Tag: allstate sugar bowl

Twitter reacts to questionable late hit call in Sugar Bowl

Twitter reacts to a questionable late hit call on Georgia

The Georgia Bulldogs currently lead the Baylor Bears in the middle of the fourth quarter in the Allstate Sugar Bowl, but that could quickly change.

Bears quarterback Charlie Brewer scrambled for a first down deep in his own territory just a few moments ago, diving for the orange marker. While Brewer came up a few yards short, the officials called a questionable late-hit penalty on the Bulldogs, which sparked a critical response on Twitter.

Take a look:

 

 

 

Watch: Georgia WR George Pickens gains unlikely first down

After twisting and turning his way past the line to gain, Pickens added ten yards to his school record performance in the Sugar Bowl

Early in the fourth quarter of the 2020 Sugar Bowl, Georgia freshman phenom George Pickens broke six tackles, twelve ankles, and countless Baylor fans’ spirits.

On second and ten with twelve minutes remaining, Jake Fromm threw a routine five-yard pass toward the far sideline to Pickens, who at this point had already amassed 165 receiving yards and a touchdown.

After twisting and turning his way past the line to gain, Pickens added ten yards to his school record performance in the Sugar Bowl.

Watch a freak athlete do freaky athletic things:

Georgia football names captains for Sugar Bowl versus Baylor

The Georgia Bulldogs have named their captains ahead of the Allstate Sugar Bowl against the Baylor Bears. UGA is 11-2 on the season.

The Georgia Bulldogs have named their captains ahead of the Allstate Sugar Bowl against the Baylor Bears. Georgia’s Jake Fromm, Monty Rice, Charlie Woerner, and D’Andre Swift will be captains for the game:

Does this indicate that D’Andre Swift, who is dealing with a shoulder injury, will play? Swift injured his shoulder against Georgia Tech and definitely was not near 100 percent against the LSU Tigers. Earlier today, David Pollack indicated UGA would be without Swift. Is he wrong? If Swift is captain, it is more likely that he’ll be playing.

That being said, not all captains are healthy enough to play in their bowl games. Take note of Alabama’s Tua Tagovailoa in today’s game against Michigan:

Kirby Smart and UGA will seek leadership from their captains, who will look to have a better performance in the Sugar Bowl this time. Last season, Georgia fell 28-21 against the Texas Longhorns.

The Bulldogs will be without numerous players against Baylor due to injury or players who are preparing for the 2020 NFL Draft. Georgia will be especially depleted along their offensive front.

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Matchup preview: Baylor’s offense vs Georgia’s defense

Georgia DC Dan Lanning admits that the Dawgs face a tough test in scheming against a balanced Baylor offense.

Georgia’s defense may be coming off their worst performance of the season (statistically speaking), but the Bulldogs arrive in New Orleans still ranked fourth in total defense to square off against the Baylor Bears in the Allstate Sugar Bowl.

As defensive coordinator Dan Lanning pointed out in his press conference, the Junkyard Dawgs face a tough test in scheming against a balanced Baylor offense.

The Bears feature a proven pocket passer in Charlie Brewer, who was recently cleared to play in the Sugar Bowl. Behind him are “shifty” tailbacks John Lovett and JaMycal Hasty, both totally solid in providing pass protection. Beside him are a group of versatile tight ends capable of receiving and particularly adept at blocking. He’s assisted by the great size and speed of his outside receivers, specifically in senior Denzel Mims and sophomore Tyquan Thornton.

With the Georgia secondary missing J.R. Reed and Tyrique McGhee, the Bears’ Brewer, Mims, and Thornton could take advantage of younger Bulldog players getting some of their first significant playing time in the defensive backfield. The defense has at times struggled with passes over the middle of the field, but has excelled with 50/50 balls to the outside of the field, so this matchup will be strength-on-strength.

Baylor is ranked at a good-but-not great 50th in the nation in team rushing and is presented a tall task in facing a Silver Britches defense ranked third in the country against the run.

Georgia’s defensive front seven is still the only group in the country that has given up only one rushing touchdown all year.  The next fewest: Oregon with four allowed.

If Baylor’s offense has one glaring weakness, it would be their offensive line.

They’re one of the bigger offensive lines in the Big XII and consequently are one of their conference’s better run blocking units. However, their pass protection is wildly inconsistent, they’ve given up more sacks (35) than any of their conference foes, and only eighteen FBS teams have given up more. That’s remarkable for a team that finished the regular season with a single loss.

The Dawgs’ D hasn’t rushed the quarterback as much this year as fans have seen in previous seasons, but with edge rushers Quay Walker, Nolan Smith, Jermaine Johnson, and Azeez Ojulari having combined for 12 sacks, Bulldog Nation should feel confident that Dan Lanning’s squad can notch multiple sacks on Brewer.

Given the injuries Georgia has on the other side of the ball, Baylor’s best chance at wearing down the Junkyard Dawgs is controlling time of possession. If Baylor’s offense can’t control the clock and Georgia’s defensive starters can get ample time to rest on the sideline, I like the Dawgs in this one.

For a full preview of the game, click here.

Kirby Smart talks D’Andre Swift ahead of Sugar Bowl matchup

Kirby Smart talks D’Andre Swift ahead of Sugar Bowl matchup with Baylor

Georgia football coach Kirby Smart met with members of the media in New Orleans Tuesday before the Bulldogs’ second-straight Sugar Bowl on Wednesday.

Junior running back D’Andre Swift, who has been playing injured since the Georgia Tech game, is going to try and give it a go tomorrow, despite interest in the NFL Draft.

Swift has not made an official decision on the draft just yet, but here’s what Smart had to say on the running back’s status for game itself.

“I don’t know, we’re going to wait and see.”

“He’s competed, he’s done everything we’ve asked him to do. If he feels like he’s able to go, and go at 100 percent, then we’re going to use him. He’s done more this last week in practice than he did before the SEC Championship Game, that’s for certain, so excited to see where he goes.

The Bulldogs have been playing a bit of hush mouth on player’s status of late, but we will find out who exactly plays when toe meets leather Wednesday in New Orleans.

Georgia coach Kirby Smart’s full Sugar Bowl press conference transcript

Georgia football coach Kirby Smart’s full Sugar Bowl press conference transcript

Georgia football coach Kirby Smart met with members of the media on Tuesday morning in New Orleans, ahead of Wednesday’s game against Baylor at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome.

Smart updated the status of running back D’Andre Swift, while mentioning motivation tactics for this year’s game and more.

Below, you will find the full transcript from this morning’s press conference.

Take a look:

COACH SMART: It’s an honor to be here. I always like to thank the bowl representatives. I’ve gotten to know the bowl representatives here at the Sugar Bowl really well. Feel like they’re close friends. Jeff, Monique [Morial], thank you. It’s good to see you again. Enjoyed dinner the other night. They’ve been wonderful hosts. We’ve had a lot of really great experiences here.

