Post Game Quotes

UGA Sports Communications

Head Coach Kirby Smart

On today’s win …

“They have a physical team, and so do we. I am just really proud of our guys. They have worked so hard and dealt with a lot of criticism. They just kept working and played their tails off today in a very physical game against a good Florida team.”

On if it was hard to have two weeks off and listen to criticism …

“Yeah. It’s tough. You have to sit there and listen to that. Kids have to listen to that. Our guys just kept fighting and played really hard.”

On Florida’s quick strike to start the second half …

“We came out, gave up a good a kick return and gave up two plays and they have the lead. It was tough to come back from that, but it shows the resiliency our team has. We have to come out better to start the second half, and that is something we will work on.”

On playing through injuries …

“Andrew Thomas came back in and Cade Mays played through some pain and he was just a warrior for us. Kendall Baker played really hard and played through it. I am so proud of these guys and the resilience they showed today.”

On Isaac Nauta’s performance and the stretch of catches at the end of the first half …

“Well, it helped that he was wide open (laughing). Jake Fromm did a great job getting him the ball. They do a good job in two minute. In practice, it makes it hard on our defense sometimes, so we know how well those guys click. That was a big possession right there before the half.”

On goal-line situations …

“It’s very frustrating and disappointing. We are going to get that fixed. We have to be physical to get a yard when we have to and we did not do that today. It’s absolutely uncalled for and we are going to correct that.”

On WR Jeremiah Holloman …

“He played great made big plays. All that kid does is work . He doesn’t complain, he works hard and does what we ask him. He goes out there and plays on special teams and does what we need to do win. Very proud of his performance.”

Jake Fromm, Soph., Quarterback 

On difference from last year’s win…

“Definitely. It was an actually fourth quarter fight. It feels more special. It paid off at the end. Last year was weird because it seemed like we were never on the field, because it went so quick. We were putting points on the board so you can’t really complain. This year it was a fight. We were able to enjoy it and respect it a lot more."

On Florida’s defense…

“They played both. They put guys in the box and in coverage. They did a really good job mixing it up. However, the guys on the outside made plays when they needed to make plays and the guys up front did as well. Our running backs as well. All around our guys were very focused on their skills and what they needed to do to win the game."

On plays to Isaac Nauta before the half…

“They were playing two-deep zone there there was that match-up on that linebacker and obviously Isaac is a really good player. He was winning that match-up so I kept feeding him. It really worked out for us on that drive.”

Monty Rice, Soph., Inside Linebacker

On changes from last week and if there were changes in the second half…

“We practiced in the bye week after LSU to really stop the run and be more physical than the other team. We were able to do that today. We always makes adjustments in the second half, but we just talked about striking the guy in front of you and don’t go one-on-one and we will be alright.”

On winning the turnover battle…

“Jake Fromm came in here and did what he needed to do. The offense protected the football which is the number one thing. Florida was top in the nation in turnovers so we had an emphasis on protecting the ball. Whenever you win the turnover battle, you usually win the game and that is what we did.”

Terry Godwin, Sr., Wide Receiver

On what the win means…

“It says that we have guys that are twos and threes that can go out there when their number is called. This time of game you never know when your number is going to get called so you have to be ready. So that’s why I went over to the offensive line and told them that they have to be ready, because you never know when you get called upon.”

On quarterback Jake Fromm…

“Fromm is an amazing quarterback. He is like a coach out there on the field. He is going to tell you who to block, what defense they are in and what we are going to check to. It is great to have a quarterback like that, because he is going to put you in the right position to make the right plays.” 

On team’s potential…

“It is what we have been saying all year. The potential is there. We have the talent and the effort, we just have to put it all together like we did tonight.”

Tyrique McGhee, Jr., Defensive Back

On fumble forced and turnovers in general…

“The quarterback really fell into me and I just reached it and plugged it out. Coach Smart always emphasizes turnovers and getting the ball off the man so anytime that we can get a turnover early in the game it is important. Also if you can get one when they are backed up, it gives the offense a great opportunity. That was huge. It doesn’t matter what team you face, you need those turnovers.”

On last two weeks…

“It was really just getting back to work. It wasn’t doing anything different like drawing up new plays or anything, but just getting back to what we do best. We needed to just get back to playing grown man football and physical football and I believe we did that tonight."

Florida Head Coach Dan Mullen

Opening Statement… 

“I don’t think we played very well at all. It probably was our worst execution performance of the year and I am really disappointed in that. We will learn as a team on how to play. You get into some big game situations and we have to execute. If you look at what we did in the game, we turned the ball over, we were minus-three in the turnover ratio with two of them coming inside our own 10 yard line. You can’t do that offensively and you aren’t going to win many games doing that. They scored four touchdowns on third down and two of them we had blown coverages on. We had poor execution and as a team, we have to be much cleaner and execute cleaner. If we can do that, we will have the opportunity to become the team we want to become. 

We have a big challenge ahead of us and we will see how our guys respond. We responded to adversity before and responded in a positive manner. We have homecoming next week and three straight games in The Swamp coming up. A lot of football is still left to play for this team and I want to see our guys attack the week with the right attitude, continue to clean up on the mistakes we made in the course of the game and hopefully continue to execute and grow and be a better football team.”

On secondary depth… 

“Two of the best players on our team are our two corners (C.J. Henderson, Marco Wilson). We like to play man coverage, they were both out, and that’s a struggle. All year, we’ve had guys banged up and injured. Next guy has got to step up and go make plays. There are opportunities for people to go do that. We are extremely thin in the secondary being down six or seven guys on the total roster makes it a challenge. We have to look and find people who are ready to take advantage of that opportunity.”

On the goal-line stand… 

“I told the team that there were a lot of things in the course of this game that showed that we could be an excellent football team. We were executing on offense but then we turn the ball over three times or we have missed assignments and we just cannot do that in some of those situations. There were times in the game that we played like the Florida Gators and how we expect to play. The goal-line stand where they had six opportunities to score inside the one yard line and they don’t; That’s what we expect to be. We made some plays but then in other situations we weren’t as clean as we needed to be.”

On losing control of the game late… 

“We had poor execution on our part, which is a huge deal. They have some good players but if we don’t cover a wide-out or fit the gaps or align on the wrong side of the field it hurts us.”