What Georgia Coach Kirby Smart Said After Losing to Alabama

The Alabama Crimson Tide went into Athens and pulled off a 24-21 upset over the Georgia Bulldogs in Week 5 of the college football season. Georgia coach Kirby Smart spent time with media after the game to discuss his team's performance and the decision's he and his staff made throughout the game.

Full Transcript will be updated.

Kirby Smart's Opening Statement

"Yeah, I want to thank the fans, like I always do, because that was an incredible atmosphere. I mean, just absolutely one of the best I've been a part of, in terms of crowd noise, into it, atmosphere. It was awesome for college football. It was awesome for our players. They did their part for sure.

A lot of credit to Alabama. They out-executed us tonight. I think that was clear, especially on the offensive side of the ball. I don't know that I've -- I've coached a lot of years. I've never been 13-of-19 on third down. That tells the tale of the game. We controlled the line of scrimmage and held the run down for them, which was the goal. We've got to win on third down, and we did not play well on third down, and it showed, pretty much all night. So I hate it. They controlled the tempo of the game, outside of maybe the third quarter, and they controlled the time of possession. They won the turnover battle and really special teams seemed like it was not even relevant. So, a lot of credit to them. I am very proud of our guys and the way they fought. There were some guys really upset at halftime, especially defensively, that wanted to come out and play better. We've got to do a better job as coaches to help those players start better. We're spotting people too much and not executing at a high level. Sometimes it's execution, sometimes it's hey they've got a good call, a good play called and they out execute us. If I didn't think we could cover them or didn't think we could stop them, it would be disappointing, but to do it in the second half is certainly frustrating for us. With that, I'll open it up."

Why did you choose to forgo the field goal attempt late in the game and go for it on fourth down?

"Yeah we were third-and-four, I think. We had decided previous to that that if we gained anything, we were going for it. We were probably going to kick a field goal if we didn't get anything. There's a thing called sequencing, where you sequence plays to try to set up and know that you're going to to for it. So we felt like we were going to go for it if we got anything and we did. We got it down to fourth-and-one and that play's been really successful for us. We hit Tennessee on it three times for a conversion. We had run it earlier in the night and run it for a conversion. We missed a block that you've got to make and they ran through and made a really good play, made a really great play to stop it. I'd do that 10-out-of-10 times in terms of going for it. The decision is whether you go for it with tempo or not. We felt like tempo had been really good for us throughout the year. "

What do you think of Chauncey Bowens perfomance?

"Man he ran hard. He ran physical. He got yards after contact. He protected the ball. He was tough. He's getting better with his pass pro and catching the ball. I was proud of the way he ran. You know, it's not all him. There's a lot of good run scheme in that game that helped us run the ball."

There was a lot of success running the ball, what were the troubles in the passing game?

"You're asking what's the issue with our passing and rushing game tonight? I thought the rushing game was there. What did we rush for? 227.

I could see the passing game. There were some times there that we missed some things and maybe didn't hit some things. I thought two freshman lineman in there, I thought they protected pretty well for Gunner. There was a couple times the pocket broke down, you know, and he tried to protect the ball. I don't know if it was a rushing issue. I think it was probably a third down conversion, not great - sure not as good as them. And then being able to throw the ball and catch the ball with more consistency. We've got to be able to do that. We know what our identity is. We know who we are. The problem is to do that, you've got to play better defensively. To be a hard-nose run team, physical, grind it out and be able to hit some shots. We hit some shots. We didn't make our shots. But it's hard to play from behind all the time, too. "

How do you explain the slow starts?

"Yeah, I don't have an explanation for them. Not starting well on defense. I can't say that it's -- It's not really both sides of the ball. Kicking game, we've made plays. Offensively, we've made plays. Defensively, through two games we didn't, but the two better opponents we played we did not execute well in the first. It's really frustrating because we showed we can in the second half. We showed we can in the second and third quarter with Tennessee and with this game it was more second half."

Seems like you've used Josh McCray is the short yardage back but you used Cash Jones on the fourth down?

"That wasn't - that was a different play now. We're talking about third-and-four. We're not talking about the other; we're talking about tempo play is who's in the game. So the decision is do you stop, slow down, think about it, let them set their cleats in the ground, let them get everything they want, or do you try to hit them quickly?

We have a philosophy we believe in. We do it every Tuesday and every Wednesday at our practices, we blow a siren. Siren blows, we go as fast as we can, and it's third-and-one. The defense has to do it, which we had a big stop on them. And the offense has to do it. That's a play that I believe in and I believe it should work. It just so happens he was in on the third-and-four, so he was in on the fourth down too. "

What did the defense figure out in the second half to get stops?

"I don't know that we figured anything out. There was no adjustment; we just covered them better. If you're going to play Alabama and this quarterback is accurate, he's on time, he knows his protections. Watch the third downs and see, we got free runners at the quarterback, he gets the ball out. We get a free runner at the quarterback, he breaks a tackle, spins out, goes and runs around, and throws a completion. You play zone, he hits you in a soft spot, the cover-two hole throw early in the game. He made some really, really good plays, and we were pitching and throwing to him, but at the end of the day, to play well in this league on third down, you've got to be able to put hands on people and cover them, and we did that in the second half. We didn't really do that in the firs,t and it wasn't that we didn't try, they just beat us."