So sitting with Monique the other night getting to enjoy dinner, me and my wife were sharing that my twins who are 11 now were ten months old at their first Sugar Bowl and were actually staying right over in basically the same hotel. And it was a very unique experience for them to be ten months — they took their first steps in the Sugar Bowl hotel. Now they’re here, 11, enjoying all the experiences of the Sugar Bowl. And I know our players are, too.

So I know a concern of mine coming in was, well, what are they going to think about doing some of the same events. Our players have absolutely loved being able to go and share in the experiences. I think maybe you’ve seen some of the video of it. But getting to go to the Pelicans’ game the other night. They all raved about that. Going bowling, they go bowling in Athens all the time. They loved getting an opportunity to do that. Our guys have really embraced it, enjoyed it, had a tremendous time.

Got a great challenge tomorrow night playing Baylor. They have done an unbelievable job. Coach [Matt] Rhule and his staff, the turnaround they’ve been able to do is nothing short of incredible. When you turn the tape on, it really jumps out at you how well they’re coached, how hard they play. They played in several close games this year in which they outfought, they outcompeted the other team.

I know when you look at them defensively, they’re very different than anything we see in our conference, and they’re really good at what they do. Offensively, they spread you out and do a really good job and athletic quarterback.

So the challenge is there for our team. I’m excited to see our team go out and play. It’s been a while since both teams have played. And as you can see in these other bowl games, sometimes you don’t know what you’re going to get when you go out there and haven’t played in this long, this much time off.

So conditioning will be important. Playing under control and with composure will be important. But I’m excited to let our guys go out there and play and play in one of the best atmospheres in all the bowl games.

Q. Kirby, you said you thought last year’s team practiced well and thought they were ready to play and everything. That said, as this game nears, do you like the intensity you’ve seen here and maybe feeling even more intensity? And are the guys really ready to play tomorrow night?

COACH SMART: Yeah, I don’t know that I’ve ever went into a game that I didn’t feel like our guys didn’t practice well. That wouldn’t be a good situation to go into.

Turning the ball over last year really hurt us early and didn’t help us in that game. That probably — anytime you have turnovers, it’s going to be one of the greatest indicators, that and explosive plays. We had those last year.

The punt early shook us when we took a knee on the punt. It’s hard to overcome once you start losing the momentum in the turnover battle.

But this group has been great. Have had really great practices. The best part has been with a little bit lack of depth, we’ve gone against each other more. One of the luxuries of having depth is you’re able to get a lot of reps against the opponent in what we call scout work. But we call it quality scout work when you have enough O-linemen to have two or three units and you can put a really quality scout team in there. We haven’t had that luxury.

What we have had to do is be really smart, practice more against each other and do high-competitive environments, high-competitive reps, which the players have liked. They practice harder when they are lining up across from a guy they know is a starter. So you get good competition and practice a little bit shorter with that in mind, too, because the same guys are taking most of the reps.

Q. Coach, we know we’re going to get a look at some younger guys in this football game. Who are some of those guys who have really stood out in the last 12 to 13 practices?

COACH SMART: Well, most of them are guys that have played throughout the year. When you think Zamir [White] and James [Cook] have had a lot of work. I would probably say Kenny [McIntosh] is one of those guys. Kenny didn’t get as much work in practices until now. He’s gotten a tremendous amount of work and done a really good job.

Depends on how the game goes. Depends how much [D’Andre] Swift plays how much Kenny’s [McIntosh] going to get play. Kenny’s done a really good job. He’s grown up and played a lot more. Really, every other position, I don’t know that you’re seeing — you’re seeing two offensive tackles. That’s the biggest difference, those guys. And then Warren Ericson is a guy that has stepped up and had to play a lot more. Outside those guys, it’s mainly depth more than it is a new guy.

Q. Coach, talked to the players that are here, they’re all engaged, they’re all excited. How have you motivated them when so much of the outside narrative has been Georgia is supposed to be in the playoff every year? And how do you deal with those expectations that you were able to create in your first three or four seasons?

COACH SMART: It’s really not hard. There’s only four teams that can be in the playoffs. If you don’t earn the right to get in there, then you deal with the cards you’ve dealt. We’re in a pretty good situation when you look at it and say you could win 11, 12 games every year, have an opportunity to play in a New Year’s Six bowl game every year, you’re doing something right. And our kids recognize that. That doesn’t take away from the disappointment of not making the playoff. But you can’t whine and cry over that, not for very long.

And the unique experience is we’ve had an opportunity to go to that playoff for every single game up until this one. So that part, you’re not dealing with a game a week later. I’ve always said when you have to deal with a game a week later, you get over it a whole lot faster, within 24 hours.

With this one, I don’t know how many days it’s been since we played. Y’all know better than me, 20 something days. It’s been a long time. Get over it, time to get better and go grow.

The biggest thing, I like to being able to play a high-quality opponent that we get to play that you respect and know comes from an awesome conference. They played a team in the playoffs to the very end twice. So you know you’ve got an opportunity to go out and play a really good football team.

Q. Coach [Matt] Rhule’s name is being brought up a lot this week for jobs in the NFL. When you began your coaching career, did you have any aspirations or dreams to be a head coach in the NFL? If not, why did you feel college was always the perfect fit for you?

COACH SMART: No, I haven’t had those aspirations. I coached in the NFL. I’ve been there. I think it’s a wonderful league. But the passion I have for college football is the fact that you get to have a deeper relationship with these players.

I think the connection is more unique in college. You’re looking at probably 20 to 30 roster spots in the NFL that don’t turn over annually. So you’re only getting around 20 to 30 players where we get 130 guys and you get most of them back the following year. And you grow to know these young men. You go in their homes. You promise their parents they’re going to get their education. You get to watch them walk across the stage graduating. You get to watch them walk across the stage and get an opportunity in the NFL, their lifelong dream.

I get satisfaction out of having those relationships and having those kids come back. I think it’s tougher in the NFL.

Q. Kirby, I think you mentioned back in Athens early on that you were going to make sure you brought guys that wanted to be here based off last year. Obviously, there’s some injured guys that are here. There are some injured guys that aren’t here. There’s even some guys who have been reported in the transfer portal who are here. Some people who for disclosure reasons aren’t here. What was the decision-making process on who you were bringing and you weren’t bringing?

COACH SMART: I don’t think it went into that. If they could play, they were going to be able to come. That was the big deal. Transfer portal is not a statement that you’re leaving. I think people misconstrue that.

Every kid that goes in the transfer portal is not actually leaving or trying to leave. They may be exploring other options, but it’s not a situation where they’re not committed to the university.

