“If you kick it up and they end up taking it to the house, that’s a bad decision there. But we’ve been covering kicks pretty good and Marshall does a good job of kicking the ball up there and giving our guys the chance to make tackles. And we did all day. So obviously hindsight is helpful, but I should’ve just let them kick it deep and go cover the thing and see what happens from there.”
— Mark Richt on his decision to have Marshall Morgan “squib” Georgia’s final kickoff
“We fumbled it away a couple of times and had to end up kicking a field goal because we couldn’t knock it in. Great goal-line defense by them. … It was kind of an unusual day down there inside the 2- or 3-yard line. I don’t think anybody would have predicted that.”
— Richt on Bulldogs failing to score TDs three times inside Tech’s 2
“We just didn’t take advantage of all our opportunities. We had two or three turnovers, I had a missed assignment on a kickoff. We were still up with 15 seconds to go in the game; that just shows we didn’t execute like we were supposed to. They got a little lucky, I think.”
— UGA freshman tailback Nick Chubb
“I saw the ball. I went to ripping at it, fortunately it started to come and I just took it and ran. I don’t think the play should’ve been blown dead. Everything that was going on was affecting the play. You don’t blow it dead at the 1. And I never saw anybody fully have the grasp of anybody. We had the fullback and the quarterback stood up, and I was able to get in and get the ball.”
— Georgia defensive back Damian Swann on his 99-yard touchdown return off a Justin Thomas fumble
“I left everything I had on the field today, and not just for myself. But for Amarlo Herrera, for Ramik Wilson, for Toby Johnson, for Mike Thornton, for all those guys that have gone through winter and summer workouts and pure hell trying to get to where we are. So I laid it out there for them. I don’t have any regrets about the way I played.”
— Senior defensive lineman Ray Drew, who had nine tackles and blocked two kicks
“Coach (Mike) Bobo told me after the game he thought the kid just made a great play. I know I made the right read and they were in the right coverage and I was going to the right place. Hindsight’s 20-20 and I’ll go back and watch. But the only thing I could notice was Malcolm didn’t win on the route as much as I thought he was going to. Sometimes it’s better to throw the ball away or throw it at his feet there. But that’s what I’ve been trying to do, just trust guys. And that’s what I did there. I just ripped it.”
— UGA quarterback Hutson Mason on his interception in overtime
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