Tuesday Press Conference

FOOTBALL

Coach Mark Richt and a delegation of football players met with the media during the Dawgs' weekly press luncheon on Tuesday afternoon. They offered the following comments:

Coach Mark Richt

Opening statement…

“It’s Georgia-Florida. Looking forward to going to Jacksonville. It’s a big game for us and for them to decide who is going to take the lead in the SEC East. That’s what’s at stake. They’re an outstanding football team, obviously. They’re undefeated and No. 2 in the BCS and really have earned it the hard way, starting out the season at A&M and at Tennessee – two very tough places to play to start the season. I believe they got behind in both games and came back and won both. That kind of set the tone for their season. They’ve played outstanding defense. They are a very solid running football team, and their special teams have been off the chain, and that’s been their recipe for victory. They play tough, hard-nosed football and don’t turn the ball over much. They are No. 9 in the country in the turnover ratio, so that’s been their formula for success. Coach Will Muschamp has done a great job in year two.”

“It’s a game that is going to be a tremendous challenge for us, we know that. They are an outstanding football team and very talented. They have a lot of momentum and confidence right now, and those are tough teams to beat. We have our work cut out for us. We are looking forward to it and looking forward to today’s practice and trying to get better. This will be the only day we’ll be in full pads, so we have to make sure we take care of those fundamentals today as we implement our game plan.”

On how to beat Florida...

“First of all, you’ve got to be just very fundamentally sound. We’ve got to block well and tackle well. We’ve got to be disciplined in our gaps and assignments, and we’ve got to do a good job of protecting the football. We can’t allow them to continue the trend of winning the turnover ratio. If they win that battle, it’s going to be tough to win the game. It’s been historically true in this match-up especially, so we’ve got to do a god job of that and do what we do best. We need to execute well. It’s certainly going to be a game that’s going to take one of our better efforts to have a chance to win it.”

On preparations for the Florida game…

“With the 20-hour practice rule, you can’t change much. We have it planned out to the minute every week, so if you do a little more here, you’re robbing something. Now this particular week on Friday, there’s no school, so you literally can have a four hour day on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, which is 16 hours plus three hours on Saturday, so that’s the max that we can have this week. But, Friday is unlimited, so you can actually have a little bit more time Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday and have a little bit more time Friday. It’s not because it’s Florida week as much as it’s the fact that there’s no school on Friday. So we’re able to do a little bit more of anything that we think is important.”

On the emotions of the Florida game…

“I think it’s just one of those weeks as a coach where you don’t sit there and wonder how you can motivate these guys this week. They are just motivated to play this game, so I don’t think that’s an issue.”

On Florida’s changes from last year to this year…

“They played a lot of young guys last year. When you have eight returning starters on offense and nine returning starters on defense, that’s a lot of playing time. They got a lot of valuable experience and another year within Coach Muschamp’s way of doing things and strength and conditioning. So, they’re one year more experienced and one year just bigger, stronger and faster. We talked about this before, but year two in a lot of coaches’ tenures, there is a lot more of a big jump from year one to year two. Everybody has bought in and everybody understands what the coaches are looking for. In this particular case, they did play a very young football team last year, and there aren’t a lot of players that they lost.”

On Florida’s strengths offensively…

“I think knowing that they have some veteran offensive lineman, and that their running back Mike Gillislee and their quarterback have some great run in them, I think they’ll diversify more in their passing game. But right now, by playing great specials, defense, and running the ball well without turning it over, it’s a very good formula for victory. It’s worked for them. I think Coach Pease is a very smart coach, and he understands as a coordinator that it’s not always what you might like to do best, but it’s what your players can do best. That’s what you have to evaluate year in and year out and play to the strengths of your personnel.”

On motivation the team for this week’s game…

“Let’s think about it. Number one, we’re playing Florida. Number two, we’re playing for a shot to go to Atlanta. That’s huge. Even if we weren’t playing for that opportunity, it’s still a big game and a game that those guys like to play. It’s a game that there’s just so much tradition to it. People know about this game across the country, and it’s a game that people look forward to. People say it’s one of the better rivalry games in the country year after year, so players see that growing up in high school and they want to be part of that game.”

On Aaron Murray’s emotional state entering the Kentucky game…

“Aaron just seemed very normal in his preparation. I think going home was really good medicine for him to see his dad and to see his mom and just to see his family and to know that the surgery went well, and to know that his dad was able to go back to work not too long after that. I think that all just helped ease his pain, and he went back to work.”

On the possibility of assigning a special teams coordinator in the off season…

“First of all, you can assign somebody within your staff to do it, or if you don’t, that means that if there’s no attrition, you’re going to fire somebody to hire a special teams coordinator. So, I don’t know if I’m interested in doing that, but I think one thing that I can do as head coach is at least spend time learning the kicking and punting fundamentals well enough to be their coach. Which right this minute I wouldn’t say that I have enough expertise to do that, but I think this off season it would be wise for me to do something like that because I am freed up enough to do that, and if that’s my contribution to special teams in the future, I think it’d be valuable.”

On the importance of special teams play in this game…

“We’ve had some pretty good punters and kickers over the years since I’ve been here. We’re not doing anything any differently than we’ve done before really. But, they (Florida) have done a very good job on their special teams, and there’s no doubt about that. But there are some people in the country who do a good on special teams and need a special teams coach, and there’s some that do it and split the responsibilities. Some people say they have a special teams coordinator, but he may just be coordinating the practice time, or he may be coordinating the meeting time. So there are a lot of people who have a special teams coordinator and he’s coordinating what happens, but he doesn’t necessarily coach every single team on every single kick. There are a lot of people that are still dividing up responsibilities, but they (Florida) are certainly outstanding at it this year.”

On the coaching staff’s mentality after the South Carolina game…

“I kind of look at things cut and dry when it comes to preparing. When we prepare, we’re going to study film. We’re going to look at their personnel and their schemes, and we’re going to look at what they do. We’re going to look at what we do, and we’re going to try to find ways to get a first down and stop a first down. So I don’t look too much and try to compare this game to that one. I guess the only thing you can compare it to is that you have top 10 teams playing each other and the significance of what it might mean in the Eastern (Division) race. I mean, last week was significant. If we don’t beat Kentucky, we’re not talking about the Eastern Division race, so it’s very big. But, everything put together, it makes for a big game and a game that guys get up for.”