What the players and coaches said following Georgia Tech’s 28-27 victory over Georgia in Athens on Saturday. It was the second time in three years that the Yellow Jackets defeated the Bulldogs in Sanford Stadium.
"We didn't play perfect all day, but we made plays. It was kind of a microcosm of our season. We can't get off the field, but in the second half we don't give up a lot of points and on defense we held them to a couple of field goals, and that was the difference in the game." — Tech coach Paul Johnson
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"It was an either/or. It's a throw back to the quarterback. We took a timeout. It was like 'It's third down. If it's not there don't force it.' I think it froze them. It looked like he was going to throw it. It kind of froze them and he was able to get it in. Great individual play." — Johnson on Qua Searcy's 6-yard game-winning touchdown run.
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"Not bad for a bunch of 80th-ranked recruiting classes, right Mark?" — Johnson to AJC columnist Mark Bradley.
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"You just keep playing." — Johnson on what he said to the team when they fell behind by 13 points.
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"It was a team win. It was a team win. We hung in there on defense too. It's hard to do when they are knocking you back and driving you back and running the ball. We hung in there, made them kick some field goals and got a huge stop on fourth down." — Johnson.
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"Thank goodness that he caught that deflection. It went right to him, but it was a tough catch. He's made a lot of good plays for us this year." — Johnson on Lance Austin's interception in the fourth quarter.
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"We just keep playing. We keep playing. This team doesn't get a whole lot of respect. So they just keep playing. They've done a really good job of doing that. We don't listen to anybody. We just play." — Johnson.
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"I want to give my staff a shout out, too. If you're coaching you're getting better as the year goes along. This football team is way better team now than it was at the first of the year. We are better. Not to be confused with making it look pretty all the time. But they are gritty and they fight and hang in there and are confident in themselves. Confident that we are going to dial it up and get it done when you get to. We haven't always done it. Sometimes you fall short. But it's not for lack of confidence." — Johnson.
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"To the fans, I'm just as sick as you are, I'm just as upset as you are and I'm just as disappointed as you are. We've got to do a better job. We recognize that … and we will." — Georgia coach Kirby Smart.
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"It was a quick out and we thought we had to look we wanted. We thought we could advance the ball, get two more first downs and run the clock out. I saw the ball come off Terry's hands and they caught it." — Smart on the interception.
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"I think it was a split-second decision. I was really about to throw the ball but I saw, like, five defenders moving toward them. Nobody was really in the middle. I think I dove from like the 3." — Searcy on his game-winning run.
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"I'll let Smoove (Justin Thomas) handle that. I'm not really sure. When I find out, I'll let you know." — Searcy on what his touchdown run should be nicknamed.
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"I was just telling them it's still a two-possession game. We have a lot of time, like seven minutes left in the third quarter. The game wasn't out of reach." — Thomas on what he told the team in the huddle.
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"You see the flag? We put our flag in the middle of their field. I want them to remember that." — Tech defensive tackle Pat Gamble, who earlier in the week said he couldn't forget Georgia putting their flag in the field of Bobby Dodd Stadium last year.
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"We kept pushing and we got a chance to win the game and we did that." — Gamble.
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"We were in zone coverage and I think Eason thought we were in man." — Tech defensive back Lance Austin on his fourth-quarter interception.
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