Kirby Smart discusses red-zone offense, preparing for Will Levis and more after Georgia beats UK
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Game day: No. 1 Georgia 16, Kentucky 6
Click below for more of the Herald-Leader’s and Kentucky.com’s coverage of Saturday’s Kentucky-Georgia football game at Kroger Field in Lexington.
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No. 1 Georgia stayed perfect on the 2022 season and completed a second straight undefeated SEC regular-season schedule on Saturday night, as the Bulldogs came to Lexington and defeated Kentucky 16-6.
After the game, Georgia head coach Kirby Smart met with the media to discuss preparing for Kentucky quarterback Will Levis, UGA’s inability to convert in the red zone and more.
Here’s everything the Georgia head coach said after his team’s win in Lexington.
Opening statement:
“Yeah, I was really proud of our guys tonight, the resiliency and composure and kind of toughness they showed. … We knew it would be this kind of game, we talked about it all week. We actually showed clips from last time we came up here in terms of the number of snaps played and the shrinking of the game, which I think is really smart by Mark, keeping the game tight and lowering the number of possessions.
With the weather conditions, you’re going to play these kind of games like this, really proud of when our guys’ backs are against the wall, how they come out fighting and what they do. Certainly could have played better probably in the red area, could have stopped some drives defensively, we gave them a couple of conversions on penalties and things, but I give Kentucky a lot of credit for bouncing back, being a very physical football team. We won the line of scrimmage tonight, which we had to do.”
On what the message is when offensive possessions are limited by the other team:
“We knew it was going to be that way, we had three possessions in the first half, I think they had only three. We talked about limiting the number of plays we would carry, get really good at what we do, be efficient, the efficiency was there, other than the red area. And it was tough in the red area, they do a good job, they jam-pack you down there. They don’t pressure a lot, they have lots of levels in their defense and our probably inability to run it in the red area hurt us more than anything.
It gave (kicker Jack Podlesny) a chance to be clutch, and he was. Those are not easy kicks when you’ve got 16, 17 mile-an-hour winds blowing around out there.”
On why Georgia went for it on fourth and goal from the Kentucky 1-yard line in the fourth quarter:
“I feel like to win a game, you need to be able to run it in from fourth-and-1. If you don’t get it, they’ve got to go 99 yards. Those decisions I get to make.”
On what he said to get running back Kenny McIntosh his first career 100-yard rushing game:
“Awesome. Kenny ran the ball really well tonight, physical, tucked the ball up. I thought the offensive line was really physical, did a good job in the run game to be able to get the ball out of there a couple times. … He probably could have had more, he shared the load with some other guys and Kendall (Milton) did a good job when he came in. I thought all those guys ran the ball well.”
On being 8-0 in the SEC in consecutive seasons:
“Hard to do. The past 40 years there’s only been two. It’s hard to win on the road in the SEC. Look across the country today, you see the environments people were playing in. You see it’s different. You find out really quick who really wants to play football, and who’s just a football fan. You have to be able to win in games like that, especially in November.”
On not allowing points on two late Kentucky drives when UK needed to score:
“It was bend, but don’t break. We didn’t stop them, they ended up getting into the red area. The wins on fourth down were the difference in the game. Our ability to stop them on fourth down was big, but our inability on some of the third downs to get off the field hurt us some. Our offense was 6-for-12 on third down, so they continue to be one of the most efficient third down teams in the country.”
On how wind affected the game:
“It was 16 to 18 with gusts to 25, so it was windy, but it was more about what you can and can’t do in those conditions. It affected Kentucky, it affected us. The wind’s blowing one way, you’ve got to think about when you’re passing it, when you’re throwing it. We do studies all the time about how it affects games when the wind gets up around 20 miles an hour, it’s very different in the way you play the game. You’ve got to be methodical, you’ve got to be smart. You’re not going to get many possessions.”
On Stetson Bennett’s performance:
“Where he’s good is loose plays, getting out in space, being able to do things. There wasn’t a lot of that tonight, there wasn’t a lot of opportunity for that.
(Kentucky’s) defense is also pretty good. He’s played against their defense a couple times, two years ago up here. They do a really good job, because we get to watch them week in and week out, they do a really good job.”
On Tate Ratledge and De’Nylon Morrissette injuries:
“De’Nylon has a little bit of a hamstring, knee bothering him so he went some during the week. … Tate had a sublux last week and he practiced most of the week. He tried to go, but didn’t feel like he would be able to go in the game, so Devin (Willock) went in there.”
On being concerned about being able to get yards in short-yardage situations:
“Yeah. To get one yard? We should be able to get one yard, you’ve got to be able to get those. We’ve gotten eight, nine yards a lot of times. We rushed for 250 (yards), so getting one shouldn’t be the end of the world right? But we didn’t in those situations. We’ve got to do better at situational football and we didn’t.”
On the Georgia defense allowing Will Levis to pass more successfully in the second half:
“I wouldn’t call them issues. He hit a couple shots. You’ve got to play them different. If they’re going to be methodical and run the ball, then that’s what you’re playing for. They’ve got a good back, they’re physical. No issues, just one-on-one they made some plays: The PI, they had a nice double-move on Chris (Smith), where I think we hit him late, but people are going to make plays in this league so, we gave up six points.”
