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Kirby Smart and Steve Sarkisian Interviews Kick Off SEC Championship Week

CHUCK DUNLAP: Want we are ready to begin with Georgia and Coach Smart.

Coach, thanks for being with us. Congratulations on being back to Atlanta. If you don’t mind, before we take questions, could you give us some comments on wrapping up the season and preparing for the SEC Championship game with Texas in Atlanta.

KIRBY SMART: Yeah, our guys are excited to return to Atlanta in one of the most iconic games there is of championship games.

I think when you look over the history of this game, it’s got a great tradition, great atmosphere. I know having coached in it a lot of years between Alabama and Georgia, it’s absolutely an incredible atmosphere.

It’s two teams battling for a conference championship, which has eluded many teams in this conference. With the new teams in our conference, the strength of this thing is just incredible.

To look at an opportunity to play for the championship of this conference is really a special moment. So many fan bases are tied to Atlanta. The fact that it’s held in Mercedes, it’s just such a good venue.

Now we look forward to games after that, as well, in the College Football Playoff, which is new. It should be a great atmosphere.

Texas has got a super quality team. I have so much respect for Sark, for the rivalry game they played in last night. It was extremely a physical game for them, emotional game for them.

Their team has really navigated the SEC really well, especially on a first-year team coming in. He built the roster to be SEC compatible. They are extremely big and physical across both fronts. They have experience at a multitude of positions. They’ve got a great team.

It will be a great challenge for us. We’re looking forward to playing there in Atlanta.

CHUCK DUNLAP: Thank you, coach. We’ll open it up for questions.

Q. Coach Smart, from a month and a half ago approximately, have you seen Texas make any dramatic changes to their offense that is going to worry you or cause you to reevaluate how you defend against Texas?

KIRBY SMART: Well, if you don’t know anything about me, I worry about everything, so…

I’m very concerned about everything about Texas because they have an extremely talented roster. They have great special teams. They’ve got wideouts, backs.

Even through the injuries, I think both of us have had significant injuries at running back, significant. I mean, I think we’ve been without three of the backs that were supposed to be our best. So has Texas. Both teams have navigated that well. I think it’s a credit to their offensive staffs.

Texas’ backs have been elite, have played really good. Their defense is elite, one of the best in the country. Special teams, really elite.

When you ask about worries from the last month and a half, I was worried a month and a half ago and I’m worried now because they got really good players. They do a great job.

I know the job Sark does offensively and with his overall staff.

Q. Kirby, as you prepare for this game, how much do you expound from what you saw from Texas six weeks ago when you played versus more of what they’ve done recently since you played?

KIRBY SMART: We look at it all, so… As coaches, you watch all the tape, try to make the best decisions that fit your team.

Q. Once upon a time in a four-team Playoff, the winner of this game would go to the Playoff, the loser would likely be out. In a 12-team Playoff, both of these teams will be in. Does the SEC Championship game lose a little bit of luster just because both teams are going to a Playoff no matter what happens?

KIRBY SMART: It depends on who you ask.

When you ask a guy that’s been in the SEC for about 30 years, has only been a part of five or six of ’em, five or six national championships, it’s equal to that to me ’cause it’s just as hard, it’s just as elusive. It has been for us.

It’s an extreme honor to, number one, make this game with the schedule that you have to go through. Then with an opportunity to win it, I mean, we put the years of SEC Championship on a wall and it’s there forever. There’s not that many more of those than there are national championships.

It’s hard to attain. So I still find value in it.

Q. What is the status of Julian Humphrey? Today he announced he had intended to enter the transfer portal.

KIRBY SMART: No status that I’m aware of. I saw the same thing you saw, so… We’re worried about the guys that we’re going to play Texas with.

Q. He will not be with the team?

KIRBY SMART: I’m not sure of that. Again, like I said, I’m worried about the guys that are here.

Q. You have a ton of respect for Coach Sark and what he does here. What is your opinion of Sark being able to navigate this season and getting Texas to the SEC Championship in year one?

