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Kirby Smart’s Postgame Presser – Georgia vs. UMass 2024
On the 2024 senior class…
“I think you start with the senior class. Any time you have 51 wins over your career,
that’s remarkable. The ironic thing is a couple of those guys had six years, so they had
about 70 or 80 wins. But [Xavier] Truss and Dan [Jackson] are on their sixth year, we’ve
got a bunch of guys on their fifth year, and the fourth-year family of guys are responsible
for this 51. Georgia’s been playing football for a lot of years, and to have a class do that
– that’s pretty special, and I thought that was great honoring them. I wish it had been a
cleaner game, but they did great.”
On the team’s offensive efficiency against UMass…
“I thought they operated well. We were able to run the ball. When you can run the ball
efficiently and you can throw and convert third downs, you’re going to be really good,
and we were able to run the ball and control the line of scrimmage. They don’t have a
lot of big guys, so that helped us tremendously in terms of running the ball. I think we
were around 50 percent on third down. We didn’t have a lot of third downs because they
converted them without it. We were explosive, but we should have been. As dominant
as we were on offense, we should have been the same on defense.”
On Nate Frazier’s performance…
“It’s been huge. He’s very confident. He’s hitting the hole really hard, sometimes too
fast, but he’s a good running back and he’s growing up fast. He’s a kid that usually
would be getting a few carries, and now he’s our veteran back at this point.”
Carson Beck’ Postgame Interview – Georgia vs. UMass 2024
On his connection with Oscar Delp over the past two games…
“I don’t think anything was missing. I just think it’s the play calling and then obviously him being the one that’s in there. Those guys rotate in a lot in the tight end room, and we have a lot of talented tight ends. I think he’s just been in the right spot and has ended up making the plays. So yeah, I’m proud of him and what he’s been able to do for the past two weeks.”
On him playing cleaner in the last two contests…
“I think the first thing is, obviously, the offensive line played so well, so when I’m not getting pressured as much and I can sit back there comfortably and make my reads, it makes life a lot easier for me… Our wide receivers are being explosive and then the run game. The run game always helps the run game, play action pass, being able to throw the ball deep and check it down when I have to. Our offense has been executing on a lot of levels.”
On the upcoming game against Georgia Tech and the possibilities for the post season…
“Absolutely, and when I talked to the team before Tennessee I kind of talked about it. I said, ‘we control our own destiny.’ Every game is a playoff game from here on out. That’s how you have to approach it. I think the challenge has been accepted. And, week in and week out we’re just focusing on going 1-0, and then we can control our destiny from there.”
Photo Gallery, Final Statsand Game Notes: Georgia vs. UMass 2024
Stats
Game Notes
*Bulldog Senior Class Gets Record Win: With today’s 59-21 victory, the 2024 Senior Class is an FBS-leading 51-4 which is a school record, passing the 2023 Bulldog senior class who finished with a 50-4 mark.
*Home Winning Streak At 30: With the win over UMass, 10th-ranked Georgia (9-2) now has won 30 consecutive home games dating to 2019, which leads in FBS and improves on its school record. In the Kirby Smart era, the Bulldogs are 49-4 at home. Also, Georgia now has won 25 consecutive non-conference matchups and are 37-2 against those teams under Smart.
*Summary Of The Offense: Georgia scored a season-high 59 points in securing its ninth win of the year, tallying 550 yards of offense on 72 plays.
*Georgia scored on its first seven possessions today to build a 45-21 lead before turning it over on downs with 11:18 left in the contest.
*Georgia began the 2nd half with a 45-yard drive that ended with a 53-yard field goal against the wind by Peyton Woodring for a 31-14 advantage.
*Freshman Nate Frazier set career-highs with 136 yards on 21 carries with three TDs. He was Georgia’s first 100-yard rusher this season. He notched his first TD on a nine-yarder to make it 38-21. His second TD was a 15-yard score to put the Bulldogs up 45-21, ending a 13 play, 60-yard drive in 6:16. His final score covered two yards and made it 52-21.
*The Bulldogs came in averaging 30.6 points per game and led 28-14 at the half. They had 248 yards of offense on 25 plays in just 9:23 time of possession.
*Down 7-0 in the first quarter, Georgia answered with a 75-yard drive on eight plays in 4:15 capped by a 17-yard TD pass from Carson Beck to Oscar Delp. It marked Beck’s 20th TD pass of the season and third for Delp, who had a pair last week in the win over #7 Tennessee.