To me, that goes back to sitting down and having a one-on-one conversation between me and them. And each one of those guys that’s in there contemplating coming back, and they’re trying to figure out what’s best for them. And I don’t mind that. It’s a dead period. So there’s nothing they can do right now in regards to that.

And the rest of it, guys, the guys that are here are the focus. And they have done a tremendous job. All these kids have known who’s going to be here the entire time we’re practicing. You guys were the first to become aware of it once you got here. But our kids are used to it. They know who’s been practicing and who hasn’t.

Q. Kirby, you were talking about the lack of depth I guess because of some of the guys that maybe aren’t here. I know NFL draft decisions and injuries are one thing. Guys who couldn’t be here for other reasons, how do you explain that or is it troubling at all to you as a head coach that so many guys are missing?

COACH SMART: It’s not troubling. Not at all. Each one is different. some of these guys are injured. Some academically didn’t do what they needed to do. That’s part of college football. It’s part of dealing with the things you have, the cards you’re dealt.

The NFL environment we have, if we continue to recruit at a high level, which we’ve done, this is probably going to be an annual deal where guys decide that I’m not going to play in the game based on certain reasons or whatever they choose. And that’s the choice they have. I respect that.

When we go recruit kids, we sell the fact you can get an unbelievable education. We also sell the fact you have an opportunity at the NFL. When you recruit at a really high level, you’re going to have kids with an opportunity to go in the first round that are going to make, quote-unquote, business decisions for them. I don’t always agree with all of them, but I support them 100%. And that’s what we’re going to continue to do.

Q. Kirby, I don’t know how much time you’ve spent looking at Baylor’s defense. But I’m just curious your impressions with that odd stack that you’re starting to see become more popular?

STUDENT: Yeah, they do incredible job. When you turn the tape on, it pops out at you how fast they are, how athletic they are, how well they rush the passer because one of the knocks people would say from a 3-3 stack look is it’s harder to effect the quarterback. They’re always firing a fourth, a fifth guy.

They really get knocked-back penetration and allow people to run to the ball. It creates an illusion for the quarterback. You don’t always know the coverage. You can scheme more. There’s more depth in the defense. And I think they are the leading innovators, talking about Baylor and their staff, at creating confusion about what they do.

If they’re so good at it, why isn’t everybody doing it? I don’t think most people in college football are comfortable with that front and that defense. And they are kind of being evolutionary in regards to what they’re doing defensively because they’re doing it really well. And they’re getting– I mean, they’re eighth or ninth in the country in sacks. It just jumps off the screen at you.

We’ve taken — actually during the year we look at other teams that are doing well, Baylor was one of the teams we had picked in our off week and saying, hey, what can we take from what they do to make us better. It was going to be an off-season team we studied. It’s very unique we end up playing them because we got to see them a lot closer.

Q. Coach, when you got here, Tae Crowder was a guy that was deep in the running back depth chart and then changing positions and now starter on defense. How have you seen him grow from being a guy that was trying to find a spot to now starting? And he’s got his final game coming up with the Sugar Bowl, of course. Just what have you seen from him just throughout his career? And what do you see for his future?

COACH SMART: Yeah, Tae is a tremendous story. People don’t talk about the stories that are here enough, and he is one of them. You talk about a special kid. I think Dan [Lanning] did a stat the other day — and I may be wrong — but he said he had 1,081 days that he’s been at University of Georgia or something like that. He’s a five-year guy, he and Mike Barnett.

They’ve been here this entire time. And he has had trials and tribulations, academic ups and downs, and now he’s within one class of graduating. He came in a skinny little receiver. And we put up a picture of him in the defensive meeting room as a high school senior getting recruited. He’s a skinny, little 180-pound receiver that used to come to camp. And now he’s grown into a 235-, 240-pound athletic linebacker that has transitioned smoothly and has an opportunity to play at the next level. He’s developed.

And that’s what you want to do with these kids that come in. He was an afterthought. University of Georgia took him late in the signing process, beat Georgia Southern out for him, and here he is starting and playing on the number five team in the country.

Q. Coach, a two-part question for you. Divaad Wilson, can you address why he’s not here and how that’s going to affect the star position? Also, kind of where does D’Andre Swift stand as far as participation tomorrow night?

COACH SMART: Yeah. Divaad won’t affect anything because Mark [Webb] has played star the entire year. Mark Webb has been the starting star. He and Divaad shared some of that time. But Mark started every game, and he’s been healthy at that position.

As far as D’Andre, I don’t know. We’re going to wait and see. He’s competed. He’s done everything we’ve asked him to do. I keep repeating that because he has. Certainly, if he feels like he’s able to go and go at 100%, we’re going to use him. He’s done more this last week in practice than he did before the SEC championship game, that’s for certain. So excited to see where he goes.

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Baylor coach Matt Rhule’s full press conference transcript

Baylor Bears coach Matt Rhule meets with the media in New Orleans for Sugar Bowl

Baylor Bears head coach Matt Rhule met with the media in New Orleans on Tuesday to discuss Georgia and his team ahead of Wednesday night’s big game.

In his third season at Baylor, Rhule led the Bears to the Sugar Bowl after finishing as runner-up in the Big 12 conference. Given the circumstances in Waco when Art Briles left just a few seasons ago, this is undeniably impressive.

In just two years, Rhule turned the program around and had them back in a bowl game, while putting them in New Orleans in year three.

Here’s what the heavily sought after coach had to say when with the media earlier this morning.

COACH RHULE: Just on behalf of our entire team, I want to make sure I thank everyone associated with the Allstate Sugar Bowl. It’s been a fantastic week. The New Orleans Saints have been — have gone out of the way for us. Had a great experience there for our guys. Had a great experience here in town. And we’re very grateful to be here and happy to be here.

At the same time, we’re very excited most importantly by the chance to play a great Georgia team. Look forward to representing our team with the way that we play to the best of our abilities. Everyone for us will play, we’re excited to play, and it should be a great game.

Q. Get this one out of the way early, have you been contacted by any NFL teams? And do you think it’s been a distraction at all this week?

COACH RHULE: I’ve not been contacted by anybody. But it’s certainly a distraction in that our guys are answering that instead of talking about the game, which I hate.

But I was talking to James Lynch yesterday. Like he said, it’s part of my job. When our players play well and when they do things like they’ve done, going from 1-11 to the Sugar Bowl, people are going to take notice of not just me but my staff. The guys on my staff were offered Division I jobs this year, head coaching jobs, and were pretty committed to being at Baylor. It’s a wonderful place.

So I hate that it’s even a storyline for our players, but they’ve handled it really well. They’re used to it. Every year it’s been that way.

Q. Coach, describe James Lynch. What makes him a special football player? I know he’s a Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year, All-American first team. And just what kind of guy is he on the field?

