Tuesday, November 29, 2011

Tuesday Press Conference–Part 1

FOOTBALL

Coach Mark Richt

Opening Statement…

“I could have been out recruiting today, but we’re here instead. So that’s a good thing. LSU is a great football team. I think the one thing that stands out to me is their physicality. They’re not real tricky. Their goal is not to trick anybody. Their goal is to line up and play real sound football in all three phases and basically physically maul you; wear you down and wear you out, make you quit. They’ve been able to do it most every game they’ve played. They have a very impressive group of athletes. They are extremely well-coached by Coach Les Miles and his staff.

“Since I’ve been at Georgia, LSU has been the winningest team in the Southeastern Conference. It just so happens that three of the four times we’ve been in the SEC Championship Game, LSU has been our opponent. We’re looking forward to the opportunity and the challenge of it.”

On LSU trying to win a national championship and UGA trying to win an SEC Championship and if that puts added pressure on LSU and make it easier on UGA…

"There's plenty of motivation in my opinion for both teams to play their best. When you get used to winning it becomes a habit just like anything else can become a habit, so you are going to play in such a way that gives you the best chance of winning again. Only one team can win and we know that, but I think that both teams have plenty motivation to get up and play in this ball game. Just playing in the (Georgia) Dome is a special thing. You know if you are in there something good happened to you, especially this time of year. The fans will be excited. The players will be excited. Coaches will be jacked up. It's going to be a great atmosphere."

On whether Georgia has played a team comparable to LSU…

“There aren’t many defenses out there that are so obscure that you don’t know what’s going on. The thing about them, they have plenty of diversity in their defense, but they aren’t trying to trick you. They aren’t trying to trick you offensively in any way, shape or form. They’ll line up and see who the best team is. They make very few mistakes. They are plus-19 in the turnover ratio, which is number one in our league. We are number two at plus-10. Of course that stat is always a huge one. It’s been very big for us in the last 10 games. We’ve not lost the turnover battle. I don’t know if they’ve lost one all season long. To be plus-19, if they’ve lost any they might have lost one. But I imagine they won the battle every time, or tied it.“

On LSU playing this season with a bull's eye on them all year and getting everyone's best shot…

"A lot of people had them preseason number one, and I've been on teams that were preseason number one and you do get everyone's best shot. I think their style of play is just so solid that you have a lot less chance of messing it up on any one given day. It's real simple, it's real solid and it's real physical and you just get after people and they've been able to do it."

On being around football as long as he has if he trusted the team to handle their business in the locker room after starting 0-2…

"There was no business in the locker room to handle. You know what I'm saying? There was no dissention. There was no finger pointing. There was no loss or lack of confidence in each other coaches to players, players to coaches. I thought we had good leadership. I thought we had good work ethic. I thought we had a pretty good talent base and needed to grow up a little bit in some areas. I didn't know for sure what was going to happen, but I wasn't looking at the landscape and saying we don't have a chance – we don't have the personnel, I'm worried about the chemistry, I'm worried about guys jumping ship – none of that. It didn't even come close. We just went back to work, and thankfully, began to win."

On if any guys "took the bull by the horns" after the 0-2 start to get the team going…

"I can't sit here and say that, but the usual suspects of Ben Jones, Brandon Boykin, Aaron Murray, Orson Charles, DeAngelo Tyson, Abry Jones – all these guys – Jarvis Jones – it was more of a team thing really. I can't sit here and say one or two guys all of a sudden pulled everybody out of some kind of funk. We weren't in a funk. We didn't get to that point."

On the importance of a quarterback’s maturity level…

“You could probably say it in the NFL more than any league: If you don’t have good quarterback play it’s hard to win, period. Of course the Colts don’t have Peyton Manning anymore, and they’re struggling. If New England didn’t have Tom Brady, what would they be able to do? I don’t know unless someone else stepped in and played great.