KIRBY SMART: Well, I mean, I don’t know it’s ever been done before in terms of the first year in. I think I heard somebody reference besides the first year he had it, somebody had to be first.

First-year teams have not been able to win their league east and west. It’s not east and west, but he’s still had the best record in the conference. He played a really tough Michigan team at Michigan and beat them. They’ve done a tremendous job altogether to make it to this game.

He has a talented roster. When you look at it across the board, they’ve done a great job recruiting and they’ve made their team better in the portal. Best thing they’ve done each year is go out and fill holes in the portal. That’s what makes them have a lot of good depth and players.

Q. You’re a huge advocate for the SEC. Why should maybe a three-loss SEC team have a chance to get into the Playoff versus some other teams that maybe don’t play in a conference as tough as this?

KIRBY SMART: Tough question because it boils down to who the best teams are. I have repeatedly said, I don’t know the objective of the committee. I have openly said that.

I mean, if they’re evaluators, they probably need to get some more coaches and call some people that evaluate football for a living, the quality of it, the depth of it, the teams.

As I understand it, they watch the games. If they’re going to watch the games, you can’t measure one team against another that doesn’t play each other. That makes it hard, first and foremost.

It’s hard to measure across conference. I think the most telling stats are how the conferences play against each other when they line up and play.

It’s a tough judgment, I know that. This is what everybody wanted. The debate goes from 4th, 5th, 6th to 11th, 12th, 13th, 14th, who falls in there.

I don’t think you can measure things just based on how many losses you have because the quality of the schedule you play has to mean something.

Q. What is going to be the challenge of matching Texas’ physicality up front Saturday night?

KIRBY SMART: Well, it’s just that. They have tremendous size. They have major disruption in their defensive line, defensive edges. They’ve got quick, athletic, big people. They’re physical both sides of the ball.

I thought their offensive line was really elite last night in terms of what they were able to do against a Texas A&M front that may be the best in our conference. Just tremendous lines of scrimmage.

Like I said, Sark knew that was coming. He built the team that way. Did a tremendous job in preparation of coming into this league.

Q. Julian announcing he’s hitting the portal, how much has Ellis Robinson, some of the other young corners, put themselves in position to potentially help with this game?

KIRBY SMART: Yeah, all those guys. We have multiple guys. It really doesn’t have anything to do with the redshirt rule or not or the post-season plans. We don’t have many guys that were necessarily around that threshold.

They continue to get better. They’re going to give us an opportunity to be better. Ellis particularly and Demello both have gotten better throughout the year. They’ve taken an abundance of reps with our twos and continue to grow and get better.

Q. Your defense was obviously playing at the top of its game in Austin against Texas. Do you feel Sark has maybe changed their identity somewhat? Do you see a change of identity offensively?

KIRBY SMART: They’re really physical. They’re committed to the run. I think their backs are playing at an elite level. I think their front is playing at an elite level. They are a physical group. They got a great passer in their quarterback. They got great wideouts. They find ways. They’re very creative in the pass game, the RPO game, the play-action game. Tight end, probably one of the best in the country right now. They do a tremendous job.

But when you look at what the backs have done, they’ve been off the charts in terms of that run game. Even the Oklahoma game before they played us, I thought the backs have been elite.

Q. What would you say you want to make improvements on from the last two or three games?

KIRBY SMART: The list is too long. The list is too long.

Q. I don’t think it’s ever been a week you talked about a game when it wasn’t about running the ball and stopping the run. Specifically about your running backs, is there a chance that you could have a full complement this week in particular with Trevor, we some of Rodrick and Branson? Any chance those guys could get to the field? How do you feel about your running game heading into this?

KIRBY SMART: Well, our running game has not been where it’s needed to be. I can promise you that. There’s a lot of combination parts of that.

We’ve had a dang merry-go-round offensive line. I’ve never been around a group that’s had to change lineups especially in practice. We’ve had probably five starters miss entire weeks of practice. It hasn’t always equated at game time, but it equates to game playing ability.

That’s one of the biggest things we struggle with, is just staying healthy at the offensive line. That would help our run game some. Not to mention being healthy at running back would help some.