COACH RHULE: Yes, sir. I think one of the things about James is he’s tremendously athletic for a big man. He’s 300 pounds but he runs a shuttle like a secondary player. And so it’s really his quickness that’s allowed him to have the production that he’s had. And he’s a relentless player, really smart player.

I want to make sure I say this: He’s a really, really good athlete, too. Most of his sacks come out of a three-man front where he gets double-teamed. He has a tremendous ability to change his body angles, and he just finds a way to get to the quarterback.

So he makes a ton of plays for us getting the quarterback. Also makes a ton of plays for us in the run game. Certainly, when you play a team like Georgia, it’s number one, to find a way to stop the run, especially the outside running game. It’s will be really key that he does that.

Q. I know you hate this storyline, but given all you’ve accomplished here and being one play away from the playoff, how do you sort of weigh what’s left to accomplish versus other opportunities that may exist in the NFL?

COACH RHULE: To me, every day is an accomplishment for me, right? So my goal in life at the end of the day is really to do a good job wherever I’m coaching but more importantly to make sure I take care of my family.

One thing people don’t realize is coaches — we pick up our families. We rip them out of their homes. We rip them out of the places that they are. Sometimes you do that until you get to a point where you find happy. You shouldn’t mess with happy.

And so there’s a lot to accomplish at Baylor. And most importantly, it’s just each and every year, I want to put together a championship-caliber team. And I think we have a chance to be even better next year than we are this year.

And so I’m always looking three, four, five years down the line. I think we have a chance to be a perennial national contender, to be in the top 10 and be in the top five and go to College Football Playoff and play in New Year’s Six bowls.

And so it’s just finding a way to get those things done. But at the same time, also doing what’s right for my family. People hear that and they always think money. It’s more like where’s the right place for them to be. And Waco and Baylor have been amazing to my family.

Q. You’re talking about, I guess, Baylor for the future. Do you think that you’ll be back at Baylor next year?

COACH RHULE: Yeah, I plan on that. I certainly think I will be.

Q. What is Jake Fromm’s best attribute? And will this be the best defense you have faced this season?

COACH RHULE: I think in terms of Jake, you see a player who’s extremely intelligent, gets them in the right play. We face a lot of offenses where they look to the sideline and go back. He’s a pro-style quarterback. When I say “pro style,” you get him in the right protection, get him in the right play, that makes it difficult on defense because you have to disguise. You have to try to throw them different looks.

And he’s got a big, powerful arm. He’s pushed the ball down the field and made big plays. He’s also athletic within the pocket, gets outside the pocket, keeps his eyes down the field. He’s a threat in a lot of ways. He’s certainly one of the best quarterbacks we’ve faced this year.

Defensively, this is by far the best defense we’ve faced. And that’s no disrespect to people in our conference. There’s a lot of great defenses in our conference, and there’s a lot of difficult defenses in our conference.

As a fan of college football, I’ve enjoyed this week seeing the different styles — not this week, the preparation, watching the different teams in the SEC.

Last year we played Vanderbilt. You hear a lot about SEC versus this conference versus that conference. But it’s like night and day the styles of football we see. Really, the only Big 12-type team in the SEC that I watched of the teams I watched was really LSU. And what they’re doing is setting everyone. They’re doing it better.

It will be interesting to see the different styles. We’re two teams that held each other under 20 points a game. And we do it with three-down. They do it four-down. I think Coach [Kirby] Smart is brilliant in what they’re doing.

They play so many different guys on defense. They have different packages. They rotate in and out. I told our guys, our coaches, when they are game planning and taking notes, I said, guys, you have no idea what they’re going to do until the first snap of the game because they do something different every game. Certainly, one of the best defenses. They have got great, great players. They play hard. They play a lot of guys. It should be a really fun game. I think it’s really cool to see the different styles. And we’ll see what happens.

Q. Of course, I’m from the Georgia perspective, so much has been made on the players who are not here for the bulldogs this week. But I was wondering when you look at film and some of the youngest kids they’re putting on the field, how much difference are you seeing from what they normally have out there?

COACH RHULE: With all due respect, Georgia’s issue is not having good players. They’ve got good players up and down the board. I mean, they’re fantastic. And I say that with the greatest of respect.

Like, I haven’t seen a team play as many guys. And, again, just as a football fan, you can’t really kind of do some of the things that they do. We would be afraid to do some of the things, playing so many different guys on different down distances because of the tempo that we see. Teams go fast against us in our league. They get guys in and out. So they have so many good players.

I think when you come to a bowl game, you understand on both sides, the other team might have guys being ineligible, might have guys fail drug tests, may have guys not play. You can’t worry about who the other team has. You have just got to worry about yourselves. We’re just going to try and identify them by number.

One of the great things they do, like Mark Webb, he can be the Sam [Tecklenburg] linebacker one play. He’s the Mike [Barnett] in their next package. It’s just looking at bodies because they move around so much.

Q. Coach, Kirby [Smart] was talking about the innovative nature of your defensive scheme. How much of that is based on personnel? And can you share some of the philosophy behind what you’re doing defensively and why and how it’s so much different?

COACH RHULE: Well, I’ll start by saying all of our success really we’ve had as a team this year comes from the growth of our defense over the course from last year to this year. That credit rests solely on Phil Snow, our defensive coordinator and his staff. I GA’d for Phil.

He’s had a top-20 defense going all the way back to Arizona State when they played for the national championship. He had it at UCLA. He’s been an innovator everywhere he’s been.

And we played this three-down package when I was with Coach at Temple probably 30 to 40% of the games. We would play it the last two years. And we got to the end of this past season, we lost some D-linemen to the NFL. We said who were our best players, what’s our best package. And we went back and looked and we were in the three-down. We were just way more successful.

I want to make sure I give a lot of credit to Iowa State who started this in the Big 12. If you watch most teams in the Big 12 now, they have all sort of copied it.

And so we took what we already did from three-down and we studied Iowa State and we’ve kind of built on it. And it fits our players really well. Chris Miller is our middle safety, and unfortunately he’s missed some games because he’s a big hitter and he has had some illegal hits. But it gives him a chance to kind of run the middle, and he can be in the front, he can be in the middle of the field. It’s unique.

Now you have to see if you can man up against the size and the strength of Georgia and the downhill running game. So I think it will be a really cool game from a football perspective, seeing how they attack this defense that maybe they don’t see a ton of.

But if you watch them against LSU, they basically played against LSU what we play. So they played a 3-1 with the linebacker behind it. So they certainly have experience seeing it because they did it.

Q. Coach, I was at the Peach Bowl. Were you shocked at what LSU was able to do to Oklahoma? And when you look at Joe Burrow, if you’ve studied him at all or seen enough of him, can you kind of comment on what kind of season do you think he’s having?

