After the Bulldogs fought four quarters to defeat a Fighting Irish Notre Dame team23-17, Georgia Head Coach Kirby Smart discusses the game.

On the win …

“That was a hard-fought game. I have a lot of respect for Notre Dame and their program and how they battled,” said Kirby Smart. “But man, our kids played hard. … That was a huge win for them. They play so hard and work so hard and play with toughness. I was happy to see them pull that out.”

On the attitude at the half …

“We were confident we could do some things because we were moving the ball. Our defense was playing pretty well and made some stops, so I was pleased with the effort,” said Coach Smart “We made some adjustments and felt like we could come out and score some points.”

On the crowd …

“They impacted those guys. They had 5-6-7 penalties and had to use their timeouts. Our fans caused their quarterback to have some issues,” said Kirby Smart. “…We need that out of our fans all the time. That is a real homefield advantage. You need that in college football.”

On D’Andre Swift …

“That was the heart of a warrior. He ran so hard and did a great job,” said Kirby. “He played with passion, energy, and toughness, and he had a good offensive line in front of him.”

On players replacing injured players …

“It’s a tough deal when guys go down and you have to step up at the spur of the moment. We kept battling through,” said Coach Smart. “…We’ve got some guys who are out and some who are banged up, so we’ll use the off week to try to get healthy.

On winning the turnover battle …

“Winning the turnover battle against these guys is huge,” said Kirby. Rarely do they lose that battle.”