I don’t see how you could say we are 100%. Branson and Rod are neither 100%. They’re out there trying to play. Trevor is a ways away. I still don’t know. We haven’t even seen those guys. He wasn’t really close to playing last week. I don’t know how that’s going to play out.

I know that Nate is playing really hard. He’s growing up. I don’t see him as a freshman anymore. We got to keep getting everybody ready.

Q. You mentioned Texas being big and physical. How do you feel you match up with their defensive line this time around?

KIRBY SMART: Which matchup are you asking about?

Q. Texas’ defensive line versus your offensive line.

KIRBY SMART: I don’t really know how we match up. I want to see the last couple games. I haven’t watched all of their games. I only have the thoughts that we didn’t run the ball real well in that game against them last time. We didn’t do a lot of things particularly well. That’s why they’re the No. 1 defense in the conference, one of the No. 1 defenses in the country.

There’s a lot of work to be done on our side to try to prepare for them.

Q. Another SEC Championship game for you. What have you learned about preparing for this game?

KIRBY SMART: That whoever you’re playing is really good.

Q. In the Playoff you had an experience playing a team twice. You played Auburn twice. What is the key when you only have so many weeks between seeing a team to preparing and maybe throwing something new, preparing for something new? What are the critical aspects to facing a team a second time?

KIRBY SMART: Don’t overthink it. Don’t overthink the entire process. You have to do what you do well. You got to stop what they do well. Offensive coordinators, defensive coordinators, they want to make it about the scheme. They want to make it about changes. They want to make it about how can we execute at a higher level.

At the end of the day it’s going to come down to those guys on the field, the strain they play with, probably who executes better. The more things you do differently, sometimes the more you mess things up. You got to go out and execute.

Q. Your pass-rush really excelled in the game in Austin. What is your take on how that group has progressed since then?

KIRBY SMART: Well, I don’t really assess our unit based on pass-rush. I assess it on ability to affect the quarterback, get off the field on third down, get people to third down, tackling.

We’ve had our struggles. I mean, I’ll be honest with you, we played a better game actually the other night up front defensively than we did against UMass and some other teams.

It was not going to be about the pass-rush the other night. I mean, five sacks on the entire year, they don’t throw the ball. It was a very different kind of game.

There’s been a lot of games since our last game against Texas all the way to Georgia Tech that we haven’t played as well as I would like. Can’t put an exact finger on what that might be.

I know this. We’re going to have to be playing better than we’ve been playing because Texas is playing really good.

Q. What do you think about the league as a whole this year? When Texas came in, it got criticized for not playing certain teams. Do you still think this league has had a very good year? How would you gauge it?

KIRBY SMART: Relative to what?

Q. Its history, I guess.

KIRBY SMART: Okay, so I’m comparing the 2024 SEC to the 2023, 2022, 2021, or to the rest of the country? What are we asking here?

Q. I’m curious if you think that the SEC is down by adding more teams.

KIRBY SMART: Down relative to the SEC or relative to the other conferences?

Q. To the SEC.

KIRBY SMART: No, I don’t think you could say that Oklahoma and Texas came in the conference and it became weaker.

Q. You don’t know about the status of Julian Humphrey. But how difficult is it to have this transfer portal open during a time when you have the championship, now the Playoffs coming up? Would you like to see it moved or changed until after a championship?

KIRBY SMART: Well, it’s not open, so… I don’t know if that affects your question at all.

Q. But you still have to deal with this while you’re preparing for the championship and potentially upcoming Playoffs.

KIRBY SMART: I’m not dealing with it. I’m worried about my team. I mean, I’ve learned in this thing that you worry about the players that are with you, not the ones that aren’t. You focus on the guys that are out there on that field playing it and trying to win games in eight overtimes, who love the University of Georgia, want to compete and be part of it.

You don’t really try to focus on the guys that aren’t because they’ll be looking for the next stop. We got guys all over the place that aren’t here now that wish they could come back. It’s a decision each kid has to make.