COACH RHULE: I mean, I think Joe Borrow is obviously the Heisman Trophy winner landslide for a reason. I think he’s tremendously accurate. I think the wideouts, the wideouts probably don’t — they get a lot of credit. Probably don’t get enough credit.

They were covered quite a bit in that game the other night. And their ability to go up and get the football and their competitive nature is really, really impressive. I’ve watched them on the coach’s tape a little bit because we played Texas and they played Texas. I think that what they’re doing is really historic so far.

And I think one of the things I like about Joe is he puts people in a real conflict with his ability to run and keep his eyes down the field. And you saw that in that game the other day. If he starts to run and people come up, then he finds a way to throw it over the top of their heads. If they stay back, he looks, looks, looks. He has got a lot of Aaron Rodgers qualities in that regard.

So what they’ve done this year is impressive, and I probably should have started by saying this but what a profile in courage and what a — as a coach, you know, to see what Coach [Steve] Ensminger did, going out there and coaching in that game. That was really, really special and at the same time heartbreaking.

But I think Oklahoma is a great team. I think Oklahoma just kind of — sometimes you have one of those games, man, where it just hits you before you know it hits you and you’re trying to regroup and get back in it.

But LSU looks like a team that’s on a mission, and obviously Clemson has been there before. So as a fan, I can’t wait to sit back and watch it on TV.

Q. Matt, how good has this three-week break been for Charlie Brewer? And what are you seeing from him in practice?

COACH RHULE: Well, I mean, he’s practiced really well. I think, obviously having some time to kind of regroup. I think just besides being hit and having the concussion, I think he was kind of beat up at the end of the year just from general contact.

We ran him a lot against Oklahoma and then Texas. So I think, you know, his ankle, his shoulder, his hip, they all feel better. And I think this was a great game for him to develop as a quarterback because you’re not going to run around back there and reverse field and all that stuff against these guys.

I’ve tried to, you know — it’s one thing to talk about timing and push your quarterbacks to go one, two, three, hitch, throw, check it down. It’s another thing when all of a sudden you have these guys rushing you.

So my hope is that Charlie will take a step as a quarterback, get the ball out of his hands because that’s what you have to do against these guys.

Q. Coach, obviously you talked about wanting to showcase the team when you played Oklahoma earlier this year on national TV. You have another opportunity to do that in this game. How much did your team maybe learn from that? And how much do you relish these opportunities on this national primetime stage to showcase your program?

COACH RHULE: Yeah, I mean, I think — Gracious. You go back and look at both Oklahoma games, we’re one play away from winning those games. But we didn’t make that play. So I don’t say that as a loser. I say that like, I think it’s always really important to look at, hey, you had to make one more play but we didn’t make it. I didn’t make it as a coach. I didn’t call one better call.

So part of it being the first time is that, you’re learning as you go. And really when — after the game, you look back and say, You know what? We didn’t get it done, but here’s where we can improve. So I don’t think you heard me say well — I didn’t feel sorry for us that we played our third-string quarterback to get to the — we played our third-string quarterback, and he’s going to go out there and play well. So I think, for me, those games were great steps for our program.

Now, as I told them, our last game we played the number five team in the country again and we just lost, right? Well, here, we have a chance to play the number five team in the country again. And if we’re competitors, if we’re tough, if we’re the team that we want to be, then we have to go out there and fight them and understand this will probably come down to one play. And we have got to make one more play yet again.

So I think our guys have practiced that way. Our guys have trained that way. I want to make sure I say this. I have tried to sound very grateful because I am very grateful to be here. And I read one thing that kind of comes across like I’m saying, hey, we’re happy to be here. We’re not happy to be here. We’re happy to have a chance to go and compete in this game. This is the Sugar Bowl. Like, this is an opportunity to go out and play a great team in Georgia. This is a great, great football team that’s been here before.

So for us, let’s go out there — I expect our guys to go out there and fight, scratch, and claw. It’s no longer about being here. Now it’s about, hey, let’s go win one of these. Let’s go find a way to make the plays it takes to do it.

And so that’s where we are as a team. We have to make that next step. In the Big 12 championship game, we give up a missed tackle to CeeDee Lamb for an 80-yard play. And then we kind of play great defense after that. There’s no time for that versus these guys.

So my hope is that our program takes a step in this game. And we fight, scratch, and claw, get the game down to the end, make one more play than they make, and we find a way to win the game.

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Dan Lanning’s full Sugar Bowl press conference transcript

Georgia defensive coordinator Dan Lanning meets with the media in New Orleans

Georgia defensive coordinator Dan Lanning met with the media in New Orleans on Monday, ahead of Wednesday’s Sugar Bowl matchup with Baylor.

Here’s what the first-year Bulldogs defensive coordinator had to say.

DEFENSIVE COORDINATOR LANNING: First off, just want to say obviously how honored we are as a program to be associated with a bowl as prestigious as the Sugar Bowl. This is truly one of the best ones. You can circle it on your calendar every year. You know you’re going to get everybody’s attention in the nation when you get to play in a game like this.

Luckily for me, was able to have a little bit of crawfish étouffée last night, which is always exciting and have a couple oysters. So probably the first time I stepped out of the hotel this week.

But this is one of those special ones. I know our guys are really excited. I know we have a tremendous amount of respect for Baylor and the program that Coach [Matt] Rhule runs and how prepared they’ll be. So we’re excited for a really fun game. Watch our guys go out there and go to work.

Q. Can you talk about the realities of not having J.R. Reed here and just what that safety position is going to look like without him here.

DEFENSIVE COORDINATOR LANNING: The reality is that’s an opportunity. I love J.R. He’s done a lot for our program. Extremely excited for him and his future. But we’re excited for the guys that are here and what they’re going to do.

The reality is somebody is going to step up. It’s pretty common in this day and age that you’re going to get guys that get opportunities in games like this. We had a lot of young guys that got opportunities in this game last year. I think that was critical to their development and also provide you some insight to you as a coach with what you’ve got. We’ve got some really good players on our team. Excited to see those guys go perform.

Q. You were up here last year. We didn’t know if you were going to be the coordinator. A lot has happened. Can you talk about what this first season as coordinator has been like working with Kirby [Smart] and some of the things that this Georgia defense was able to do this season.

DEFENSIVE COORDINATOR LANNING: Sometimes you sit back and it’s hard to realize the blessings that you’ve had all your life. There’s probably nobody associated with this program that feels as fortunate as I do to get to do what I do every day. We have outstanding coaches on the defensive side of the ball, Glenn Schumann, Tray Scott, Charlton Warren. Those guys are a pleasure to work with.

