Kirby Smart explains his regrets following latest clock management issues

ATLANTA — Georgia had a chance to emphatically win the middle eight on Saturday and take a commanding lead just out of halftime.

But Kirby Smart played things conservatively to end the first half, knowing Georgia would get the ball after halftime.

“It’s a really tricky deal there, because you’re trying not to give them the ball, and you know you get the ball,” Smart said. “But we probably went too slow there.”

Georgia followed the gaffe by going three-and-out to start the third quarter. What could’ve been a 24-3 lead was instead a 13-3 game, giving Georgia Tech the opportunity to hang around.

Georgia ultimately pulled out the 16-9 win, giving Smart plenty to talk about after the game.

Below are his full postgame comments.

Everything Georgia coach Kirby Smart said

Opening statement…

“Yeah, just awesome atmosphere. Enjoyed getting to play obviously in this venue. Anytime we get to be here, incredible atmosphere. A lot of credit to both teams. Played hard, man. That was a physical, physical, tough game. Our guys were very resilient during it and found ways. Thought the defense really stepped up today. (Defensive coordinator Glenn) Schumann and the staff did an incredible job putting (game) plans together. We did what we had to do offensively. Got to continue to get better. But really proud of this team. Fiftieth win, I think somebody said, for the seniors, eighth win in a row over Georgia Tech. So, those are things that we can hang a hat on. Brent (Key)’s done a great job with this program. They have physical toughness. They play extremely hard. Their guys play at a great pad level. And they’re hard to beat. We controlled the game in terms of time of possession. But didn’t dominate the game. But very proud of what this group did.”

On winning 8 straight against Georgia Tech...

“Yeah, I think so. I think that’s a history deal. This rivalry goes way back, way beyond my ability to comprehend it in terms of years back. Way beyond our players’ ability to comprehend it. What I do know is that, you know, my senior year, we were at seven (in a row). That (loss) ended the streak. That’s one that always sticks with me. I think there was another one in there somewhere that was seven that got ended. So, it’s been a battle back and forth. I mean, both programs have had their runs. It’s good for the state.”

On the latest on Drew Bobo...

“Not sure. Got an ankle, foot. Not sure.”

On how losing Bobo affected the offense...

“I don’t know. I have to reserve that for the tape to watch. Thank goodness Malachi (Toliver) got the time he got the week before (against Charlotte) to go in there and play. There was one run that we thought would have got out and been an explosive that he didn’t quite get the guy. But I don’t honestly know until I watch that tape.”

On what impressed him most about the play of the defense...

“Tackled well. Kept them off balance. Held them to field goals. Got put in some really bad situations in the second half and responded every time. Really proud of the effort and toughness they played with.”

On when he knew CJ Allen might play and his performance...

“Pretty amazing. I mean, the sacrifice he made. First of all, he chose to get the surgery done immediately, as fast as possible. He knew that would give him a chance at coming back for this game. He really wanted this game, a kid from just south of Atlanta. I didn’t think he would be able to, but he’s wired different. I mean, this kid is wired different. He came over here in high school and worked out every day he could during camps and just wanted to get better. So, when I saw him out there on Monday, Tuesday doing a little bit, and then Wednesday doing more, and then Thursday, he was ready to go. So, it’s a credit to him and who he is and how much he loves this program, because not a lot of kids would have done that coming off that surgery.”

On how close Chauncey Bowens was to playing...

“He could have played. Chauncey could have played. He was banged up and was limited during the week. It was one of those deals that he didn’t get a lot of reps during the week. We felt like the other guys had more reps. Josh (McCray) had a really good week and those are the guys we went with. But he was hobbled some during the week.”

On if he feels like the defense is ascending...

“I don’t know. I think they played well the last couple weeks, getting better. There’s more confidence. I think there’s some players that got comfortable back there playing, movement. I think the coaches have kind of figured out who we are and they’re using the skill sets of the players that we need to use. So, we’ve got to continue to get better there. But I’ve been proud of how they practice and how they work.”

On Gunner Stockton’s performance...