Q. Just to be clear, you haven’t had a conversation or anything yet with Julian about his post or anything like that?

KIRBY SMART: No. I’ve been at work today. I’m still at work today. I’m not chasing all the stuff around y’all are looking at. I’m worried about Texas.

Q. You were in a bit of unchartered territory with the eight overtime game. Do you change anything up this week to give you a little extra rest or stick to your normal schedule?

KIRBY SMART: We don’t have to approach it just yet because it’s Sunday. Our guys had off yesterday, which is a little unique for us. We’ve never had a Friday game. We’ll decide how we go forward based on how we look injury-wise tomorrow.

Q. Monroe Freeling had to miss a couple practices. When he’s in there at left tackle, what kind of job has he done?

KIRBY SMART: He’s had his moments. He’s played well at moments and he’s struggled sometimes. I think he’s a kid that’s growing up. He’s getting better. It’s the hardest position to play probably in football outside of maybe quarterback. He and Earnest have manned that position well. Whoever has been healthy and been in the game has done a good job. I’m really proud of the things both those kids have done.

CHUCK DUNLAP: Coach Smart, thank you for your time this evening.

KIRBY SMART: Thank y’all.

CHUCK DUNLAP: Coach Sarkisian, thank you for being with us this evening. Would you mind commenting on the season before taking some questions, advancing and preparing for the SEC Championship game.

STEVE SARKISIAN: Sure.

First of all, this is a heck of an honor to earn an opportunity to go to Atlanta and compete for an SEC Championship. It was something that was clearly one of our team goals before the season began. We knew it would be extremely challenging. Anytime you can make it to an SEC Championship game, that means you kind of were able to survive to some degree the treachery that this conference has.

We see it year in, year out. We saw it again this year, just how difficult it is to navigate the schedule, especially going on the road in some of these environments. I’m sure there’s a lot of teams looking back on this season right now with a lot of should have, could have, would have’s because it’s difficult when you get on the road.

The fact that our guys were able to manage that throughout the season, we knew when we had the matchup with Georgia earlier in the year, we didn’t play great football, they beat us pretty handily that night, that our margin for error was really very small. We’d have to win every game and hope that it would be enough to control our destiny to get ourselves in this position. Our guys were able to do that. Credit to our coaches. Credit to our players for getting that done.

It’s a heck of a challenge. What Kirby has done at Georgia over nine years now has been pretty incredible. They’ve become the standard of college football. Couple national championships. Couple SEC titles. What they’ve just done on a consistency basis in recruiting. Their style of play. Ton of respect for what they’ve done at Georgia.

Obviously this will be a heck of a challenge for us going to Atlanta, competing against them.

CHUCK DUNLAP: We’ll begin with questions.

Q. Do you feel like your team is playing its best football now? How hard is it to sustain that over what may be five more games?

STEVE SARKISIAN: I think the key for us is to really get recentered, refocused on one game. That’s what we’ve been doing here probably over the last month or so, is not getting caught up in what’s down the road but what do we need to do this week to play our best football, whether that’s physical, whether that’s mental, whether that’s emotional. I’m trying to analyze every aspect of it, then trying to get them in the best frame of mind and condition to do that.

I’d like to think that we have still better football ahead of us, quite frankly, that we’ve got room to grow, areas that we can improve. We’re always trying to point out areas where we can improve and show them how we’re going to improve upon them.

But I have been proud of the way we’ve been playing. I think we’ve been playing well as a team. Again, you can point to last night’s game. We were not perfect. Two turnovers in the red area, a punt blocked, missed a field goal. There were things in that game that didn’t go exactly the way we would have liked. Again, that just offers us up things that we need to improve on.

Q. I don’t think you really changed your identity offensively. The running game has really come together the last two games. Has it just been a bigger point of emphasis or offensive line blocking better?

STEVE SARKISIAN: We do have a variety of run schemes. The one scheme that if we don’t get that right, the rest of them never work quite as good. That’s when we’re running our outside zone stuff.