I get an opportunity to work with Coach [Kirby] Smart every day, and for me that’s really exciting. He’s a phenomenal coach. Since the first day I’ve got here, I’ve approached it like a guy that has a lot to learn. I’ll tell you this, he’s not afraid to teach me. So that’s exciting.

More exciting than that, we build our mantra on kind of being the noname defense. It’s not really about the players. It’s about us. It’s been about us this entire year. Our guys have gone out constantly and performed, tried

to play to a standard regardless of who the opponent is. It’s been exciting to see our guys embrace that this year. They’ve just done a really good job I think of attacking it each week. This game no different. The standard doesn’t change for this one either.

Q. Where did the noname defense idea come up from? Also, in this day and age of so many prolific offenses, how much pride do you take in the numbers that your defense has been able to put up this year?

DEFENSIVE COORDINATOR LANNING: Yeah, I’ll be honest, I don’t really know where it came up. It just kind of came in the conversation one day in one of those defensive meetings that we have that, look, it really doesn’t matter what anyone else thinks outside of this room. What really matters are the people in this room.

We take a lot of pride in our performance, in everything we do. Not just the way we play, the way we meet, the way we present, the way we practice, the way we work. And it’s great that the numbers can reflect that. This year that’s awesome.

But our number one goal regardless of the numbers is the win. And I think our guys take a lot of pride in that. And a lot of times those numbers, they equate to wins. So when you’re doing things the right way, you get to win like we have been able to win here at Georgia.

So we take yeah, we want to hold our defense to a standard. We’ve been fortunate to hit that several times this year. But the number one priority for us always is that W. And I think what’s great about our players is they don’t care who gets the recognition. They truly don’t. They want to have success, but they all realize that individual success comes within team success.

Q. You were asked about J.R. Reed. You are missing a couple of other guys in the secondary. Who are some of the guys that maybe didn’t get as much playing time that you will have to count on more this time?

DEFENSIVE COORDINATOR LANNING: Fortunate us we’ve played a ton of guys this entire season. I think if you go back and look, we probably had over 40 guys that really had significant roles for us in this defense. You’re going to see more. You’re not necessarily going to see new, but you will see more. You will see more Lewis Cine. You will see more Chris Smith, more Otis Reese. You will see some more guys but you’re not necessarily going to see new guys because all those guys at this point in the season have contributed to our success.

Q. Baylor is obviously a Big 12 offense, but they do it a little differently running the ball over 54% of the time. What kind of challenges do they present?

DEFENSIVE COORDINATOR LANNING: First off, they are extremely wellcoached. They do a really good job on offense of mixing it up. They can carry tempo, but they can also slow it down. They have big tight ends that can block at the point of attack. But they are really big at wide receiver outside, and that’s a challenge. They make you play them honest.

If you want to take away the wideouts, they’re going to be able to run the ball. If you want to take away the run, they are going to be able to run the 50/50 ball outside to guys like [Denzel] Mims. They have shifty backs. And their quarterback is just a winner. [Charlie] Brewer is a winner. You think, okay, well, if he’s not in, somebody else is playing. Next guy comes in and has the success he had in the championship game.

They are really balanced, and you can’t pick one thing or another thing to take away from them because you’re probably pulling away from something else that you need to be able to do well.

You just watch them on film. You can see they’re extremely wellcoached, play really, really hard. They compete for the ball, and they don’t beat themselves. They’re a team that doesn’t beat themselves. So that sticks out.

Q. Is Tyrique McGhee here? If not, why not?

DEFENSIVE COORDINATOR LANNING: All I’m speaking about are the players that are here. Got great respect for every guy that’s helped us throughout this season, done great things for us this season. But the guys that are here, those are the guys that we’re going to compete with.

Q. You have a lot of guys contributing who were not that highly recruited, especially at the level that Georgia has been recruiting the last couple of years. What does it take to develop a player like that? How much pride do you take? You have taken some guys who maybe either what you saw in them when you were recruiting them, regardless how many starts they had. How much pride do you take in being able to develop players?

DEFENSIVE COORDINATOR LANNING: Probably not common to popular belief, we don’t really care how many starts guys have. That just seems to happen. But we focus on the overall player, what kind of person they are, and where’s their room for growth.

If we can take guys that are talented players but are eager to get better, those are the guys you really see develop. I think the guys that you are talking about in our program that have done that have really attacked it and wanted to get better. They come out of this program a whole lot better player because obviously Coach [Kirby] Smart is one of the best people doing it when it comes to development of players.

We have a lot of support. We’ve got player personnel staff. We’ve got a strength staff. We’ve got coaches. We got a lot of people that touch our players in our program. So at the end of the day, that provides a lot of opportunities for growth and we have some guys really taking advantage of that.

Q. Who’s the one player showing the most progress from the beginning of the year to now that’s impressed you a lot?

DEFENSIVE COORDINATOR LANNING: Gosh, that’s a really hard one to pick. We’ve had a lot of guys that have done really well. One guy sticks out to me at least from my position group is Azeez Ojulari. His comingout game last year was this game. And he has just continued to work and push himself throughout this year to get better and help us.

But it would be really hard to single out one guy. You look at our guys on defense, there’s a lot of guys that have played really well and gotten better throughout the season.

Q. I know you don’t like to talk about yourself and deflect, but this going to be part of it. If you could expand more on Azeez [Ojulari]. He is one of the seven semifinalists for Freshman of the Year. What made him the team captain? He’s the first Kirby [Smart] has ever had. I guess it was, last year Kirby was talking about you and said you did some things outside the box. He has been a coordinator a long time. Can you elaborate a little bit on something maybe you brought that impressed Kirby or some principles that you bring to the game?

DEFENSIVE COORDINATOR LANNING: First off, on Azeez, what makes him different, he’s the kind of guy that will get up in the room and he does it by showing you, not by what he says. I think that’s something we have challenged Azeez, Hey, man, you could be more vocal. You have earned that opportunity. What he does, he just rolls up his sleeves and goes to work every day. That’s what Azeez has brought to our program and what he does. I think when you set by example, when you lead by example, that’s a really good way to lead.

That being said, I know Azeez knows there’s a lot of opportunities for him to get better. And I think he’s excited to attack those areas for growth.

I don’t think you could single me out from a standpoint of doing something outside the box. I think every one of our coaches on the defensive side of the ball really look for and this is more credit probably to Coach [Kirby] Smart, from a standpoint of he doesn’t want to be cookie cutter from a standpoint of defense.

We’re going to find things that are going to make us better. If we need to change the way we do a defensive meeting, if we need to bring excitement to a different piece of practice, if we need to get guys running around with the ball in between periods so we can strip at it, to work on takeaways, whatever it is that we can do different, Coach Smart is willing to do. He’s really afforded our defensive staff the opportunity to go look for different things that can make us better. He’s probably at the forefront of that as much as any other person on our staff when it comes to making changes.

