Post Game Quotes

UGA Sports Communications

Coach Kirby Smart 

On today’s game … 

“You have to be patient with those type of elements. You’re not just going to run the ball down their throats or throw it 30-40 times in those conditions. It was a field position game, and we needed to win field position. In the second half, we did that, along with running the ball.”

On catching passes in a driving rain … 

“Ask people who’ve done it. If you’ve done it, you know how tough it is. If you haven’t done it, you probably shouldn’t judge.”

On punter Jake Camarda … 

“He boomed some in tough conditions. The first thing was fielding the snap. He’s a tremendous athlete with good hand-eye. He caught it and he hit some big punts. That was a big difference in the field position battle.”

On being patient in the second half … 

“That’s how you win in those conditions. That’s important. We were talking to James Coley and the offensive staff on the headsets about being patient and keep running the ball. Trying to throw in those conditions, you can turn it over quickly. It’s not easy throwing. Anybody would struggle in those conditions.”

On Georgia’s offense … 

“Congrats to our offense on not turning the ball over. That was huge. Ball security has been great for our offense.”

On Kentucky’s quarterback … 

“Lynn Bowden is an extremely good athlete. He can run around and create and he gives teams fits.”

On bouncing back from a loss … 

“Our guys worked their tails off and were in great spirits. I thought D’Andre Swift talking to the team was great. Outside noise, whether it’s positive or negative, does not affect them. They are grinding and preparing. Our best football is ahead.”

On the open date … 

“We’ve got a tough lineup coming up the next few games. We’ll use the open date to continue to get better. We’ll work on fundamentals, blocking and tackling, and get the ball to the playmakers. I’m excited about our guys getting to work this week.”

Andrew Thomas, Junior, Offensive Lineman

On running the ball and wearing down on Kentucky’s defense ... 

“It felt pretty good. We knew it was going to be a hard game to throw the ball because of the conditions. We have a period in practice called team run where the defense knows we’re running the ball. That’s what it was and I think we played pretty well.”

On the running performance and D’Andre Swift… 

“We just kept chopping. In the first half, we didn’t run it as well as we might have. We might have bobbled a snap or had a penalty, but we kept chopping and we came out and ran the ball pretty well. D’Andre ran pretty well today.”

Richard LeCounte, Junior, Defensive Back

On the team’s confidence level... 

“We definitely feel like we’re on track. Everything that we want is still in front of us. When we come out there, if we’re playing ball as we should, I think it will go great.”

Kentucky Head Coach Mark Stoops 

Opening Statement… 

“Obviously, this is a difficult loss in a tough environment for us today. The weather was a big factor, but it was a very good football game. It came down to several plays that really made a difference. Give Georgia credit— D’Andre Swift is an impressive player. I just gave him a ‘congratulations’ after the game and wished him ‘goodbye,’ because he needs to go to the NFL. He’s an elite player. I’m proud of our guys. I thought we fought all night in a tough situation. We knew Georgia was going to respond the way they did, and I was proud of our guys. I promise you they left it all on the field. They played extremely hard, made some critical plays, but we made a few mistakes. That’s the difference in a game like this. You could boil it down, probably, to three or four plays that made a big difference. Starting with the punt, we talked about ball security, which Lynn Bowden did an incredible job of all night. He didn’t put one on the ground. We dropped a touchdown, so you’ve got a few plays out there that could’ve made it a very close game.”

On whether Stoops considered putting Sawyer Smith in at QB... 

"It was tough. I’m not going to withhold information from you guys— I’m very up front and try to be as honest as I can. He’s close, but it’s tough on a cold, rainy, miserable night to put him in, when he’s just barely getting close to being ready to play. He would go… He’d play if his arm was falling off, but I can’t do that to him again. It was a tough night and was going to be a tough grind, so we did what we felt was the best option was at that point.”

On what Kentucky’s defense was doing well to stop the run… 

"Stopping the run was a big challenge with them, as I mentioned all week. Georgia is big, they’re physical and their backs are electric. As you can tell tonight with some of the runs they made, they create some difficult formations. They do a nice job in the way they crack off some tight sets. They really get physical and block certain guys and bounce it to make it run on your corners… I thought our coaches had a really nice plan, and our guys really played hard up front/ We were precise on those little nuances of that type of fence.”

Lynn Bowden, Junior, Quarterback

On the conditions and the difficulty of throwing the ball… 

“It was wet, a little muddy and a little cold. You know, football weather. It was hard to throw the ball. I had to find the right grip on the ball.”

On the vibe between the first half and second half… 

“I felt like our game plan was pretty straight forward. We executed some of the plays and others we didn’t. We will just have to live with the results.”

Max Duffy, Junior, Punter

On what happened on the one bad punt… 

“I just shanked it. I was having a decent night before that, so it was just one of those things that I would like to take back and do over perfect. I think three were long and three were short in the same night, so that is how punting goes. I am disappointed because we were in the game at that point and if I flip the field there then it’s big for us. It is one of those risk and reward things. I wasn’t good enough tonight, but hopefully I can bounce back and get better.”

On how a play like that shows the value to your position… 

“It was huge. In a game like this, field position is always going to be huge. Jake Camarda did a great job tonight. I think he averaged 53 yards on six punts, so he was awesome. Unfortunately, I could not match him. Maybe that was the difference. It was big for us in the first half and then didn’t execute in the second half.”