It’s hard to win in our league without at least good, solid quarterback play. If your quarterback is playing well, I think the team feeds off that. If things are going rough and your quarterback spits the bit, I think you are in big trouble. If he can stand in the gap and stay strong and keep fighting and encouraging and start to make plays, I think a really good quarterback can pull you out of a bad situation. I think Aaron Murray has gotten to the point where I don’t think anyone every questions his toughness mentally or physically. No one ever questions his preparation. No one questions his loyalty to the team. I think everybody responds well to him if things got rough.”

On whether Aaron Murray’s demeanor has changed during the season…

“Not really. He is so well-prepared and he creates such good habits in practice that even if he does have an off day or an off quarter or a bad throw here and there, he can’t help but get back in pretty good shape.”

On whether LSU might pick the brain of quarterback Zach Mettenberger…

“I didn’t even think about that until just now. They might be. We haven’t changed an awful lot, and Zach certainly knew what we were doing. They might be picking his brain, I don’t know. There is so much that you can get on film now days, I don’t know how much more he could add to it. We have also gone to a no-huddle since Zach has gone, and we have code names and hand singles that he has no idea about. I don’t think it will be a factor, but it could be.”

On any concern with Georgia’s tailbacks going up against LSU…

"It's a concern. I'm concerned with how our guys will play at the tailback position, but we'll see. We've found a way so far having to mix and match a little bit. On paper, you certainly look at their backs and they are pretty stacked, they're physical and they are more of a known entity than what we've got right now."

On the notion of using two or three guys versus using the hot guy at tailback…

"I think you have to, but I think they can be one in the same. I think you can have two or three really good backs, but there may be a particular game that one guy is hot and you can let him ride. But through the course of a season you better have at least two and maybe three guys who can carry the ball for you, especially when you run the ball the way LSU wants to run it."

On team's being defined as "special" teams and how he sees this year's team…

"I think for coaches teams are special when the guys work hard and when the guys trust the staff in that they are coachable, teachable and you have sense that they will fight for you. You get sense that care about you and they care about each other. They care about Georgia and they care about doing things the Georgia way. All those things get coaches excited about teams. But I think these guys as a whole are that way. It's easy to say that when you are winning, but even when we were 0-2, I really felt that way about them and I think they did too.

Before the season I didn't know how the season would start because of the schedule we had and all, but I just felt like we had chance to be a really good team before it was over. I thought we were going to have a team that would really improve as the season went along and I think we have. The question is going to be how much have we improved and have we really got to the point we can play this game and get the job done."

Quarterback Aaron Murray

On playing in the SEC Championship…

“It’s going to be exciting. We’ve been working for this since January; it’s been our goal to get back and be able to compete for an SEC Championship. We just have to treat it like any other game and go out there and work hard in practice all week and we’ll be ready to go.”

On LSU…

“They’re a very talented team, there’s a reason why they’re number one in the nation. They’re sound everywhere. I haven’t watched a lot of offensive film on them, obviously I’ve been just focused on the defense. They’re very talented and very fast all over the place. It’s going to be a huge challenge for us.”

Receiver Chris Conley

On playing in the SEC Championship as a freshman…

“Everybody always talks about the SEC Championship and championships, period, as big games, but it’s still the same thing; we come in on Monday and do game reviews, we look over the scout report and you look at a team and you see there are 11 guys on the field. There is a certain magnitude and prestige that comes with a game like this, but really, when you think about it, it’s just another game and we’ve got to prepare the same way.”

On pre-game nerves this week in the dome…

“I don’t really get nervous because of who we play. I really like to focus on me and the things that I can do and the things that I can control. When it comes down to getting nervous, I don’t really get nervous because of teams. I might get butterflies before I step on the field, but not necessarily because of who we’re playing or what’s at stake because if you play like that I feel like you aren’t going to do your best.”

On LSU’s defense…

“LSU’s defense is a great defense, it’s going to be a challenge for our offense. It’s something that we embrace, it’s something that we look at as we’re going into this week and making the game plan for them. They’re very talented up front, very explosive in the secondary. They’re very talented. As a lot of people know, they have players who can make plays, stretch the field and cover a lot of grass. It’s definitely a challenge for us, going into this week and knowing what we have to prepare for.”

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