Kirby Smart goes off on media after ‘sloppy’ finish to Georgia win

ATHENS — Georgia scored 70 points in its win over Western Kentucky. But it did little to improve Kirby Smart’s mood after the game.

After a sloppy second half that saw Georgia fumble the ball multiple times and give up two fourth-quarter touchdowns, the Georgia coach made it clear this team is not as perfect as its record indicates.

“I did think that we got to improve in a lot of areas, and then we had some guys finish the game kind of sloppy that showed they weren’t quite ready,” Smart said.

Smart didn’t just harp on the fourth quarter, as he discussed a number of areas in the 50-point win.

Below are Smart’s full remarks following the 70-20 win.

Everything Kirby Smart said after 70-20 win over Western Kentucky

Opening statement:

“Yes, I always like to thank the fans for buying in and joining in on the White Out. I thought we had a good turnout, especially considering we had some inclement weather headed our way and a lot of doubt in the weather. But it turned out good. It was good for us to have to play in that environment in terms of rain and getting wet. It’s hard to simulate that. We didn’t get many practices this fall camp in it, and it kind of showed.

“But I was proud of the guys. Started fast, and gotta keep improving. That was the theme of the week. I did think that we got to improve in a lot of areas, and then we had some guys finish the game kind of sloppy that showed they weren’t quite ready. But the fact they got an opportunity to go out there. I think we played more people in the second half than we’ve ever played before.

“So they’ve gotta get better if we’re gonna have to put them in a game in a competitive situation. On to the SEC league now, and it’s just a different league. You play this league on the road over the years that I have and coached, it’s a different environment. Every game is really hard — especially on the road, especially the first one. So with that, we’ll be focusing on Arkansas moving forward.”

On Gunner Stockton’s performance and his growth through two games:

“Yeah, you know, he’s executing at a high level. He took some hits today that I don’t want him to take. He took two or three, one he probably could have controlled it and done something about it. And the others, he couldn’t.

“He’s tough. He’ll stand in there and not flinch. But he’s played well.”

On a Tyriq Green injury update:

“Nah. No update.”

On Green’s day with the fumble recovery and kick return touchdown:

“Yeah, right place at right time in terms of recovery. He never quit. He was the backside safety. He kept chasing. It was a hustle play that he made. And then the kickoff return one, they had some guys get out of their lanes and we finally timed it up better and thought we should have had better return yardage on the others.

“He’s a bright kid and he’s a competitor.”

On Landon Roldan’s touchdown:

“Yeah, Landon’s a talented young man that works hard. He’s fast, he makes competitive catches. He’s smart and disciplined. He needs to work on his punt return, that’s for sure.”

On the key to fast starts consecutive weeks:

“Turnovers. I mean, they gave us one today, right? The opening kick, they turn it over. Then you go out, start fast. That’s an overwhelming way to go with things. The opponents haven’t been SEC opponents, so it’s all rosy and dandy until you go on the road and you gotta play somebody of SEC caliber and it’s hard. And also we have some adversity. This team has not really had adversity, so we’re gonna find out.”

On the depth at WR and five different guys catching TDs:

“Yeah, that’s Georgia football. Like, I don’t know, every year I’ve been here, you could say that. But we spread the ball around. Everybody wants a 1,000-yard receiver and this and that, but we spread the wealth. That’s the way the offense is built, and it’s a good thing. And you reward guys that ... work hard, and the offense is built to go where people are open. It’s not one that just goes to each person.”

On what he’s learned about this Georgia team:

“That they listen, they compete hard, they practice well, they execute at a high level early in games, and attention to detail has been there — for the first half. But not really a lot that you can tell in terms of adversity.”

On Sacovie White-Helton’s touchdown catch:

“Yeah, the throw and the decision by Gunner was great. It was elite. The catch by Sacovie, using all his hands and not his body, was really big. And then his burst, you know, to split the safeties and go make a play. So it was really nice protection and really nice decision. Great catch and run after the catch.”

On Chauncey Bowens’ hurdle into the end zone:

“I didn’t really have a reaction to it. It’s pretty common.”

On what is different about this UGA offense:

“Our opponents.”

On Gunner Stockton saying he’s having more fun:

“Yeah, it’s fun when you score every possession you’re in. That’s what makes it fun, but is that real? You think we’re gonna do that in SEC play, score every possession? So it’s gonna be a high deal of adversity.”

On lessons Georgia can take away from today:

“Yeah, that if you don’t get off the field on third down six consecutive times, you’re not ready to play for Georgia’s defense. If you can’t possess the ball on offense, then you can’t play. If you can’t crack block off a guy that’s lined up inside you and hold your block and pin him, then you’re probably not ready. If your front five offensive linemen can’t move Western Kentucky’s defensive line, you’re gonna really struggle on the road when you play in the SEC. So there’s guys that want playing time and think they’re worthy of playing time that just proved to me they don’t deserve it.”