You talk about the execution not being there, how do you clean that up and execute going forward?

"Practice. You have to practice it. You have to execute it. You have to do it with confidence. You have to do it more times the right way. You have to keep doing it. I thought we had some guys grow up out there. I thought Demello [Jones] grew up out there. Ellis [Robinson] grew up out there. They got to make some plays and really compete. We've got to execute at a higher level defensively and stop some people. You'll make it about the rush and getting rush, but it the ball's coming out as quick as it was and we had a free guy running on one of the third downs, literally free, and the ball came out before he got there. That's good execution by them and poor by us."

What lessons do you take from this game moving forward in the season?

"The lesson I take is that we've got a good football team that's got to get better. I love the team in that locker room. I have repeatedly said, they enjoy practice, they work their butt off. They're not perfect. I'm telling you guys, this is the new era of what we're going to see. There's games like that all over college football and there's going to continue to be. You know what? They've got to go play a good team next week. We've got to go play a big game next week. It's just what it is. I realize it's a big game. I realize everybody wants to make a big deal of it. But for us, it happened to us last year. We've got to go worry about the next one because you can't let this game beat you twice."

How do you think the loss from last year can help the group this year?

"Yeah, I don't know. It's a very different team. We were older, more experience. This one, we're playing with some young lineman, some young skill guys on defense. We've got to continue to grow and get better. The key is will the locker room take the team in the right direction, the leadership, and say 'ok we know what we've got to work on, let's get better at it'. We've got some wide outs that can make some plays. We've got to allow them to make some plays because with the run game we have, I love where we're going as a running team, but we've got to be able to make some shots and make some plays down the field passing game to compliment that."

Daniel Harris didn't play tonight, is there anything that led to that?

"Nothing really. He's dealing with a little bit of a groin issue, I think. But we played the guys that we thought would give us the best opportunity to win."

Where did you see the young offensive lineman improve and how did they play?

"I can't answer that question honestly. Donnie [Glover] played really hard, Juan [Gaston] played hard. I don't even know how many snaps they ended up playing, you know what I mean? And Bo [Hughley] started in the game and got to play and held down the right side and competed his tail off. I'd have to watch the tape to speak to how they played, probably."

What was your message to Nate Frazier after the fumble?

"Yeah, just that I love him and want him to get better. It's not his first one. It's nothing he's doing technically wrong. He's got to hang onto the ball and that comes with confidence. It comes with confidence in how you practice. You've got to practice it. You've got to have confidence and show it. It was more about Chauncey [Bowens] being the hot back more than it was anything Nate was doing."

Is there extra anxiousness when playing Alabama?

"I don't understand what you're asking. We talked about history and what history is the greatest indicator of. The best thing you learn from history is how to win big matchups. They should feel comfortable because our history is we've played in 55 or something like that since being here. The things I talked about is what wins big games? You're not going to play perfect, accept that. The next things win your box, see a little, see a lot. I wanted their focus to be on those three things, not on anything else. Because us winning 33-straight games here or my record against Alabama has nothing to do with this game. That's everybody else's story, but what our guys need to worry about are those other three things, because those control how you win the game. And those examples instill confidence in you. Like, ok, this is how you win the game. You do this, this and this. Which, we didn't necessarily do."

It sounds like you thought the pass rush did ok tonight. How important is a strong pass rush to compliment the secondary?

"Well we've got to affect the quarterback. We've got to do a better job of affecting the quarterback. We've got more packages than the man in the moon to affect the quarterback, but we've got to do it. We've got to go out there and execute and be able to do it. Teams do get the ball out. They have a stat for how fast the ball comes out and sometimes the answer to that is don't rush as many. Then you'll sit there and say they're not getting any pressure, well you've got more people covering. That's one of those things that you can get over aggressive. They hit us on two or three screens tonight that were really good plays for them and you've got to be smart when you're looking for pressure and they're running screens."

Why was it important to you to give guys hugs and try to lift guys up after the game?

"That's what you do. If you're going to be the leader of an organization and you're going to lead men, then you've got to be at the front and you can't hide. That's always who I've been. If things aren't going well then I want the responsibility for that. If things are going well then I want our players to get the acknowledgement in what they do well. If things aren't going well and we're not playing well or we're not doing this well, that's my responsibility and it starts with me and I want them to know that. They'll take ownership and looking in the mirror and having an AAR, after action review, and go get better. That's all we can do. We can go get better and that's what we need to do."

You're 1-7 against Alabama, do you worry this starts to linger with your program?

"What's everybody else's record against them, do you got it? I don't either. I don't lose sleep over that because those games have been like championship caliber games. Even when we play in the regular season, they've been -- I just saw 25 scouts out there. They're all there to watch these teams play. That's not going to affect me. I'm just going to be happy and go-lucky if our team comes back and plays well. That's what I worry about and we've got to get better. And next year won't have anything to do with this year."