FOOTBALL
Coach Mark Richt and a delegation of football players met with the media during the Dawgs’ weekly press luncheon on Tuesday afternoon. They offered the following comments:
Coach Mark Richt
On Georgia’s offensive pace…
“We can go very fast, we can go relatively fast, or we can just be at the line of scrimmage a long time. We really have about three different tempos we try to use. So we’re not like the Oregon’s of the world where every single play we’re going at breakneck speed, but we can go at a pretty good pace. I think one of the rules that changed was the 40-second clock rather than the old 25-second clock. I think that has sped up the operation of the officials in our league. I think they were very methodical before with the 25-second clock where that ball wasn’t going to get set until about 13 seconds after the play was over. Now to me, they’re more apt to set the ball and let you play if you don’t substitute. If you don’t substitute our officials will let you play about as fast as you want to play.”
On Aaron Murray’s decision not to talk to media this week…
“He really loves to submerge himself into the film study of every game, and this one he just wants to focus on nothing but Alabama. He doesn’t want to have any other distraction, so that’s okay with me.”
On the friendship between Georgia offensive coordinator Mike Bobo and Alabama defensive coordinator Kirby Smart…
“They are good friends, and they’re going head-to-head basically. It’s our offense vs. their defense, so there’s a lot of pride there. They want to win. They’re both highly competitive guys. They love football, and they’re great football coaches. They’re super-competitive, they want to win, and they certainly want to win against one of their best friends in life that they’re going to have to talk with and deal with for the rest of the year and the rest of their career. That is an interesting match-up right there.”
On Bobo and Smart coaching together for Georgia in 2005…
“They were just like two peas in a pod. I don’t know if they were trying to relive any of their glory days back in college, but they’re just good ball coaches and good people.”
Split End Rhett McGowan
On the defense’s preparation for another big game…
“You can always learn from something like . You want to forget the bad things, but you also want to learn from it and I think we have. That will benefit us going into another big game like this one. To be on a big stage again, like we were at South Carolina – I think maybe we were a bit over-hyped for that game. But it also gave us experience that will help us.”
On the Georgia defense…
“You don’t want to get them mad. They’re physical guys. They love contact and they’re not going to shy away from it. They love the game of football. When their blood gets hot it makes them better.”
On the receivers…
“The injuries we had earlier in the year helped us in that it gave some other guys opportunities to get out on the field. We all got more experience than we had already had, which will help this coming week. We’ve all played in big situations this year and have shown that we can execute. We are all confident in each other.”
Tight End Jay Rome
On the mindset heading into this SEC Championship vs. last year…
“We’re a more confident team. The guys that played last year know they came up short, and after they tasted that victory they didn’t get it. I feel like the taste was left in their mouths all year and we’ve had that in the back of our minds. All year we’ve wanted to get back and finish the drill.”
On the tight ends…
“We’ll have a key role in the passing game and running game. Over the past couple weeks we’ve come on a bit more in the passing game, and we’re taking the opportunity to get better and make plays. We’re ready for what’s thrown our way, and if it is, we’re going to make plays.”