On if it surprised him:

“No, it doesn’t surprise me. I do it every year. It’s every year, it’s the learning curve, right? You go through it, you keep coaching them, you rub their nose in it, you say, ‘Look, this is what you are.’ This is not, don’t be offended because somebody gave you your fourth star and you came in here and you could have blocked somebody that outstrained you from Western Kentucky. Don’t be upset. It’s just, it’s real, it’s reality. So you can do something about it by going out there and practicing.”

On keeping Georgia conditioned in blowouts:

“Yeah, we run. We gonna run. We’re gonna run Monday. We’re gonna run Tuesday. We’re gonna run. And hopefully that will help us.”

On when to pull a quarterback:

“We just talked about it: When is it time to get another guy reps vs. rhythm vs. continuity, making sure we’re giving the other guy a fair chance in terms of who’s in with him, and it’s not a lot of hard decisions when you’re up like that.”

On the all-white uniforms and if they might come back:

“I don’t know. Time will tell. If we play like we did in the second half, hell no.”

On spreading the ball around and using that on the recruiting trail:

It’s not really something we use in recruiting, it just happens that way. I think you guys think that we hit Program B and you call (this) play and this guy’s getting the ball. That’s not how it works. The defense dictates who gets the ball by what they want; we don’t dictate that. We don’t call the play, this is his play, he’s gonna score a touchdown here. It’s this, this, or this. If they do this, then we’re doing this. And if they do that, then we’re doing this. And then sometimes we check out of a pass into a run, or a run into a pass. And we don’t dictate that. So the ball gets spread around by what the defense does and not what we do."

On Khamari Brooks:

“Yeah, he got over an injury. His toughness, he’s got a long way to go, guys. Look, he’s played two inferior opponents, he and PJ Dean. I know that they go against our guys every day. And I get to see them against two really good tackles every day in ours. They got a ways to go. So let’s, we don’t want to anoint anybody right now because they recover fumbles or catch touchdowns. When you score 70, you’re gonna have a lot of fluffy stats. I don’t care about stats. I really do not care. The one that you guys are chasing, you guys will reward them. You will say we scored 70 and 60. And the only thing I’m worried about is how the hell we’re gonna play on the road next week.”

On thinning out the rotation:

“Yeah, that’s — we played two Saturday scrimmages against Georgia right here in Sanford Stadium, and that determines a lot of that. How do you play when you play against the best? And what gives us the best chance to win? That’s the only thing in our mind, is what gives us the best chance to win? And who is that?”

On Will Taylor playing early with the first team:

“Yeah, he’s the best guy for the job. I mean, he’s one of the toughest, best competitors — you ask any guy on the team who had the most explosives in camp. He blocks, he runs, he catches, he’s consistent, he understands his assignment. He’s a good special teams player. I mean, he’s a really good player. Because somebody didn’t have him anointed coming out of high school, I don’t know. All I know is that he came here as a pretty good player, and he has gotten much better and continues to improve.

On what injury Thomas Blackshear is dealing with:

“He’s got a little wrist injury that we’re dealing with, and he had a cast on. He’s just getting better from that.”

On what he’s learned about Craig Dandridge through two games:

“Consistency in performance. He works really hard each day. He runs routes the right way. He listens to coaching. When you tell Craig something, you see him actually carry it over and do it. He plays fast. He has consistent hands. He catches the ball. He blocks with toughness. I mean, at receiver, half the battle is do what you’re supposed to do. and he does that. He’s given himself multiple opportunities because of that.”

On how much they discussed forcing more turnovers:

“Yeah, the turnovers can be credited to the weather, both ways. I mean, the ball’s loose, the ball came out, it’s going to happen. You don’t accept it, you don’t blame it on the weather, but both teams struggled with exchanges and the ball being on the ground. So I wouldn’t be ready to say that our defense is forcing turnovers, we fell into them.”

On what he’s seen from the offensive line so far:

“Well, the execution has been at a good level. The two hits on the quarterback were late add-on rushes, and we had a couple things there we’ve got to do to pick those up. But even when they did get some pressure, Gunner got away from it. I think the early parts of the game, they executed well. They’ve communicated well. It just has not extended throughout the game.”

On what weather he prefers to play in:

“I want to play in good weather. I don’t really judge it by the weather at all. I don’t prefer anything. I prefer to play well, regardless of the weather.”

On what he’s seen from defensive reserves in terms of upholding the standard:

“Yeah, not good. They don’t play to the standard. They don’t — you know what? I don’t know if they should. They’re 17 and 18 years old. They’re not third-year portal transfers. They’re guys out there busting that just got here midyear last year. If they’re going to play, then they’ve got to play to the standard, and they have not. We have not. Now, us more than other people, we put them in. We put guys in earlier than other people. We don’t try to pad guys’ stats and risk injury. We play people, and it came out in the scoreboard.”

On if there any players who are more in shape now than at the start of camp:

“Yeah, none I can single out. I don’t think any of our guys were in game shape, to be honest. We work really hard at that in the season to maintain that and push that.”