*Georgia’s second drive began at its 10, and the Bulldogs drove 90 yards on six plays in 2:46 for a 14-7 lead. The drive featured a 49-yard completion to Arian Smith, and a 4th-and-4 conversion from the UMass 8 that resulted in an 8-yard TD pass to Cash Jones.
*The Bulldogs went 3-for-4 on 4th Down today and are now 15-for-20 (75%) with 4 TDs on 4th Down this season. Georgia came in ranked 7th nationally with an SEC-best 75% conversion rate.
*Following a turnover by UMass, the Bulldogs converted it into a TD and a 21-7 edge with 8:56 left. The 28-yard drive in three plays featured a 15-yard TD catch by Dominic Lovett.
*Up 21-14 with 1:55 left in the first half, Beck drove the Bulldogs 75 yards on eight plays in 1:12 for another score, capped by a 34-yard TD pass to Smith. Smith had his fourth career game of 100+yards receiving, finishing with 110 yards on three catches including a score
*In the Red Zone, Georgia finished 5-for-5 with (5 TDs). The TD drives covered 28, 60, 75 (twice) and 90 yards.
*Senior QB Carson Beck finished 20-for-31 for 297 yards and 4 TDs. The TDs covered 8, 15, 17 and 34 yards to four different receivers. Redshirt sophomore QB Gunner Stockton (3-for-4, 45 yards) saw action in the fourth quarter and led one TD-drive that covered 65 yards.
*Defensive Review: UMass finished with 21 points, 351 yards of offense, including 226 on the ground, on 57 plays. This was the most rushing yards allowed by the Bulldogs since 2018 at LSU when the Tigers ran for 275. Coming in today, the Bulldogs were allowing just 114.4 rushing ypg.
*In the first half, UMass had 209 yards on 36 plays with 20:37 on time of possession. They had 166 rushing yards in the first half
*UMass took the opening kickoff and marched 75 yards on 10 plays in 5:45 for a TD. The drive featured a 38-yard run by QB Ahmad Haston on 3rd-and-5, which at the time tied for the longest rush by an opponent this season. Then in the 3rd quarter, Jalen John reeled off a 68-yard scamper.
*On its second drive, UMass was forced to punt after reaching the Red Zone (UGA 13) following a pass interference penalty and a sack.
*Georgia forced a fumble (KJ Bolden) and recovered it (Raylen Wilson) on the UMass 28 on the third drive. It led to a TD and a 21-7 lead.
*The Bulldogs have scored 62 points off 14 turnovers this season and are -1 in Turnover Margin.
*In the first half, UMass closed it to 21-14 with a 75-yard TD drive on 14 plays in 7:01.
*Down 31-14, Ahmad Hairston connected with Jakobie Keeney-James for a 75-yard TD pass, which tied the longest allowed by the Bulldogs this year.
*Senior Warren Brinson notched his first sack of the season and fifth of his career. Junior Mykel Williams picked up a sack in the 2nd half to give him three for the year and 12 for his career. Freshman Quintavius Johnson The Bulldogs now have 29 sacks on the year.
*Georgia’s top tacklers were Williams and Brinson (5 each and a sack apiece) while junior Malaki Starks had four. Redshirt sophomore DL Christen Miller injured a shoulder in the first half and did not return.
*Freshman Chris Cole notched a 31-yard fumble return for a TD, the first of his career and first by the Bulldog defense this season. The sack and forced fumble was by freshman Quintavius Johnson, his first of his career too. It was the 17th defensive TD in the Smart era.
*Special Teams In Action: Sophomore PK Peyton Woodring tallied 11 points (8 PATs, 53-yard FG) plus handled most of the kickoffs. On field goals, Woodring is now 17-for-18 on the year including 3-for-4 from 50+. He has made his last eight FGs after a 55-yard miss versus Mississippi State on Oct. 12.
*Juniors Cash Jones and Cole Speer served as the KORs. Jones had one KOR for 19 yards. Junior Malaki Starks was the PR with one for 18 yards.
*Junior P Brett Thorson did not punt today. It marked the first time the Bulldogs did not have to punt in a game since the 2023 Vanderbilt contest.
*Captains, Coin Toss And For Starters: Georgia’s captains were Xavier Truss, Jared Wilson, Dan Jackson and Mykel Williams.
*Georgia won the toss and deferred the ball until the second half. In a pregame ceremony, Georgia honored its Seniors. There were no first-time starters.
*With junior TB Trevor Etienne sidelined due to injury, Nate Frazier made his second consecutive start. Also, sophomore Monroe Freeling made his second straight start at LT for the injured Earnest Greene III.
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