We got to it a couple different ways over the past couple weeks: manning it, zoning it, doing different things. When this gets going the right way, then the other things kind of come off of that.

We made an emphasis about a month ago that we had to improve upon it. Our rhythm was off. Our timing was off. We were getting penalties. The running back’s tracks weren’t married with where the offensive line was.

I think the commitment to getting that cleaned up gave me more confidence to call more stuff running the football, but it also allowed for the variety in the running game really to come to life, as well.

Q. Could you give us a quick update on Kelvin Banks? After having gotten a chance to watch the film, could you give me your thoughts about Trevor Goosby and how he played.

STEVE SARKISIAN: I don’t have an update on Kelvin yet. As far as Trevor, I was really proud of him. His first time playing in real football in obviously a very difficult environment. Played over 70 snaps in that game, I think 71 snaps. Really had one procedural penalty, and no other penalties beyond that.

I thought he showed great poise and composure. The moment didn’t seem too big for him. I thought he played a physical brand of football. I think it’s definitely something that he can build upon for his future.

Q. What are typically the biggest challenges when you’re playing a team for the second time in a year? Are there advantages to doing so?

STEVE SARKISIAN: Well, I think the one thing that I’ve tried to lean into here today, as we’re in the preliminary stages of it all, is kind of take myself back to the NFL. You get in your division there, you play teams multiple times a year. Then over time, a couple years go by, you start playing them four times in two years. If it’s the Playoffs, five times in two years.

You try to, A, do the things that you do well. B, you try to take in the information that maybe you can gather from seeing them in person as opposed to what it looks like on tape. Then making sure that you have an idea of some of your own tendencies, that you’re able to break some of those things.

At the end of the day our job is to put our players in the best position to be successful, whether that’s physically, mentally, schematically, whatever that looks like. That’s what we always kind of fall back to.

Again, I do think there are some things you can take from a first matchup, good and bad. Clearly there were enough things we need to fix from the first time we played ’em. You don’t get shut out in the first half, you don’t have four turnovers in the game, you’re not trailing 23-0, to get better from the first time we played them.

Q. The Texas secondary, another interception on Saturday night. A year ago the secondary probably didn’t meet your expectations. What has been the catalyst behind that transformation?

STEVE SARKISIAN: I think it’s probably a combination of things. I think, one, when we assessed the whole thing, we said, Okay, we need to make a shift, an adjustment. What is our style of play? What do we want to do?

I think the first layer of it was to get Jahdae Barron to come back to school for his senior year. That’s probably the thing that happened first. When he decided to come back, part of him coming back was to go play corner, not exclusively, but primarily play corner. That would allow us to play Jaylon Guilbeau at nickel, two of our better players back there.

The next part of it I think was the hiring of Johnny Nansen to offer some different perspective on kind of style of play, coverages, different things of that nature.

I think the third layer to that was the addition of Andrew Mukuba transferring from Clemson, a veteran safety with a wealth of experience.

The fourth piece to it all I think is the development of that group. That group now is a really veteran group. When you look at Michael Taaffe, Andrew Mukuba, Jahdae Barron, Jaylon Guilbeau, Manny Muhammad, those guys have played a lot of football.

Some of the new faces. What Derek Williams has been able to do. Gavin Holmes is starting to play a little bit more. Kobe Black, those guys. But that core group of guys is a veteran group of guys.

I think the thing that they’re doing so well is they’re playing within the scheme, they’re doing their job, and they’re trusting one another. That trust is coming from great communication. I think there’s a lot of layers to it.

Lastly, through all of that, they’ve built up a great deal of confidence. I think that’s why turnovers occur, is because guys are playing with confidence. They’re trusting their keys. They’re making the breaks on the ball. They’re making plays on the ball when they get there.

Q. Do you think they’re more confident today when they played Georgia last time?

STEVE SARKISIAN: I don’t know that.

Q. We’ve talked a lot in the last few weeks about Alfred. What did you think of Vernon last night? You had several guys that we haven’t talked about a lot make big plays both last night and Kentucky. What do you think of how so many different players are getting involved defensively?

