports is the SEC championship. I've been very fortunate coaching
04:38 it a lot of times from DC position and head coach position.
04:43 And it's probably the best atmosphere that I've ever been
04:45 around. So we'll be concerned ourself with that.
04:47 Coach, you said that defense didn't play exactly where they
04:51 wanted to, but overall, since the beginning of the season to
04:53 now, how would you rate your defense overall performance?
04:55 It's hard to rate it game by game, probably easier. I'm
05:01 really proud of the connection they have, and how hard they
05:04 work. I don't even look at the stats. I mean, I literally don't
05:08 know what the stats say. I just know that there's some times we
05:11 could play better. And there's some times we've had to play
05:13 with guys that might not quite be ready yet, but they've had to
05:16 step up and answer the bell. I love coaching them every day. I
05:19 love being around them. I love our defensive staff. I love all
05:22 that. But we got to get better.
05:24 Well, it says that our offensive staff can find ways to get them
05:35 the ball. And we got to keep finding the next man up. You
05:38 know, I mean, it is what it is. It happens to everybody. So I'm
05:43 proud of the depth we have, but I don't think anybody's got
05:45 enough depth because I mean, we're thin at some spots, we've
05:48 had to, you know, we have to practice different ways the last
05:51 couple weeks, just because of how thin we are.
05:53 Were you disappointed with the, obviously, you're disappointed
05:57 there was an interception, but a pass call in that situation at
06:01 the end where you could have maybe put the game away?
06:04 Oh, yeah. I mean, we're trying to score touchdown. I mean,
06:07 we're not gonna play for a field goal. So we call it a play to
06:10 score touchdown. Unfortunately, I think they dropped eight. And
06:12 ball got tipped or ricocheted. I'm not real sure off of maybe
06:16 our guy or their guy. And unfortunately, when that happens
06:20 in the game and try to avoid that you'd like to have a
06:23 situation there that you get the point to get the field goal. But
06:26 if we can score touchdown when you score touchdown.
06:28 Yeah, he said he was past the threshold for how far he should
06:35 be. It's just I've never had a call for me now I've had it
06:38 called against me. So I've been dealing with that thing for a
06:41 lot of years.
06:41 Did it feel any more special winning the state championship
06:44 against a former coach that also played this game with you as
06:47 well?
06:47 It's not about me and him, or at least it's not for me. It's
06:52 about these kids. I want those kids to walk out of that room
06:55 with a zero in their loss column. And that's what I want.
06:59 And there's a group of seniors in there that just got a chance
07:02 to do that. And that's what it's about is is you know, dominating
07:06 your rivalries. We say SEC East crossover opponent, and in state
07:11 rivalry. You got to win those to have good years. And those kids
07:16 have done that for three years now.
07:18 Did you make Oscar Dope's performance tonight especially
07:21 his downfield blocking?
07:22 Don't know. I didn't really get to watch it. Oscar's a tough,
07:25 tough dude. Love the way he works and practices.
07:30 I thought Zylo's tip on the fourth down play is how big a
07:33 play that is.
07:33 Huge play in the game, huge play in the game because momentum's
07:36 gonna swing the other way with a P.I. call and that tip ball's
07:39 big. And Coach Scott stresses that and works on it all the
07:42 time. We always kid Zylo. He's finally starting to get some of
07:45 those tips in his latter years. It's a big play for him.
07:48 Kirby, how much of a challenge was it just facing quarterback
07:51 Kings King and especially the way he can extend plays with his
07:53 legs?
07:54 Yeah, he's number one. He's an incredible athlete. I don't know
07:57 that it's how much he extends plays with his legs as much as
07:59 how good he runs the ball. Their run scheme is really good.
08:02 They're running a form of triple option from the gun. And he has
08:06 multiple options on each play. He made good decisions and we
08:10 look like we misfit some things but I don't know that. I got to
08:12 go back and watch it. They might have just whipped us but it'll
08:15 be interesting to watch it and see.
08:16 Can you follow up on that a little bit? Javon said
08:19 something like we can't get to where we want to go by giving up
08:21 200 rushing yards a game. Just where would you say the run
08:24 defense is at at this point in the season?
08:26 Depends on what kind of run it is. Like, there's, we go back to
08:30 our conversations we've had before. There's different kinds
08:32 of runs. There's quarterback runs and gap runs, which are
08:36 really hard to defend if you have a good quarterback and you
08:38 can run the ball with it. I've seen it all over the country. So
08:42 we're pretty good at stopping a lot of runs. We struggled
08:46 stopping some of those runs and we got to do a better job.
08:49 You've been here before the last few years. You've taken win in
08:53 the last game of the season. What does this week look like
08:56 before you get ready for this?
08:57 Like it does every week. We're gonna start tomorrow and prepare
09:01 and you don't change what you do because of who you play. I mean,
09:05 we have a really good routine we feel comfortable with and it'll
09:09 be a game week.
09:09 Did you get to see how the Alabama-Auburn game ended?
09:12 No, we were in the locker room. Somebody came up to me when we
09:17 went on the field for warm ups. Or somebody said that Auburn
09:20 had won and it was fourth and whatever. And I didn't think
09:24 about it again till we're coming in and somebody said they
09:27 converted that ended up winning it. So I never saw it. I just
09:29 heard about it.
09:30 Coach, you guys had a couple of big special teams play tonight.
09:34 What kind of impact did that have on the team?
09:36 It was a huge field position. I mean, I think the special teams
09:40 outside of our rushing offense and our offense line, that was
09:43 the biggest win in the game, that third element. I mean, to
09:46 be able to go out there and dominate the kickoff returns
09:49 and you know, nobody gives a kid credit, but Zirkle didn't give
09:52 them a chance to return one. So I mean, as much as we got to
09:55 return it, they didn't. And that was, I mean, it's probably the
09:58 difference in the game that and recovering the onside kick.
10:01 Coach, I'm sure you haven't had a chance to study him yet. But
10:05 how similar are the threat that Jalen Millrow might provide with
10:08 his legs is what you just saw in Hank's game?
10:10 Like you said, I hadn't seen him. I don't know that. You
10:12 know, I know they're physical, they're big, they got a really
10:15 good quarterback, a good wide outfielder, good team.
10:17 I think you have more penalties than you usually have this
10:22 season. You've been pretty consistent with that. Your
10:25 thoughts on a couple of them on characteristic terms as well?
10:28 I don't know. You know, I don't judge. I don't ever talk about
10:31 officiating. But I mean, it's one of those that we go to
10:34 different conference, they have different standards. I mean, we
10:36 evaluate every crew that we get, their crew had higher more
10:39 penalties than any SEC crew going into the game. So we just
10:43 thought it was gonna be a more penalized game. They are, I
10:46 guess they call it closer, you know, they had more holdings,
10:48 more personal fouls, they just have more fouls in their games
10:52 than we average in the SEC. So it just so happened that a lot
10:55 of them seem like they went against us in opportune times.
10:58 But I don't question the officiating. I think those guys
11:01 do a great job.
11:02 Marvin Jones and Christian Miller both get sacks tonight. How
11:06 big is that for them, especially as young players as they
11:07 continue to develop?
11:08 Yeah, they work hard, man. Those guys work hard and they get
11:12 their snaps. They go out there and compete each day. Marvin's
11:15 getting better and better with every game and Christian's
11:17 getting better. He's been going down the scout team and growing
11:20 as a player as well.
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