“I want to see the tape and see. Obviously, it wasn’t great. There was some drop-eight (coverage) in there, there was some pressure he took on, a couple batted balls. He’s got to do what he’s coached to do. That’s the toughest thing. It’s Mike (Bobo) and (offensive analyst Brandon) Streeter have got to put him in great situations. There’s a couple plays that we think were out there that we didn’t make. He’ll watch the tape. He’ll grow from it and get better. So will the rest of the team.”

On how proud he is of the run defense...

“Yeah, it’s what we talked about all offseason. It’s what this program is built on. You’ve got to be able to run it and you’ve got to be able to stop the run. There’s a fourth and one in there we get, that we barely get. It’s like, OK, that’s who we are. We’ve got to be able to run the ball. We’ve got to be able to stop the run. We were able to stop the run and we were able to run the ball in the first half efficiently, and then the second half it wasn’t as clean and as good.”

On whether or not it’s better for his team to play in the SEC Championship Game...

“If you worry about injury risk, we won’t practice next week. So you live your life scared of injuries, you know what you get? A very scared team. There’s also an opportunity to win an SEC championship. Does that matter? Does anybody care about that anymore? I mean, I grew up thinking that was the greatest game in the world and just different from everybody else. Yeah, we lost guys today to injury. We’re going to lose guys in practice to injury. But that’s next man up. Like, that’s what’s wrong with this whole thing now. It’s like, well, what if you get hurt? What if you do this? What if you do that? I mean, it’s football. It’s all part of it.”

On how much he’ll be focusing on other games this weekend...

“Yeah, I mean, I enjoy getting an opportunity to watch all the games, not just the SEC games, all of them. You know, we’ll watch, see what happens, and put a strategy or plan together that we think helps us get better, regardless of whether that’s playing next week or not. That’s just like you said, it’s out of our hands.”

On Gabe Harris…

“Yeah, he’s violent, man. He’s a striker. He hits. He’s not afraid of contact. He’s one of our twitchy guys. He’s played better. He’s practiced better, and he continues to grow and get better.”

On how the staff instilled confidence in Ellis Robinson IV...

“Donte (Williams) did a great job. I mean, Ellis has always had confidence. It was not like we put confidence in him. He came in here with confidence. He was one of the top corners in the country. He’s got great ball skills. The kid loves football. I admire how his mom and dad made the decision to send him down to IMG (Academy) so he could get to play against the best. He was a work in progress as a freshman, just frustrated sometimes. But he believed in the process of getting better, and he’s still getting better. So I’m proud of him. I’ve seen him make those plays and practice that he made today. So I think he’s growing.”

On Zachariah Branch...

“Yeah, he’s a catalyst. I mean, you’re looking to get one all the touches you can, right? Good things happen when he touches the ball, especially downfield. I’m really proud of his leadership, and that play on third down was huge. And again, probably the play of the game to catch that ball that he did over there.”

On Raylen Wilson and CJ Allen both being out there...

“Well, it makes it better, right? Like having both those guys healthy and practicing, playing, and they’re really smart. They understand offenses, and Schumann does a great job teaching them. When you get a third-year backer that plays the first year, it’s huge. They can get you, they can make you right a lot. And Raylen has stepped up, and I’m so proud of his leadership. He’s shown through with CJ out, and it’s almost like he’s become a better leader by taking on some of CJ’s role.”

On Peyton Woodring...

“Clutch man, he’s huge, he made the kicks he had to make, right? He separated the game there, and I’m really proud of him.”

On dominating the four biggest rivals...

“Probably debatable for those rivals. I don’t know who you define as the rivals...”

Reporter clarifies Auburn, Georgia Tech, Florida and Tennessee...

“Yeah, there’s other ones out there we haven’t beat. So for me, I don’t count things like that, and look at things like that. I just look at it as who’s next, and who that is. I don’t see rivals like you guys do. I respect that, because that’s the fan’s choice. But I’m about winning championships, that’s the goal.”

On if he would’ve wanted to do anything differently in the two-minute drill...