STEVE SARKISIAN: Yeah, I think Vernon had a tremendous game last night. A couple sacks, fumble recovery. He was right there in the mix on that goal line stop, right at the point of attack.

I’m really proud of Vernon because, again, he’s a guy that has grown with us over four years, very similar to Alfred. Finding that level of consistency, trying to get them to be three-down players, not just pass-rushers, but defending the run. He’s really worked at that, but yet he still is a very effective pass-rusher for us with his length and athleticism for his size.

He’s played with a lot of confidence. He’s playing from a leadership perspective and not a follower’s perspective. I think that has bode well for him. He’s made some real impact plays for him. Proud of him for that.

I think the variety of guys making plays, the variety of guys playing on defense right now is exciting. That stop right there on that goal line stand, we talked about Vernon, but Bill Norton does a heck of a job knocking the guard back to create a new line of scrimmage. Ethan Burke comes off the backside to make the play. A subtly on that play is Michael Taaffe in position. If the quarterback pulled it, he’d be in position to play the quarterback. It was all the guys doing their job of whatever their job was supposed to be on that play.

Jermayne Lole last week on a fourth-down stop. A lot of the some of the new faces are really starting to make plays now, have grown into their role on our team, to go along with some of the familiar faces of guys that have been making plays for us all year.

Q. You played late on Saturday night. Georgia played on Friday. Of course, they went eight overtimes. Any advantage in that, having an extra day? Is that negligible or something you have to deal with?

STEVE SARKISIAN: I don’t know. I don’t put too much thought into that. I just focus on what we need to do to prepare.

It’s a normal workweek for us. I’m sure they need the extra day. That was a long game. I stayed up and watched it. That was a marathon. I was exhausted watching it myself, so…

In the end it’s a normal workweek for us. I don’t put too much thought into an extra day or not.

Q. Do you have any experience with Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta?

STEVE SARKISIAN: I coached for the Falcons for two years, so I got a pretty good feel for finding my way around that place.

Q. You know where the visitors’ locker room is?

STEVE SARKISIAN: No, I’ve only ever been in the home locker room.

Q. Knowing that Kelvin Banks is likely moving on after this season, how much more excited are you about the performance that Trevor Goosby gave you against some really talented edge guys? Did anything stand out from Goosby’s recruitment?

STEVE SARKISIAN: Again, any experience we get is helpful. I think back to last year, Kam Williams getting the start. I believe it was against BYU, if I’m not mistaken last season, or maybe Kansas State, one of those two. I think that helped him and his future and what he’s capable of and gave us confidence in him. Not a perfect game for Kam at that time, but it gave us a little bit of a peek into the future of what he’d look like.

I think last night did the same for us with Goosby and for him as well. He’s been working really hard. A lot of these guys have been working really hard, working their tail off.

You love to see when a guy gets his opportunity to play significant time and minutes that they perform and they put their best foot forward. I thought Trevor did that last night. I think the future’s bright for him.

I think the one thing that stood out for me in Trevor’s recruitment, I think for a lot of players on our team that are performing at a high level right now. Trevor wasn’t this five-star recruit that was allegedly the top tackle in the country, rated by everybody. I think he might have been a three-star guy that you could see potential.

Once you got around him and you saw the competitive spirit that he had, the work ethic that he had, the mental and physical toughness that he had. Although he was maybe a little I don’t want to call it undersized because he’s a big human, but needed some filling out to do.

But you could see the athleticism and the nastiness with which he played the game. That’s a credit to Coach Flood identifying that. It’s a credit to Coach Becton and Trevor and their commitment to the weight room as he’s continued to develop physically as well as a player.

The thing I remember about his recruitment was exactly that. It wasn’t this huge, high-profile recruit. It was a guy that we tried to identify that we felt could fit our scheme. I think he and his family recognized that. He’s come here and been just that: a guy that has worked his tail off.

He’s never lost that competitive edge that he had in recruiting. It’s served him well. He performed well for us last night.

