Georgia dedicated win to ‘incredible’ member of UGA Athletics community

STARKVILLE, Miss. — For once, Georgia didn’t have to worry about the outcome in the fourth quarter.

Georgia scored 38-straight points on its way to a 41-21 win over the Mississippi State Bulldogs.

Yet even during the comfortable win, Smart was still searching for ways to fire up his team.

“It felt different,” Smart said. “I mean, I had to find something to b---h about.”

Smart did have plenty of positive things to say following the 41-21 road win for Georgia.

Below is a full transcript of Smart’s remarks.

Everything Georgia coach Kirby Smart said

Opening statement...

“I’m proud of our guys. I thought that was a total team effort, really tough place to play. I have a lot of respect for (Mississippi State coach) Jeff (Lebby). I told him before the game. His team has played valiantly all year. They’ve been in every game they’ve played. They’re well-coached. They got talented skilled players.

“They’re a good football team, and this is a tough place to play, guys. You fly over and land, and the hour time change. And you get to the hotel, you’re there at (7 p.m.), you’re in a meeting at eight. The players got up yesterday at 6:30 at home. Had to eat a pregame meal at 6:50 with a wake-up call at 6:30 a.m. There’s a lot of hurdles. (An) hour bus ride from Tupelo to here. It’s tough, and I thought they navigated that really well. We had good leadership this week. Our players believe in the way we practice, and that conditioning level was huge today. It was hot. It was way hotter than we expected. I told them during the week, I thought this might be like Tennessee or Kentucky, and it would affect both teams because you’re not used to playing in that kind of weather in November. I thought we were well conditioned. And we ran the ball and we stopped the run, so that was two big things. I’m proud of our guys.

I also wanna say this: we dedicated this win to Miss Kim Allen, who’s a co-worker of ours, worked in our facility. She’s an incredible lady. She worked there four or five years. Every morning I came to work, she was the first person I saw. She was there every day at 5:30 a.m., and a lot of the players got really close to Miss Kim, and she passed this last week. It was very emotional for a lot of our players. I’ve never met a more positive person than Miss Kim, so we wanted to make sure she enjoyed that from up above.”

On the performance of the offensive line and the running back room...

“Yeah, I thought they blocked people up. We got a hat on a hat. You know, there’s not a lot of ways to trick people in the run game in terms of the way you block them, and our offense line, Stacy Searles, coach (Mike) Bobo, (Todd) Hartley, Phil (Rauscher), (Josh) Crawford, I mean all those guys. Receivers. Total team effort, you know?

“You can’t run the ball unless you commit to the run, and it takes extra work and extra reps. And we have an unselfish team that believes in that. Our quarterback believes in it, and obviously it was a total team effort in the run game.”

On how the defense played after Mississippi State’s opening TD...

“Yeah, I mean, I thought it was awesome. I mean, I’ve gotten to the point I’m conceding the first one and then we just adjust from there because they had tempo. They were at their best. And look, I always tell people, ‘It’s not who runs the fastest 40. Who runs the 40th 40 (fastest), right?’ Who runs plays 67 the same way they did the first play?

“Their tempo and their rhythm and their script is a tough thing to simulate, and then as the game goes, they slow down. Can you take blow by blow, and our defense tends to play better as the game goes on.”

On the middle-eight performance today...

“I loved the middle eight. So proud of the middle eight. I think that was the difference in the game. We keep a stat every game of middle eight, and we’ve been good in middle eight (Smart knocks on the table for good luck), and we were excellent today.

“But the middle eight is huge, and we work hard on that. It was a huge turning point in the game there when we got them to jump offsides and cash in on Bobo’s call on the screen. So, for all the screen haters out there, there you go.”

On if this was Georgia’s first fast start/complete game for them this season...

“I wouldn’t call it a fast start, right? It was a turnover for us that we’ve made. I felt like we should have made a stop on the opening drive, got a third-and-long. We didn’t get a stop. That’s what we have to change. So that kept us from having a fast start. And then offensively, we probably could have scored every possession without the turnover. And so it was not a complete game, but it was closer.”

On Nate Frazier’s play and how he’s responded since the fumble against Alabama...

“He’s been awesome. He works really hard. He and Chauncey (Bowens) both share the load. I think they cheer for each other. Outside, they’re all worried about which back’s in, and we love both those kids. Really, I hate it for Dwight (Phillips). He had a couple bad looks today. He had a bad break, guy didn’t make a block. Dwight’s one of our better running backs, and we’ve got to continue to bring him and Josh (McCray) along. Nate had a great day, man. What a great day he had, and he was deserving. But let’s give credit, too, to Oscar Delp and Monroe (Freeling) and Earnest (Greene) and Micah (Morris) and Drew (Bobo). Oh, my gosh. Juan (Gaston) and Donnie (Glover). Like, they blocked those plays up, now. He was in the secondary quick, and that’s elite blocking.”

On the sequence of running the punt team off the field a couple of times and if that was for Miss State specifically or a play UGA keeps...

“We keep it. We keep a lot of things like that in our back pocket and try to be aggressive and use them. We learned a valuable lesson against Notre Dame, let’s just say that.”

On Lawson Luckie after his injury...

