FOOTBALL
Coach Mark Richt
Opening statement…
“Very excited about the victory. It’s great to be able to go on the road in the SEC and get the win. I think Kentucky did a fantastic job tonight. My hat’s off to coach Joker Phillips and his team. I’m also pleased with our team to do what they had to do to win the ballgame. A lot of big plays had to be made. We had to play good down the stretch in order to win it. Again, very thankful and pleased with the victory. I want to also, like I said, let coach Phillips know that I thought his team was well prepared and they did a heck of a job.”
On Kentucky…
“I know coach Phillips is a very good coach. Their staff is very sharp. I think they have played much better at home than they have away so I knew them being home was going to be a factor. A lot of times when you do play young guys they tend to play better at home. I expected them to be well prepared and they were.”
On the onside kick…
“It was a great job by (the kicker), if that kick would have rolled just a tad bit faster he probably would have gotten it, but it was just kind of creeping along. Their kicker of course had to wait for it to go 10 and Connor Norman was heads up to go around there and snatch it and be strong enough to convince the officials that it was his. It was a huge play. There were a lot of huge plays in the game, a game that close, but Connor did a great job.”
On the passing game…
“A lot of things have to go well to throw the ball like that. You have to be able to protect, you have to be able to run good routes, you have to be able to put the ball on the money and catch and you have to have a good idea of what you’re doing. You’ve got to have a little bit of scheme involved in there. I think everything came together well, there was a sack or two that we probably could have avoided. There was a ball that probably would have been a touchdown if we caught it, there was another one that was overthrown that I think would have been another touchdown so I think there could have been even more damage done in the passing game.”
On preparation for the game…
“Kentucky had time to get their plan together and they’ve got good personnel. They do a lot of really good things. I have respect for what they have done in the past and how they played tonight. Like I said, I think they have played a lot better at home than they have away. We caught them at home and we got a good SEC victory on the road, I think there is a lot to be said for that.”
- Murray Sets Career TD Record and Completion % Mark in a Game:
Junior Quarterback Aaron Murray
On bouncing back after a loss to South Carolina…
“It was huge for us offensively to be able to go out there, put some points on the board and have some great drives. We know we’re a very talented offense and we had one bad game two weeks ago but that’s far behind us. We understand we still have some work to do to. (We need to) continue getting better but I thought today was a great day offensively.”
On playing No. 2 Florida next week…
“We’re not worried about it. At the end of the day, it all depends on how we play next Saturday. We know we have to play an unbelievable game offensively, defensively and special teams if we want to have a chance to win that game so we just have to be ready to go.”
- King & Mitchell Lead Aerial Attack: Tavarres King had a career-high 9 catches for a game-high 188 yards and tied his career high with two TDs . This marks his fifth career 100-yard game and his second this season. He leads the team with five TD catches this season and has 17 in his career, which is fifth in school history. Sophomore split end Malcolm Mitchell finished with a career high 9 receptions for 103 yards. Tonight was the first time since the 2010 Florida game when the Dawgs had two 100-yard receivers in a game. That year, Orson Charles (108) and King (104) did it. By the way, Mitchell’s career high in yards is 126 versus Missouri earlier this season. Chris Conley’s TD catch was his first of 2012 and the third of his career.
Senior Flanker Tavarres King
On winning against Kentucky…
“It was big, it was huge. Any time you go on the road in the SEC, you know it’s going to be tough no matter who you’re playing, so it’s huge. It’s a big win for us.”
On going against a 1-6 team…
“It’s the SEC. Anybody can slip up on anybody at anytime and that’s why we’re the greatest conference in the nation. We play great football. That’s a good team, they’ve just had some tough breaks and they gave us their best shot and we survived it.
On quarterback Aaron Murray setting career-high numbers…
“It was neat. I’m just happy for him progressing, getting better and doing his thing. The kid is great and I can’t say enough about him, his work ethic and the way he goes about his business. He’s just like a pro. It’s very classy. He deserves everything he gets. He deserves more than he gets.
Sophomore Split End Malcolm Mitchell
On Georgia’s passing performance…
“They gave up the inside a lot so we just tried to take advantage of it. It is fun, but we have to get the run game in. You don’t want to just keep passing the ball.”
On his playing time as a wide receiver…
“I have to thank Coach Ball. During practice they said something is wrong and they gave me advice on how to get out of my routes. I hadn’t done it in so long. I have to get back into things.”
On the amount of effort it took to win this game…
“I just think about what we need to do as a team not what it’s going to take and did we do our job? Did we do our job well? I don’t know, but we won.”
- Series History: With tonight’s 29-24 win, Georgia holds a 52-12-2 edge in the series including 25-7 in Lexington and 16-4 in Commonwealth Stadium. The Dawgs are now 14-4 under Mark Richt following an open date.
- Lead At The Half: Freshman place kicker Marshall Morgan banked a 27-yard field goal off the uprights to give the Dawgs a 16-14 edge as the half expired. He was 5-of-6 on the year at that point. Morgan connected on his first PAT of the game but missed his second.
Freshman Placekicker Marshall Morgan
On the pressure of punting in this game…
“The one before the half, I really tried to do well because I didn’t want to let my team down. And I wanted to be up at the half, so we could have a little more momentum.”
- Tackles: Senior free safety Bacarri Rambo finished with 11 tackles, senior strong safety Shawn Williams and junior linebacker Alec Ogletree had 10 tackles apiece. Also of note, junior defensive end Kwame Geathers recorded his first career sack. Geathers finished with 4 tackles.
- Starters: True freshman outside linebacker Jordan Jenkins made his second career start. Jenkins started for junior Jarvis Jones for the second time this season after also getting the start versus Florida Atlantic. Jones missed the Kentucky game with an ankle injury.
Freshman Outside Linebacker Jordan Jenkins
On the start of the game…
“Well the first half was not good for me. The first play I got my neck cut up, the second play I thought I had a stinger and the third play I got my ankle rolled. I couldn’t set the edge because I didn’t want to hurt my ankle. I kept trying to do a soft play hoping that would open the seams.”
On Kentucky’s last offensive series…
“Well I don’t know. I think we are just glad to have this game over with. It seems like God wanted us to win.”
On focusing on the future instead of today’s games mistakes…
“Well Monday we have to look at film, but it is going to be pretty easy because we know we have to focus on next week. We can’t be depressed. It just goes to show that any team can win and any team can lose.”
- Injury Report: Senior defensive end Abry Jones left the game in the first quarter with a left ankle injury and did not return.
- Game Captains: Senior nose guard John Jenkins, true freshman safety Josh Harvey-Clemons, junior offensive guard Chris Burnette and senior defensive end Abry Jones served as Georgia’s captains. Harvey-Clemons is the first true freshman to be named a captain since Rennie Curran in 2007.
Up Next: Georgia (6-1, 4-1 SEC) faces No. 2 Florida (7-0, 6-0 SEC) in Jacksonville next Saturday at 3:30 p.m. (CBS-TV).
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