Opening Statement:
"Tough, hard-fought game. I’ve got a lot of respect for the coaches and the players on the other side. They play the game the right way, and I’m really proud of our team. I’m proud of our fans. I thought our fans showed up today – had a lot of them there in the stands. They continue to support us on the road, which I think is tremendous. They’re supporting a good cause, because our players played really hard and physical in a tough place to play. The environment is always tough and challenging here."
"We thought that if we were able to run the ball early it would find a way to take its toll in the second half and I think that showed through. Got a lot of places we can improve on. Disappointed in some spurts of decent defense, but I’m also proud of some third down plays that they we were able to make that I thought was the difference in the second half.”
On Georgia’s offensive run in the second half:
"It was doing what we did - cumulative effect. At the end of the day, they just wore down. You guys always want to make it about adjustments, which I understand, but we stopped them. Two three-and-outs I think maybe, and I think that was the back-breaker for the defense. To have to go out there and lean up against those big guys for two long drives, just took it out of them. You could just see the air coming out of them a little bit as they wore down physically."
"The big stop of the game to me was either the first or second drive in the second half. We had third-and-2 or third-and-3 and stopped them. They had to punt it right back to us. The defense was right back out there That takes its toll. I think our conditioning showed through. A lot of credit goes to coach Scott Sinclair and the strength staff. They worked those kids hard all summer, so they could prepare for second halves like that."
On his team’s preparation for the heat:
"We preached it all week. We didn’t say it publicly, but we certainly felt like the hotter it was, the better off we’d be. We don’t worry about what other people say. We worry about what we do. We practice at 3:30 every day, 4 o’ clock. It’s hot. We don’t run from it. We workout in the summer. It’s hot. The hotter it is, the deeper we are, the more guys we play, it takes its toll."
On his team’s identity after today’s win:
"I think today I would say physicality. One of the most important things (is) being physical. I think the line of scrimmage doesn’t flinch – being able to run the ball and stop the run."
Jake Fromm, Sophomore, Quarterback
On Mecole Hardman’s performance today:
"Every time we go to the sideline, Mecole is asking for the ball. He is a really good player and a guy that is just really special when the ball in is his hands. As long as we find a way to get him the ball, we will be alright."
On how he felt after opening up the third quarter with a touchdown:
"I was excited. I was feeling the gas; we aren’t letting off. We were going to keep shoving the ball down their throats."
On how he felt playing on the big stage:
"It’s awesome; it’s fun. You love coming into a crazy environment and coming out and playing your best football."
Jonathan Ledbetter, Senior, Defensive Line
On if he was surprised by the lopsided victory:
"I’m never surprised in the way we perform. We work hard; that’s just what it comes down to. We will celebrate for 24 hours on Sunday, and then we are going right back in. It doesn’t matter who’s next or where we are going; we are going to play our brand of football. It’s really special when you see it all come together."
On how easy the game was:
"I’m not going to lie to you man, it was a dog fight. They made some good plays; they obviously scored a couple of touchdowns. You just have to go out there and play a four-quarter game. It’s always a four-quarter game in the SEC. I told them we got to give them 60 minutes of hell, 10 minutes at a time."
D’Andre Swift, Sophomore, Running Back
On their second-half performance:
"I believe we are a second-half team, and I think we proved that tonight."
On what he thought about this being a statement game for them:
"It was a lot of hype this weekend about them upsetting us. We just practiced hard during the week, and I think that showed today. We were the better team today, and I think it just shows what kind of preparation we had."
On the depth of the Georgia team:
"Our depth is everything. We have so many people that can take it to the house at any moment. So I think our depth is very big for our team."
Opening Statement:
"We got whooped on the line of scrimmage. At the end of the day, we discussed that the line of scrimmage would be a key part of the game and we did not perform well. We wanted to have a balanced offense establishing the run and the pass game. At times our run game was effective on some scoring drives. But then we could not stop the run defensively as we allowed them to score 21 points on their first three drives of the second half."
"Again we have to continue to move forward and get better. We had 46 snaps in the first half offensively, which I felt well about. But then we came and went three and out on the first three series. We have a dropped pass and miss an inside RPO, which would have been a first down. Then we made a critical error on the shanked punt to end the half, which allowed them to get 3 points to end the half and take the momentum going into the second half. That was a critical error on our part. We have to be able to flip the field there on the punt."
"Disappointed with how we played, but Georgia has a great team. I would like to also thank our fans for all of the support. But we have a lot of ball left to play, and we are going to keep working hard."