Q. There have been reports that Robert Beal put his name in the transfer portal, but he’s here practicing for the Sugar Bowl. Can you say if he still plans on transferring or he plans to stay with the team?

DEFENSIVE COORDINATOR LANNING: I can’t speak to Rob. I know he’s here working with us this week. Excited to see what he’s doing. But, no, I can’t speak to that.

Q. Did you all you talked about the noname defense thing. Did you all kind of by design I think you played I counted about 24 players in a regular rotation. I think J.R. [Reed] may have been the only guy that stayed on the field all the time. Did you all by design say, We’re going to make up for not having that one star, whatever, by embracing our depth and attacking it that way?

DEFENSIVE COORDINATOR LANNING: I think what we really set out to do at the beginning of the year is identify the guys that were ready to play and contribute to our team. And what we didn’t want to do is have guys that we felt like could play on the sideline for us.

So if you had the ability to have a role for us in this defense and you were ready, what we’ve said from the getgo is if you’re good enough, you’re old enough. It really doesn’t matter how old you are. We’ve had a lot of guys we felt like were good enough and we could find roles for them. When we were able to find those roles, those guys excelled and did a good job depending on what we felt was best for us to take away the team we were playing. A lot of guys embraced those roles, and that equated to a lot of guys playing. So we want to reward guys that work hard and are ready to play.

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James Coley’s full Sugar Bowl press-conference transcript

Read James Coley’s full press-conference transcript from the Allstate Sugar Bowl

Georgia football offensive coordinator James Coley met with the media on Sunday in New Orleans before Wednesday’s Sugar Bowl against Baylor.

Here is the full transcript from the session.

OFFENSIVE COORDINATOR COLEY: We came here the day before yesterday and we practiced at our facility, and our guys showed up with a lot of energy, a lot of juice. It’s been really fun coaching this group the last week and a half.

They embrace everything. We got a new coach on the staff, and he’s brought a lot to the table. And they’ve really opened their — welcomed him. It’s just been a fun time with this group of kids and the coaches.

But appreciate everything that the Sugar Bowl committee has done for us with regards to accessibility to where we got to go and the practice yesterday was smooth. It was smooth as smooth can be.

Q. You already mentioned Coach [Matt] Luke. We asked a couple players yesterday, and all they talked about was Coach Luke’s energy. How much energy does he actually bring to practice?

OFFENSIVE COORDINATOR COLEY: Man, I thought I had a lot. It’s fun coaching with him. It’s a lot of fun because he really enjoys it. I mean, you can tell it’s his passion. And, of course, he was a head coach and he’s done this for a while. He’s running up and down the field, celebrating with the players. He’s coaching them hard.

He’s always teaching. We can be in a staff room and he’s teaching the staff. So, he loves the game. He’s got a great feel for people, and he’s got great knowledge about the offensive line and offense, period. So, it’s fun having him around.

Q. Isaiah [Wilson] and Andrew [Thomas] are no longer, guys going to the NFL. How does that affect things on the offensive line? Who starts in their place?

OFFENSIVE COORDINATOR COLEY: We have got guys who are working in that rotation. You got Cade Mays. You got Jamaree Salyer. You got [Warren] McClendon, freshman, who’s been practicing really hard. So those guys played great for us this year. But Cade and Jamaree also played in those spots. So we’re excited to see them get their opportunity.

And I’ll tell you what, they’ve really had fun and they’ve really worked really hard these last several practices. It’s fun watching a kid jump into a row, embrace it, work at it, and you start seeing them improve, improve every — I don’t want to say every play. But as every period goes on in practices and the practices flow on, you start seeing them get into their — I say groove again but getting into their niche.

It’s been fun watching those two guys. And Warren has gotten a lot better. He’s taken a lot more reps with good-on-good.

Yeah, it’s a challenge. I know those guys are going to go out there and play their butts off for Georgia.

Q. Offense has been a big topic of conversation at Georgia this year, some of the issues that have kind of gone on. I want to get your take on how things have went. Talk about some of the problems and how you are going about trying to address them moving forward.

OFFENSIVE COORDINATOR COLEY: Everybody knows we’ve — everybody’s talked about the play on the outside and the questions on Jake [Fromm]. You know what? I’ve got to do a better job, first and foremost. Starts with me, right? So, I’m looking at myself hard and criticizing myself and busting my tail to get that end better.

And then we do have to put some pieces in place for a quarterback in the pass game. We’ve got to put some pieces in place up front for the running backs. So, it goes down to players. And that’s the bottom line, right?

How do you get your players better so they can reach their full potential? That’s what we’ve been fighting all season long to get better at, working really hard at — bottom line, got to score points. How do you score points with conditions or what you have or the injuries you’re working with.

It’s been tough and ultimately it falls on me. It’s our job to get it better.

Q. After you were promoted to the job, how much were you able to install and run the system you want to run as opposed to continuing [Jim] Chaney’s system and/or running the system that Kirby [Smart] wants to run?

OFFENSIVE COORDINATOR COLEY: I don’t really see it as the system that Kirby wants to run, or we’re forced to run this certain system. As a staff, we sat down and we said, what gives us the best chance to beat certain teams with the players we have? And that’s the plays we’ve called to put our players in place. We’re still a pro-style offense, and that just gives us the flexibility to do a bunch of things.

And, again, it’s who you have out there and who you’re trying to feature. So, what gives you the best chance: Giving the ball to the tailback who’s a really good player or throwing the ball to a young guy who may not be ready for that moment yet? You know what I mean?

I don’t think what I want to do has been held back. What I want to do, I’ve done. It’s been none of that.

Q. I think to count six or seven receivers, I’ve lost count how many guys you have hurt. Kirby [Smart] called it a merry-go-round of receivers. How challenging has been it to devise a scheme around player talent? You said in the fall the scheme would be devised around player talent. When the player talent is constantly changing, how much have you had to change from week to week to scheme around that talent?

OFFENSIVE COORDINATOR COLEY: You call plays. You sit there, we can all get in a room. Everybody in this room, we could put a game on and all figure out what plays would be great against that defense. Who’s going to make those plays, right? Who’s going to run that precise route? Can we have a formation set that’s going to give us the same look that the other team had because they’re respecting certain players.

I think we were very different from last year to this year because of the departure of the receivers we had that are now playing in the NFL. And I think we’re different from, I would say, the first quarter of the South Carolina game till now because of the injuries to a player like Lawrence Cager. And I think that all affects the quarterback sometimes, right?

You’re moving your pieces around to give yourself the best chance to win, to score enough points to win, to score more points than the other opponent. And when you do have injuries — for example, the SEC championship game, right? We got two of the three starters are out in the first quarter and you’re ready a little bit low.