Q. Sometimes when a team loses a big game, there’s a domino effect. How were you guys able to compartmentalize that Georgia loss and not let one loss beat you twice this season?

STEVE SARKISIAN: Just that. We talked about that exact way. We’re not going to allow that to happen. We are going to get refocused. Our sole focus is on the next opponent and our sole focus is on what do we need to do to improve.

I really just leave it at that. I don’t speak negatively. I say this isn’t going to happen, this is what’s going to happen, here is how we’re going to go about our business.

The good thing this year is we were able to lean on the experience from last year because a similar thing happened last year, losing to OU, especially in the fashion that that game went. Our ability to rebound last year, then go run the table in the conference to get back in the championship game, I think it gave a lot of the veteran players confidence that we could do it again, to follow the formula for success to make that happen.

Q. You’ve had your quarterback that’s been injured, running back, left tackle, yet you haven’t skipped a beat. Talk about the resilience.

STEVE SARKISIAN: I just think one thing around here, we don’t whine, we don’t complain and we don’t make excuses. Whatever the roster looks like for that week, we’ve got plenty enough good players on this roster that we can devise a plan to put those guys in position to have some success and to compete.

The one thing is about our roster, it’s a very competitive roster. All the guys, I know some of them aren’t front line players that don’t get to play all the time, but all of them are working really hard and they’re improving at their craft.

We’ve gained a lot of trust on this team as the season’s gone on. A lot of the times it’s what does training camp look like, can you trust players or not. We really try to keep trying to find ways to trust ’em as the season goes on.

Guys like a Trevor Goosby are a prime example of that. When their number gets called, you’ve got a lot of confidence in them that they can go in there and perform.

Q. You talked about the outside zone, how much y’all dedicated improving in that area. Having that personnel package in one of the keys to the improvement?

STEVE SARKISIAN: I mean, it’s part of it. Obviously we probably major in 12 personnel and 11 personnel. We’ve evolved in our 21-personnel packages.

We’re always trying to look for angles and fronts and ability to get people blocked. The one thing that that personnel does for you, especially late in the game, it allows you to protect your edges a little bit better. You don’t like having free runners at the running back when you’re trying to protect the ball late in the ballgame. That’s what that personnel does for us.

Again, we’ll run an outside zone out of all those different personnel groupings. It’s not so much the personnel that allows that run scheme to go, but what’s helpful for that personnel is there are specifics of why we get into it at certain times.

In that particular moment, what you’re referring to, late in the game, is to make sure our edges were really well-protected.

Q. Have you done the play two teams in the same season as a college coach?

STEVE SARKISIAN: I don’t think so. I don’t believe so. I’m racking my brain here real quick, but I don’t believe so.

CHUCK DUNLAP: Coach, thank you for your time this evening. We look forward to having you in Atlanta on Friday.

STEVE SARKISIAN: All right, y’all. Thank you.

WBB: Georgia Falls to Hampton

Despite four players scoring in double-figures, the Georgia women’s basketball team lost an overtime contest to Hampton, 76-74, on Sunday afternoon.

Fast Facts

• Redshirt sophomore Fatima Diakhate scored a new career high, leading the Lady Bulldogs with 17 points. Sunday marked her third time scoring in double figures in six games played this season.
• Fifth-year Roxane Makolo scored a season-high 14 points on 5-of-6 shooting.
• Junior Amiya Evans tallied her fourth double-double of the season with 12 points and 12 rebounds.
• After a dominant performance against Prairie View A&M, freshman Summer Davis earned her first career start for Georgia. 
• For the sixth time this season, Georgia had at least four players score in double-figures. (Diakhate – 17, Makolo – 14, Evans – 12, Avinger – 12)
• Sunday’s game marks the first time the Lady Bulldogs and the Pirates have met since 1999, when Georgia secured the win, 107-46.

What’s Next 
The Lady Bulldogs will be back in action at Stegeman Coliseum on Wednesday, Dec. 4, when they take on the Virginia Tech Hokies in the SEC/ACC Challenge. Wednesday’s game will air live on SEC Network, with tipoff set for 5 p.m.

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