Tuesday, November 22, 2011

Tuesday Press Conference–Part 1

FOOTBALL

Coach Mark Richt

Opening statement…

“We have Georgia Tech coming up. Coach Paul Johnson and his staff have done a fantastic job during the time he’s been there. They are really an outstanding football team and one that we really have a lot of respect for and one that we know we have our work cut out for us. Anybody who has ever played Coach Johnson’s offense, they know it’s an awful lot of work to get done in a short amount of time. We're thankful that we don’t have school this week. It helps us to get in a few more walkthroughs and a few more meetings. The toughest part for us it to get the scout team to try to vaguely resemble it. It’s hard to simulate what we are going to experience during the game. That will be one of the greatest challenges of the week as far as scout team to do a great job.”

“They are number two in the nation in rushing and number six in the nation in pass efficiency. Third downs, which are so huge and we all understand how important it is to get an offensive team off the field, they are in the top five in the country in third down conversions. As we all know, Coach Johnson has a habit of going for it on fourth down too, and they make an awful lot of their fourth downs. That’s even more devastating, knowing that a lot of times if they don’t make it on third, they’ll make it on fourth, so they’ll continue the drive and put the pressure on your defense and your football team through that.”

“I can’t imagine the atmosphere being anything but electric. I know that our players will be looking forward to the challenge. I’m sure they will too. We’re ready to prepare for that.” 

On what Georgia’s tailback rotation will be on Saturday…

“I don’t know the answer to that. We have to sort through it. It’s just not cut and dry. I don’t even know who is going to start. I don’t even know who’s going to play. We are working our way through it. We’ll know more by the end of the week. Right this second I do not know exactly how it’s going to come out. We have some guys who have to learn to hold on to the football. I just want to see them practice. I guess competition is the hold up, deciding through competition who deserves to start, who deserves to play.”

On Carlton Thomas’ status for Saturday…

“That’s a good question. I don’t know that answer right now.”

On whether running the ball is the biggest key against Georgia Tech…

“It is for us offensively for sure. We always like to run the football, but you have to have backs who can do it and some backs who are willing to hang on to the football in the process. The thing about this game is every possession really is pretty crucial. Georgia Tech’s offense, because they run the ball so much and reduce yardage throughout and get to those third-and-shorts, that’s why they are one of the best third down percentage teams in America. If you keep converting third downs, you keep controlling the ball, you move the ball, you move the field position, you get more points. My guess is there are fewer possessions in a game that Georgia Tech plays than a lot of other games throughout the year. Every possession is very vital to them and to us. If we lose a possession for a turnover, or if they lose a possession from a turnover or for any reason and a possession is lost, it’s crucial. We’ve been fortunate to win or at least tie the turnover battle the last nine ballgames. I would say it’s more crucial this week than any week of the season.”

On whether the plan has been to control the ball the last couple of years against Georgia Tech…

“Not necessarily. The goal is to run the ball well. If you are able to run the ball well, I don’t have a problem with taking as many ticks off the clock as possible in any game. If you’ve seen us finish ballgames, some of the games have maybe been a little bit boring at the end to some people because we are trying to get first downs without throwing the ball because we know we can reduce the chance of a team that might be behind us to get back into the ballgame. The longer we have it, the better chance our defense has to rest.”

On Ben Jones…

“He’s a character. He’s a great guy. He showed up and started at center as a freshman in the Southeastern Conference. That’s not easy to do. I don’t know if he’s missed a snap unless we took him out. I can’t remember a time he’s missed a snap. There might have been a time he missed a practice, but I sure don’t remember it. He’s just a tough guy who loves football. He’s a great student of the game.”

On Isaiah Crowell’s status for Saturday…

“It’s his left ankle. I think there is a chance he plays.”

On Richard Samuel…

“Richard is coming along, but it won’t be this week. He’s not in the mix this week. We hope he’s in the mix next week.”

On Aaron Murray’s performance against Kentucky compared to the Auburn game…

“He was hot against Auburn. He made a lot of good throws, and guys made really good catches too. There were two in particular that if he would have it, his passing efficiency would have jumped dramatically. There was a post early in the game where we had Tavarres King open, had good protection and could have been and probably should have been a touchdown. You get the completion, you get the yards and you get the touchdown, that jumps up the rating, which we’re not all that concerned about. There was another one where we faked a little flare screen and we were going to go deep, and he just underthrew it. If he had hit him on the run, I think (King) would have been 10 yards ahead of the defender because they bought the cheese on that one. That would have been at least 60 yards and a touchdown. Two completions, touchdowns, maybe another 80 yards, just those two throws would probably put him up there we he wants to be. Not as high as Auburn, but it would have jumped it up pretty good. It only takes a couple.”

Quarterback Aaron Murray

On the Georgia Tech game…

“It’s going to be fun; it’s a big rivalry game, one of our biggest games of the season. I know everyone on this team is looking forward to it, it’s the last regular season game of the year. It’s just another way to continue our momentum that we’ve built over the last nine games.”

On the Georgia Tech defense…

“They run a very similar defense to our defense; bringing blitzes from different angles, having guys stand up and walk around, not really knowing where they’re going. We’ve just got to do some extra film study this week; figure out their tendencies a little bit more and figure out where they’re going to be coming from in different circumstances. They like to bring some pressure, so we are going to have to protect and open up some big lanes.”

Center Ben Jones

On playing with emotion…

“I play with a lot of emotion and I think that’s why I play well in the games. You have to have a little edge about yourself when you are playing football, especially as an offensive lineman; you’re not scoring touchdowns, you’re not making tackles, you’re doing the dirty work so the other guys get the glory and we take pride in that. If your backs are doing great, if Aaron Murray has a great game, we feel like we’ve had a great game. This year, we’ve had a lot of those games. Once we win and get that W, just being able release that and show how happy I am to get the W and get this program back on track means all the world to me.”

On the Georgia Tech rivalry…

“Coming in, Auburn was the biggest rivalry game for me since I am from Alabama, but after that first year, Tech is definitely the biggest rivalry game I’ve ever played in. Once you lose a rivalry, that’s when you figure out, ‘Hey, this is a rivalry game,’ and you never want to lose to those guys again. That’s my goal, I definitely want to end my senior year with beating Tech.”

On the Georgia Tech game…

“We have to come out as the offensive line and play well; we want to try to dominate up front to give Aaron Murray time to open up the passing game and also open up some holes for our backs. Just control the ball and get ahead. Tech’s got a great offense and they really take a lot of clock away if they’re having a good game. You don’t want to put stress on your defense. If we get up, I think we’ll have a great game. I think we have one of the top defenses in the country, we rely on them and I’m glad they’re on our side.

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