FOOTBALL
Coach Mark Richt and a delegation of football players met with the media Tuesday during the Dawgs’ weekly press luncheon. They offered the following comments:
Coach Mark Richt
Opening Statement…
“Thank you AT&T for sponsoring this Red Ribbon Week. This normally happens in October, but we don’t have a home game in October so that’s why we’re doing it today. I’m starting out the press conference a little bit different than usual. Some interesting stats about the NFL, as former Dawgs accounted for 10.5 sacks this past week and I thought that was pretty cool. Tim Jennings is leading the NFL with interceptions with four. Blair Walsh made NFL history. He’s the first kicker in NFL history to kick a 50-yarder in the first three games of his career. He kicked them and made them. I don’t think he’s missed a kick yet, so they got him straightened out. A.J. Green is second in the league in receiving yards with 311.
It sounds kind of weird to say Coach Dooley with any other team but Georgia, but Derek of course, the head coach at Tennessee, is getting them going. They’re 3-1 right now playing extremely good football, and especially offensively they are. I know the first four games that they’ve accumulated more yards than any team in the history of Tennessee football in a four-game span. They’re also number one in the league in passing and first downs, they’re scoring 38 points per game, and they’re over 500 yards per game so far on average. They’re doing an outstanding job. Quarterback Tyler Bray is a very talented passer, and one of the most talented passers that I’ve seen in awhile throwing the football. They have some tremendously skilled receivers. They’ve got a vertical passing game that I know I envy. We like to throw it down the field, but they can really lay it out there good.
Tennessee coming into Athens historically has done very well in our stadium. They actually have a better record in Sanford Stadium against us than we have. They’ve won 10 and we’ve won nine and there was a tie back in the day when you could have a tie. So we need to do a good job of defending our turf. We’re excited about the opportunity to play another SEC game.”
On the SEC Eastern Division…
“I think the SEC East is an outstanding part of our league. Preseason everybody had an opinion on everybody’s schedules, and I felt like we just aren’t going to know how tough everybody’s schedule is until you play the season and you have a better idea of how tough it is. We felt like we had some very outstanding teams in the East, and so far they are proving it.”
On talking to the team about the 2004 Georgia-Tennessee game…
“I told them that this situation reminded me of that season. We played a game like we played against Vanderbilt when we played LSU in ’04, one of those what people would call a complete game. Everything just seemed to work that day. Everything went well that day. The very next week we were favored to beat Tennessee. Tennessee came in with a freshman quarterback and beat us. I wanted to help them understand that it could happen and we better get our minds right. We better prepare just as hard or harder than the week before. I just want us to play our best. If we lose, we lose, but you want to play your best. That’s what I’m trying to make sure we do.”
On appreciating the SEC officials…
“I think our officials do a good job, and I think Steve Shaw is doing a good job of leading the group. Every week we turn in things that we have questions about, and he gets it back to you in a hurry. We have a system now where we’ll watch the coach’s copy, and he’ll be running it back and forth, and as he’s running it back and forth he’ll have a voiceover. As he’s explaining a situation you’re watching exactly what he’s looking at. With the new technology that we’re using it helps you to understand his line of thinking on a decision that’s been made by the staff. He’ll say we should have gotten that one, or I think this was a good call. He’s real genuine in his approach to it. I like it.”