Now you got to figure out: What’s the emergency plan from the emergency plan? And you have one set; and you have to deal with the elements of the game, what they’re doing to you and how you’re going to respond with guys that are new at those spots. It’s tough. It’s our job, though. It’s my job.

It is. It’s a difficult will thing to scheme around. But it’s what we do, and it’s what we get paid to do. And we got to do the best we can.

Q. When you look at the body of work of Jake Fromm for this season, what do you attribute to the different production? Is it simply a matter of injuries?

OFFENSIVE COORDINATOR COLEY: I believe so. If you look at the stats, everything is around stats, right? And my job and the job of the guys that work with us on offense is to figure out how can we improve a player’s performance. And Jake’s performance, I would say, with Lawrence Cager in the game was something like — he was at 71% completion for the season. Lawrence Cager is not in the game, he’s what? It’s a lot lower. Has he regressed, or has his stats regressed, right? I would say stats regressed.

I’m around Jake every day, coached Jake. I was his quarterback coach last year. If anything, he’s sharper because of the multiples that he’s had to deal with, with new guys in the line-up. He’s sharper because of it.

But it gets you at times. It looks like you’re not accurate when a guy is running a bender across the middle of the field and he keeps it vertical and you think he’s bending and the ball ends up being short and you end up going, This guy threw a terrible ball. Or the guy is running a ten-yard stop route and he runs it at 12 and it’s a low throw, right?

But that’s not all the time. It’s just — it happens when you get injuries. You get guys in the game that haven’t played in a while or it’s their first chance and they are a little nervous and they take their routes a little deeper than where they should be. It ends up looking like the guy was not playing as good as he was a year ago.

 

When you’re playing quarterback, you are sitting there, sometimes you’ve got to deal with the guys that are playing around you. You almost have to adjust your game to them.

I think Jake is still the same Jake. I think he’s done a great job with his attitude, how he comes to work every day. He’s not fazed by stats. He’s not fazed by a production in a game that he probably — he knows he did all he could do to give us a shot.

Coaching him for two years now, I’m very proud of the kid. I’m watching him in practice this week and last week. Man, you are talking about a person that comes in with a great spirit to complete and to affect others. It’s unbelievable.

Q. What level of participation do you expect from D’Andre Swift in this game? And when he’s not in the game, how do you see the rotation at running back? How does that affect how you call the game?

OFFENSIVE COORDINATOR COLEY: Sure. Man, D’Andre Swift, he’s working really hard to get healthy. You guys know he hasn’t been healthy 100%. He’s practicing hard. We’re all supporting him through this because it’s tough. He really — in his heart, he’s a part of this team. He’s a leader. He’s one of our leaders.

If he is unable to go, we’ve got a good stable running back there. James Cook and Zamir White and Kenny McIntosh have all practiced really hard and embraced the role of “I’m the next guy in.”

And those guys are embracing bigger roles than just playing the backfield. As you guys saw in our game at SEC championship game, they played in the slot. We motioned them in from the backfield to the third receiver in a set, to the first receiver in a set. They did a bunch of stuff. So, they’ve had to cram in more than just running back at times. They’ve played outside as receivers.

So I’m excited to see those kids play. They’ve worked really hard, and they’re ready for this opportunity.

Q. What do you see from Baylor’s defense? Especially the three-man line that’s produced so many sacks.

OFFENSIVE COORDINATOR COLEY: Well-coached group. When you watch them on defense — we spent some time analyzing what they do and how they affect other teams. They are well-coached and their kids, they play with a high motor. They know what they’re doing. They have got great skill set. Those three guys up front, they know how to use their hands. They have great get-off.

The biggest thing that you notice from them outside of their talent is they’re always playing hard, always playing hard. Because this is them. Those three guys up front — and they do a great job with scheme to make you feel like they’re giving you all this room but they’re not. They swarm the ball as an entire unit.

Pretty impressive group up front. You can see why they’ve had the success they’ve had in that league, which you great a lot of great offenses in that league.

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Georgia football DC Dan Lanning: Baylor offense “doesn’t beat themselves”

Georgia defensive coordinator Dan Lanning took to the podium today for his pre-Sugar Bowl presser.

Georgia defensive coordinator Dan Lanning took to the podium today for his pre-Sugar Bowl presser.

Arriving in New Orleans without Jim Thorpe Award finalist J.R. Reed, Lanning fielded several questions regarding altering his game plan in the absence of the standout senior safety. In addition, fellow defensive back Tyrique McGhee did not travel with the team and has not participated in bowl practices.

“That’s an opportunity [for younger players]. A lot of young guys got opportunities in this game last year. I think that was critical for their development.”

Lanning noted that last year’s Sugar Bowl was a huge opportunity for redshirt freshman Azeez Ojulari, who saw his first playing time in red and black in last year’s game and his since appeared in the starting lineup.

(Note: bowl games are considered exhibition matches by the NCAA and thus players such as Ojulari with a redshirt may participate without forfeiting a year of eligibility).

He believes that the 2019 Dawgs’ heavy rotational play on defense has them prepared for Baylor’s powerful offense.

“We’ve probably had over forty guys who have had significant roles for us in this defense. You’re not necessarily going to see new [players], but you’ll see more [of rotational players]. More Lewis Cine, more Chris Smith, more Otis Reese.”

The defensive coordinator made it clear he didn’t want to single out any player on Georgia’s historically great 2019 defense.

“What’s great about our players is that they don’t care about who gets the recognition. They want to have success but they realize individual success comes within team success.”

The staff and players have dubbed this selfless style of play a “no-name defense.”

The stout Georgia defense earned a lot of team success in 2019 and enters the Sugar Bowl ranked fourth in total defense, but statistics aren’t Lanning’s primary concern.

“We take a lot of pride in our performance…and it’s great that the numbers reflect that. But our number one goal regardless of the numbers is the win.”

Baylor’s offense provides a challenge for Lanning’s defensive unit, and the coach has high praise for the Bears’ balanced offensive attack.

“They’re extremely well coached. They have big tight ends that can block at the point of attack, and they’re really big at receiver on the outside.”

He later added, “they have shifty backs, and their quarterback [Charlie] Brewer is just a winner.”

The Bears rushed one fifty-five percent of their plays (476 pass to 394 rush) in 2019, a bit uncharacteristic of a Big XII offense. Lanning admitted that it’s difficult to scheme around a group that does “a great job of mixing it up.”

“If you want to take away the wideouts, they’re going to be able to run the ball. If you want to take away the run, they’re going to be able to throw the 50-50 ball to the outside.”

The Dawgs will need to play their usual disciplined defense to contain an equally disciplined Baylor offense.

Lanning stated simply: “They’re a team that doesn’t beat themselves.”