On the importance of the interception by Georgia’s Kelee Ringo:
“I can’t remember if that was the possession after the hands to the face, but we should have been off the field, I thought. And it was like, okay well we just extended this drive, we just shrunk this game one more possession for us, but that stole one back because it was a turnover. We ended up I think one-to-one in the turnover game which is crucial with Kentucky because the turnovers are magnified when the game is shrunk.”
On the goal-line plays with Jalen Carter:
“We didn’t get much movement. The first time we got blown up at guard, we were down at the end we come out. Then the quarter changeover, we came back and didn’t get much movement. It’s a statement play, it’s an identity play. You’ve got to be more physical than them and they were more physical than us.
Kentucky does a good job, they know how to stop the run. They’ve got good players, too.”
On getting his team ready for a physical game already 11 weeks into the season:
“You get them ready for this in the offseason. It’s physical, it’s lifting weights, it’s moving people, it’s the way we practice. Our kids know. Every older player we’ve got tells kids all the time it’s like, when you play Kentucky, you better strap it on.
We talked about that. We talked about it. You weren’t going to play the same Kentucky that Vanderbilt played. You’re going to play a different Kentucky, and they did a good job and the conditions limited themselves in number of possessions.”
On how Georgia contained Kentucky running back Chris Rodriguez Jr.:
“He is one of the most physical backs I have seen in all my years in the SEC, with Benny Snell being right there with him. He really does, he seeks contact and it’s hard to get them behind the sticks, so if you don’t get a team behind the sticks that’s willing to go for it on fourth down, you play a lot of snaps. I thought we did a good job containing him, I thought we could have wrapped up better and knocked him back a few more times.”
On if he was expecting Kentucky quarterback Will Levis to pass more or do a pass and run combination in the game:
“I wasn’t really expecting anything, I was going to react to whatever they did. I don’t think it’s my job to decide whether they run or pass it, it’s our job to stop whatever they do and that’s what we tried to do.”
On the discussion about going for it on fourth-and-goal:
“That’s my decision … that’s really relative to us. We talk about things of the headphones every play. (The end of the third quarter) just gave us more time to talk about it. I don’t have to share with you what was said, do I?
What happens on the headphones stays on the headphones. Sorry you’re not privy to those. Y’all start paying a lot of money, y’all might get some access on those headphones (laughter), but that was a decision that was made by me and I wanted to show confidence in our players. And if I had a chance to go out there and do it again today, I’m going to go over there and say we’re going to do it again because that’s what I believe in. That decision was made 15 years ago, on philosophy.”
On the final regular-season opponent Georgia Tech:
“Don’t know a lot about them. Obviously we broke them down in the offseason. I’ve got a lot of respect for Brent (Key, Georgia Tech’s interim head coach). I know Brent well, have known him for a long time. Respect the rivalry. Look forward to getting ready to prepare for them.
I’m looking forward to honoring our seniors in this senior class which has a chance to be the winningest class to ever play at Georgia, and they had a COVID year where they had a limited number of games.”
On how the Georgia defense has done well enough to win against top SEC quarterbacks:
“Look I was proud, but we got lucky tonight, too. They had some drops, they had some missed throws that looking back were like ‘Did we stop them? Or did they stop themselves?’
We’ve got to continue to get better. I don’t want to say a lethargic win, but it was very ho-hum. I feel like everybody across the league including us is at a point. … We just had four games in a row, three on the road, that were really tough and really physical. And we knew this gauntlet was coming and our guys but their head down and worked really hard. Regardless of who we’ve faced, we’ve stood up to the test we’ve been asked to.
I’m proud of what they’ve done, but we’re not where we need to be, (I’ll) put it that way. We’ve got to improve on both sides of the ball.”
On what it means to go through that tough four-game stretch and win each game by double digits:
“Hell of fine leadership. For the leaders on this team to stand up and I asked them before we left to come here in the team meeting ‘What makes you different than last year’s team?’ And they said ‘Our response to adversity.’
I put 15, 16, 17 seniors up in the front of the room and said ‘Each one of you, tell me what this game means to you?’ Because you could say, ‘What are they playing for?’ You’re playing for a chance to be the winningest team, one of the first teams to ever do the two undefeated (in the SEC), chance to dominate on the road, chance to win on a four-game stretch that I don’t know that I’ve seen a four-game stretch quite like that one in our league.
They did it, like they owned it, and I’m proud of it.”
On what the character of this year’s Georgia team is:
“I think they really believe in that, I think we’ve built some of those DNA muscles that maybe last year’s team never got to flex (about facing adversity) and this year’s team, I had several kids come up to me and bring me a composure card today when I was upset after one of the calls and they flashed the composure card and I immediately said ‘You know what? They’re right.’
Nothing we can do about it now, go play the next play. They really believe in those things and they have responded to some adverse situations, they’ve been in some tough situations.”
On creating a player-led football team:
“I don’t know if last year’s group probably rubbed off on this year’s group, because we’re reaping the blessings of having watched those guys do it and they want to emulate what those guys did. There’s some really good examples of wanting to do it right and wanting to be successful and follow in those other guys’ footsteps because so many of these guys are first time or second-year players.”
This story was originally published November 19, 2022 at 9:31 PM.