“Yeah, I wish we could have, we were being very methodical intentionally, because we got double possession. We knew we were getting the possession there (after halftime). If I could do anything again, I probably would not do the hard count and wait, and call the time out late. Just go ahead and go fast on third down, which we ended up converting. And then we ran out of time, and we had the timeouts. But it’s a really tricky deal there, because you’re trying not to give them the ball, and you know you get the ball. But we probably went too slow there.”

On the atmosphere inside the stadium...

“I didn’t get a feel. I kept asking people, ‘is it going to be really loud when we’ve at the ball?’ I’ve told people, we’ve played here so many SEC championships, it’s loud both ways. It’s loud when we’re on offense, and we’re snapping the ball. And it’s loud when they’re on offense, and they’re snapping the ball. It’s just loud. And so, I’ve always felt that way, and then coming out of it today, I felt that way. I kept thinking, well, maybe we’ll have more there, it’ll be louder on them. But it was loud on both ways.”

On playing methodically...

“I mean, that’s who we’ve been, but we’ve been more explosive. I mean, we’ve played better offensively. I don’t know why we didn’t play as well today. Give them credit, right? Let’s go watch the tape and grow and see what we can do better. But we were not as explosive, and we were able to run the ball some. We missed some shots, and let’s call it what it is. We had a couple shots that, if we make those, we may break the game open, but we didn’t hit them.”

On what the next week looks like...

“Yeah, first thing we’ll do is go in, look at our roster, talk to our kids, visit with our kids, get ready for signing day, get recovery, do some lifting. Do some self-scout, look at some other opponents and see what they’re doing well, how we can maybe grow our encyclopedia of offense and defense, and just continue to get better. But we got a plan in place, and we talked to some people that have had to sit that week before and try to do the best thing, and the best thing is get our guys healthy.”

On if Georgia has done enough to warrant a top-four seed...

“Not for me to decide. Y’all know me well enough. I’m not in here lobbying us. Those folks who make that decision, maybe they’ve gotta make those decisions. Our job is to respond to it.”

On if there is a sweet spot when it comes to getting rest...

“Yeah, the sweet spot is win. You’ll question what the right decision was, right? There is no right decision. I mean, we talked to coaches all over the place last year that dealt with it, and there was the extended long layoff, there was the nonextended long layoff, there was the Ohio State got hot, and they didn’t play in a (conference) championship. I mean, look, at the end of the day, you gotta do what you feel best about. And you’ll always second-guess it if you lose, and you always won’t if you win. So I don’t know what that sweet spot is. I know talking to people that I trust and have been through it helps to get the information.”

On if going 11-1 means anything to this team...

“I mean, I use that, so I don’t want to contradict myself. But everybody’s a young team. You know what we’re gonna be next year? A young team. You know what we’re gonna be the year after that? A young team. You’re always gonna be young now in college, unless you choose to say, I’m going all portal, and I’m taking all older kids, and I’m rolling the dice that I hit on the right ones. And some programs have taken that approach. Our approach is go get talented young players, try to keep them. But we’ll always be young. We’re just gonna always be young. And that, I don’t like, I say young early in the season. These kids are not young. Elyiss Williams is not young anymore. I mean, those guys have played in a lot of tough, hard football games, and they’ve grown up. So we’re just not a young team anymore. And I did talk about that earlier on, because I felt that way.”

On the Jaden Reddell Hail Mary play...

“Well, we put the best guy, and we work on that every week. And we broke 10 or 11 of those balls, and we’ve been trying to do it ever since the nightmare we experienced. We try to get the best guy, we had the best guy that game. It was Lorenzo Carter, the guy that has the highest vert that can the judge ball. And Jaden had done the best job at that, so we practice it every week. And it’s the first time it’s shown up in a long time.”

On the Ellis Robinson IV interception...

“Yeah I saw it, I was watching the game. I was tuning in over there. It’s a great play. Like I said, he’s made more spectacular catches than that in our practices. When it went up, I thought it was an overthrow. I said, well, he’s gonna bat it down, it’s an overthrow. He just went and caught it, which was big for us.”