“He obviously got a shot to the head, and he’s fine. He’s moving. He wanted to go back in the game. The decision-makers held him.”

On a Drew Bobo injury update...

“He’s got a laceration of some kind on his snapping hand. It was a cut open, and they were going to have to pad it, but he couldn’t snap if he padded it. They were going to have to suture it, and I don’t think they got it sutured in time to get him back.”

On if Gunner Stockton should have more Heisman buzz...

“The last thing I’m worried about is the Heisman, and I think the last thing he’s worried about is the Heisman. Gunner’s been awesome for our team. He’s a selfless player. He’s a winner. He cares about his team. He makes great decisions. I think that’s a decision for somebody else. I don’t get into, I’ve never come out and said something like that with our guys. He’s certainly a great player with great players around him.”

On the explosive plays and if they say anything about where the offense is heading...

“I’m excited about that long run. We’ve been — man, I don’t know the last time we had a — we had a lot of what I call explosive runs, 15 yards or more, but not the big ones. And that’s good. That’s huge for us. We need more of that. We can be an explosive run team. We take a lot of pride in the turnover win-loss battle, the explosive (play) positive-negative ratio differential between the teams, and the middle eight. Those are the three greatest indicators of who wins games. If we can win two out of those three, we’re going to be a good team.”

On forcing the fumble after Dillon Bell fumbled...

“Yeah, it’s a big momentum change. I think (Glenn) Schumann and the defensive staff did an incredible job this game to put a game plan together that our kids could execute. There was a lot of different things about their offense, and I thought that Schu called a really good game. They’re hard to prepare for.”

On Zayden Walker and his progression to getting more playing time...

“Yeah, he’s a heck of a football player. He had a tough missed tackle on the quarterback draw, but he’s one of the guys that flashes in terms of size, speed. He needs confidence in his ability, but I like his work ethic. If he continues to grow, he’s like one of these planes taking off. He’s starting to elevate. He’s starting to get better, and where can it go? He’s got a high ceiling if he continues to work hard.”

On what stood out most to him about his team’s road games this season...

“Togetherness. The thing we talk about. I’ve got Zach Branch making the number one block down the field for Noah Thomas’s touchdown. I’ve got Dillon Bell sprinting down the sideline for Noah Thomas’s touchdown. We got Oscar Delp making a key block on Nate Frazier’s long run. I mean, that’s what stands out to me is the love that each player has for the other guy and celebrating that success.”

On Raylen Wilson...

“Work ethic. Raylen’s a great athlete. Raylen plays hard, practices hard. He and CJ (Allen) make a great combination. They’re well coached. Schumann does a great job with them. Schumann get some good calls on those to get some sacks to generate some pressure.”

On not having to play guys for four quarters...

“I don’t know how much value (it has). At the point you’ve played, you’ve played. I don’t know what our snap counts will end up. I would have liked to have seen the guys go in and execute better, both defensively and offensively, to close out the game. But it’s better to give them a chance to play than the alternative.”

On Elyiss Williams...

“It’s confidence. He is an accelerating player. You think about (Ethan) Barbour was ahead of him in terms of knowledge, playing. Barbour takes a tough injury. I just sit here and wonder where we’d be if Ethan and him had both grown to where Elyiss is. Ethan was getting better too. And Elyiss, I’ve never seen a kid go on the scout team, go as hard as he did, and get better as fast as he did. I’m like, ‘hey guys, this guy’s a really good player. He’s a weapon.’ They want to keep putting him on the scout team to get him better. I’m like, I don’t want to lose him. I want him to keep playing and utilize his skill set. I think Coach (Todd) Hartley and Coach (John) Lilly have done an awesome job with Elyiss’s growth and development.”

On Anthony Evans...

“I love Anthony Evans, man. That dude worked his butt off for us. I love his family. I rode him so hard last year about catching punts and returning things and getting better. And I pour into every player on our team with the expectation they’re going to be there for their whole life, and they’re going to be a Georgia Bulldog for their whole life. And I don’t forget how hard they practice and play. And I appreciate what Anthony Evans did while he was at the University of Georgia. He’s a really good football player. So, I like Anthony. He was a tough kid that did everything he (was) asked.”

On it being seen as a trap game...

“The key to that is consistency in practice. Never high, never low. We’re not a roller coaster program. We’re very — we have a program. We have a process we believe in. We don’t get caught up in the moments of wins and losses. I mean, we just keep chopping wood. That’s all we do all week. It’s only a trap game if you don’t get ready. It’s no trap game if you prepare. So, I think our kids handled the preparation well.”

On how quickly Georgia flips the page to Texas...

“I don’t control it. I mean, how can I turn the page faster than turning the page? I mean, I couldn’t turn it before we played this game. I can only turn it afterward. It is what it is. I texted with (Texas coach Steve Sarkisian) today about the drive we had over here. I was like, ‘this drive is an hour and five minutes.’ I couldn’t believe it. I mean, they had the same thing.”

On what Texas coach Steve Sarkisian was doing today...

“No, I didn’t ask him what he was doing. I’m just texting him.”

On winning easy today...

“It felt different. I mean, I had to find something to b---h about.”

On the response from Nate Frazier...