Nov. 26, 2016
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Georgia Tech Head Coach Paul Johnson
Opening Statement:
“I thought it was a great college football game. Both teams played really hard. (Georgia) kind of grabbed the momentum when we came out in the third quarter and turned the ball over. But I’m proud of our kids. They fought back. They kept playing. We finally got a break there and were able to take advantage of it. Like I said, it was a heck of a college football game.”
On the third quarter:
“We fumbled the ball and that kind of changed the momentum a little bit. Then we got a terrible illegal formation call. We were in ‘unbalanced’; there was nothing illegal about it. We didn’t make plays. On the fourth down play, we had what I wanted and we turned (David Marshall) loose in the ‘B’ gap. We didn’t play perfect all day but we made plays. It was kind of a microcosm of our season. We can’t get off the field, but in the second half we don’t give up a lot of points. When we had to, on defense, we held them to a couple of field goals. That was the difference in the game. We hit a couple of those play-action passes, and it was on from there.”
On the winning touchdown:
“It was an either-or. It was a throwback to the quarterback but it was third down. When we took timeout (I said) ‘It’s third down. If it’s not there, don’t force it.’ I think it froze them. He looked like he was going to throw it and he froze them and was able to get it in (the end zone). Great play, individual play, by Qua (Searcy).”
On the team’s resilience:
“We just keep playing. This team doesn’t get a whole lot of respect, nor does the program. So you just keep playing. I think they’ve done a really good job of doing that. We don’t listen to anybody. We just play.”
Georgia Head Coach Kirby Smart
On the game:
“I’m sick for the seniors who have given so much for our program. They fought their tails off. To finish like that was not a very good job on our part. We had a big lead, but we didn’t finish it.”
On Tech’s fourth-quarter scoring drives:
“They did a good job of blocking our guys. They hit some passes to loosen us up and make us play more cautious. They ran it when they had to and they scored touchdowns in the red area.”
On the UGA defense:
“Early on, I didn’t think we (played well). They had some nice schemes and we had to adjust. Then we got some turnovers, which is big against this offense. Any time you play them, you have to control your possessions and be methodical yourself.”
On the UGA offensive line:
“The offensive line pushed and played hard. I’m sick for the three seniors in there. We outrushed them and the line fought hard and played hard.”
Looking back on the season:
“This team has grown up. The young kids aren’t freshmen anymore. We’ve had some tight ballgames and some tough situations. We will continue to grow and develop. We will get better through a willingness to work and through good practice habits.”
On the seniors:
“I hate it for our seniors. They are what this game is all about. I hate that we can’t send them out of on top at home. … The best thing we can do for our seniors is get better and keep improving the program. Hopefully we can finish with a win in the bowl and send them out the right way.”
On the Jacob Eason interception:
“It was a quick out and we thought we had to look we wanted. We thought we could advance the ball, get two more first downs and run the clock out. I saw the ball come off Terry’s hands and they caught it.”
On recruiting:
“Recruiting is the lifeblood of our program. We have good players now and we’ll continue to recruit good players. We’ll relentlessly go out the next two weeks to try to get the right kind of young men to come to the University of Georgia. We’ll attack it hard.”
Final thoughts:
“To the fans, I’m just as sick as you are, I’m just as upset as you are and I’m just as disappointed as you are. We’ve got to do a better job. We recognize that … and we will.”
