Georgia Head Coach Kirby Smart
On the win to go to 11-1:
“It’s a rivalry game. They have a good program and a good team, and our guys take a lot of pride in doing things the
right way and competing. I thought we played really hard today. …
This is a credit to our seniors, to our entire team, for buying in. We’re getting better each week.”
On defending Tech’s offense:
“The kids played hard and practiced hard. Our defensive coaching staff put a lot of effort in and it paid off. The look
from the scouts all week was tremendous. They gave us a good picture and a lot of credit goes to those kids. … It’s
an eyes football game. You’ve got to look at your keys the whole time and we did that.”
On Georgia’s offense:
“Our offense is functioning at a high level. We’re efficient and we’re getting positive plays. The offense is getting
better.”
On playing in the SEC Championship Game:
“It’s where this program should be. It feels like a game we should be going to every year. Our guys will lay it on the
line and they’re excited about the opportunity. It will be a great atmosphere, one of the best in college football. It will
be another game week for us. We’ll prepare for our opponent and treat it like every other week.”
Sophomore DL #10 Malik Herring
On the defensive performance…
“I want to give credit to our scout team because they really helped us prepare for this game and practice was actually
harder than the game.”
On the challenge of facing Georgia Tech’s offense:
“It was a challenge. We had to change our minds and get prepared for the game because their offense is so
different. We just had to prep really hard and stay focused throughout the week, even though we’re getting cut
(blocked) in practice and stuff like that, we just had to change our minds.”
Sophomore TB #7 D’Andre Swift
On what the “We Run This State” mantra means to the running backs group…
“It means a lot. The last time they [Georgia Tech] came here, the senior class lost so it’s real big for us just to send
our seniors out with this win today.”
On outgaining Georgia Tech, the No. 1 rushing offense in the nation coming into the game, 285-128 on the
ground…
“Hats off to our scout team. Our scout team did a great job of giving our defense a look because they run a real
complicated offense to stop. Our defense did a great job of stopping them today … On offense, we’re clicking right
now. I think we’re starting to peak at the right time.”
Senior OLB #15 D’Andre Walker
On snapping Georgia Tech’s two-game winning streak in Sanford Stadium…
“I feel like after this year, there will be no more years where Georgia Tech will come into the University of Georgia
and beat us in our own stadium.”
On the defensive performance…
“I feel like our scout team gave us a better look than they [Georgia Tech] could, and we just went out there and
executed.”
Georgia Tech Postgame Quotes
Georgia vs. Georgia Tech
Sanford Stadium
Nov. 24, 2018
Georgia Tech Head Coach Paul Johnson
Opening Statement:
“We played against a really good football team and we played really poorly. We got ourselves dug in a hole and we
never could put together anything consistently on offense. The first drive, we make a couple first downs then got 4th-
and-1 then jump offsides. I think the first half, we got the ball a few times and didn’t do much with it. In the second
half, we got the block below-the-waist call which I talked to them about. … The game was over by then. We just
could never get anything going offensively at all. The offense needs to possess the ball for us to have a chance to
score. We didn’t do that today. Credit to Georgia, they did what they had to do to win.”
On the struggles of the defense in the first half:
“It gets masked sometimes in a game with limited possession as long as you can hold the ball and score, but we
struggled mightily on the backend. We missed a ton of tackles.”
On the offensive struggles in the first half:
“We had a hard time blocking. We never could get anything going. We’d get a first down or two. We missed reads. In
a game like that, when you miss the read and you miss your target, you keep getting buried and there’s not much
margin for error. You can’t go four possessions without scoring and expect to be in the game.”
Freshman Punt Returner Juanyeh Thomas
On catching the ball on the goal line…
“I was just thinking if I can return it I can go. I thought to myself if I can I can run it out and I did, That was it. I
followed the Georgia kick off team crashing and I just read the kick off team, hit it, and scored.”
On the kicks going over his head…
“Every game if they game goes into the end zone I’ll get mad because I want to return the ball. That’s just me
honestly.
On the rivalry…
“Honestly the hype about it was everything that I thought it was but we didn’t get the results we wanted so now we
have to focus on the bowl. We’re throwing this behind us and wanting to finish strong.”
Freshman Quarterback Tre Swilling
On Georgia’s receivers…
“Like you just said they’re really good receivers, very talented across the board. For every play they were out there
they were very physical and they’re good at what they do.”
On being confident with the score…
“Me personally I think you just have to have conference throughout the whole game and in every game the
momentum is going to go the other way at some point. That’s when you have to dig deep, remember where you
started, and not really scratch what you’re doing but focus on that and continue going. Being able to go out there and
get a stop.”
On Jake Fromm…
“He’s a really good passer I think there’s no secret about that. He’s a great quarterback, very smart. He knows where
the routes are going to be and most of the time you see that the receivers haven’t left their cuts yet but the ball has
left his hand. He has great placement and great timing. He’s a really good quarterback.”