ATHENS — No. 4 Georgia beat No. 8 Auburn for the fourth straight time in the top-10 matchup at Sanford Stadium on Saturday. The Bulldogs have won 13 of the last 16 meetings. Georgia coach Kirby Smart, Kearis Jackson and Monty Rice joined the press conference after the game. Here's what they had to say after the game ...
Head Coach Kirby Smart
Opening Statement
“First, I want to thank our fans. It sure felt like more than [20,524], but it felt like a lot of fans out there. I thought the crowd noise was helpful. The temperature was certainly helpful. I know that it was much cooler than last week. The atmosphere was a lot better. I thought we showed improvement. We left a lot of plays out there. I thought we played really hard defensively but sloppy on third down. I thought offensively, when we play clean, meaning we don’t have a busted assignment, a penalty, or somebody doesn’t know what they’re doing, we do well; but we can go backwards as quickly as we can forwards offensively, and we probably left more out there. I thought it hurt both defenses not having the signal caller, leader in the backend with them losing Smoke [Monday] and us losing Richard [LeCounte]. It affected both of us, but I did think we both played really physical tonight. I think when you play Auburn, that’s where it starts, is the line of scrimmage and the physicality. … I was really proud of Stetson [Bennett] and the way he handled things, very composed. He probably had some balls he wishes he could have back, but he’ll only get better from here, and he gives us some continuity and we’ll continue to develop the other guys as well.”
On whether Stetson Bennett has surprised him…
“[Stetson’s] not surprising me, no. You know, it’s a tough situation where I can recall the day we decided to offer him to take him back and we had to fight, scratch, and claw to get him to come back, and I’m certainly glad we did. It was an interesting decision because we had an interesting dynamic on our team, and we felt like what we knew of Stetson he would be a productive player and a good player. Stetson’s never lacked confidence in himself, you know. I’m happy for him. I want to temper that enthusiasm that he knows he’s got to get better. People around him played well and that’s important for Stetson. He did a good job of understanding what we wanted to do in the game plan, and he executed that really well, so I was very proud of him, he studied really hard this week.”
13 Stetson Bennett | Jr. | QB
On the game tempo...
"Yeah, I think Coach [Todd] Monken does a great job knowing when we need to go fast and knowing when we need to go slow. We know what we're going to do. We know we will be able to go fast. We are hopefully in better shape than everyone else. So, whenever the time comes that we need to go fast we can execute."
On if he thought this moment would ever come...
"It is not really my job to worry about that. If you think of things that broadly, you think about I was starting my first game, a game day, a top-10 matchup, then yeah it is going to be like ‘oh my goodness.’ But,no, I just go out every day and play football."
On if he knew he would start...
"I had an idea that I was going to start. Being able to be comfortable in the offense is easy because I am surrounded by such great players, and the offensive line gives me time. Coach Monken gives us great calls every time. So, the week helped because I was able to get reps with those guys. It is pretty easy to feel comfortable with those guys."
On keeping Auburn out of the end zone tonight…
“This game has been played for 130 years. It’s easy to be motivated for it. They have a lot of people over there that are from here or wanted to go here—deciding between the two. It’s always good to not let somebody run it in, and if they want to score they have to throw it because I feel like it’s easier than just running on somebody and scoring. North and south is a quick way to the end zone. That just goes to show how our practice is paying off and the things that we work on each and every day, Monday to Thursday.”
Kearis Jackson | R-So. | WR
On the type of player Stetson Bennett is...
"Stetson has always stood out, ever since I've been here. He's the starting quarterback now and has a major role. He's doing a great job and is confident, it's part of our job to help him do that."