On the drops in the first half:
"You know it has been and it is frustrating getting a tipped ball intercepted and returned for a touchdown. It was a big momentum builder for them to start the game like that. But we kept fighting, and we got it back to a 17-10 ballgame. Give our kids credit they fought their butts off and got themselves back in that position. Obviously disappointed with the last field goal at the end of the first half that gave them the 10-point lead, and then we just got whipped in the second half. We got moved off the line of scrimmage, we did not tackle as well, and we did not get lined up a couple times. It is just something that is very frustrating and correctable, so we are going to correct it and that is all we need."
On defending Georgia’s offensive talent:
"They do a great job creating space, and we have been talking about it all week. You have to leverage the ball, and you have to tackle in space to get the ball on the ground. I do not think we got hurt on the perimeter in the first half at all, but in the second half it was a whole different story. We got hurt for a touchdown and got hurt for a big play on the sideline due to a busted coverage. In several situations we got hurt on the perimeter, but Georgia is a talented team. So we are going to go back to the drawing board and correct our mistakes for next weekend. We have a long season ahead of us, and we are going to keep the right mentality and continue to work hard."
On Bryan Edwards’ day:
"We’re going to continue to get him the ball more and create some one-on-ones. He’s a good football player and a competitive young man, and we’ve got to continue to find ways to get him the ball."
On rushing vs. passing:
"We wanted to be able to make their rushers tired. That’s why we came out the way we did early – played with some tempo and spread them out a little bit. It was effective in moving the ball for us. Then being able to go back to some of our normal sets that we repped, that we felt like we gave them some issues with. Forty-six snaps, and you go into half – considering that we had played poorly in the first half – you feel pretty good about where you are. But you’ve got to get some stops on defense. It’s a team game."
On the biggest differences between where South Carolina is and where Georgia is in the season:
"They’re very good on the line of scrimmage. They’re massive in their offensive line. We’ve got to be able to play better up front, play blocks better up front, disengage up front, make better tackles in space. We got the ball on the perimeter too many times today. Overall, we need to continue to improve, and we will."
On moving forward:
"We’ve got a lot of football ahead of us. The big thing we need to do is be technical. Starting with me and all the way down with what we need to do to improve. We’ll put it all into Marshall next week."
On the early game drops:
"I have to put the ball in a better spot to make it easier to catch. With Rico Dowdle, granted it was at his head but I know he likes them at his chest so I have to do a better job with that. Other things may have been a little too tight, it may have got there, but go look at it, maybe there was some places to go that weren’t so contested."
On the offensive struggles:
"We have to be able to run the ball better, however we have to do that, we have to get that done. We just have to execute better. I think everyone on the offense will tell you that. Everyone all around has to do a better job of making plays and for me I just have to make more of the right decisions and continue to get better."
Bryan Edwards, Junior, Wide Receiver
On the offensive struggles:
"Executing better and obviously coming out and starting better. That interception return for a touchdown, that is not a good way to start so executing and limiting the mistakes."
On bouncing back from the loss:
"We have it on our wristbands that ‘Each week is a new season.’ We are going to come in Sunday and we are going to make the corrections moving on to Marshall and that is the motto on our team, win, lose, or draw."
Zack Bailey, Senior, Offensive Lineman
On Georgia’s defensive line:
"They are a good front. We didn’t have things go our way, we have to keep pushing them up front. I think at times we should have kept running it but obviously our throwing game seemed to be working as well at times but that is the coaches’ decision not mine. Overall, I think we just need to get more push upfront from the offensive line, it starts with us."
On South Carolina’s run game:
"I think we did a lot of outside stuff but I think we need to run a little bit more inside and just move people off the ball, that is the biggest thing. The offensive line, we take full responsibility for the run game. That is our job, so when you look at the stats it is disappointing, going out there and practicing every single day, giving it our all and not seeing the results. We will go through it tomorrow and try and make some corrections and try and figure out what we did wrong and get back after it, go through another week of practice and get ready for Marshall."
TJ Brunson, Junior, Linebacker
On the defensive breakdowns:
"We just didn’t align fast enough, we weren’t urgent. That is what it boiled down to; urgency, being vocal, and getting the calls to everyone."
On the size of Georgia’s offensive line:
"I feel like everything that happened on our side of the ball had a lot to do with us. Just understanding it was a dog fight and those guys they were good but we are just as good. Getting our guys to understand that it is a four quarter game."
Steven Montac, Senior, Defensive Back
On the loss:
"I mean it hurt…just the way we lost, and I know I could’ve played way better. It hurt really bad. We can’t let it define our season, though."
On missing D.J. Wonnum:
"Of course, we missed him, he’s a really good player. What happened today was on us, like execution. We have to focus better and play better."
Rico Dowdle, Junior, Running Back
On the gap between Carolina and Georgia:
"We didn’t play to the best of our ability. What we put out there today is not us; it does not define us as a team. I don’t think the scoreboard really determines if there’s a huge separation at all. We have ten games left to prove."
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