Kirby Smart Joins Gameday to Talk Defending Tennessee, Nolan Smith, and More

College football's center stage is in Athens, Georgia on Saturday for Tennessee vs Georgia. Kirby Smart joined College Gameday, here's everything he said.

Brooks Austin | Nov 5, 2022

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Georgia Bulldogs

College football's center stage is in Athens, Georgia on Saturday as the No. 1 ranked Tennessee Volunteers take on the No. 3 ranked Georgia Bulldogs. With College Gameday up and kicking Saturday morning, as usual the home team's coach made an appearance.

That meant Kirby Smart is his standard grey suit on Gameday, with plenty of questions in bound about stopping this Tennessee offense that's averaging north of fifty points per game this season.

Everything Kirby Smart said on College Gameday

Kirby Smart on how you have to defend Tennessee:

"You got to take something away? They got to be more one-dimensional. You know, you got to be able to stop the run. But you've got to be able to cover one on one. Because if you don't do that, then you got no chance. Yeah, and they're gonna be one on one situations. There's no way to play Tennessee and not be in one on one. So you got to be at your best you got to go out there and cover them and you got to affect the quarterback. Nobody's really been able to do that."

Kirby Smart on the loss of Nolan Smith:

"The hardest part is his leadership and his energy man, the reps you got to play, you need players when you play these guys. You got to stay fresh. He knocks us one notch down the line there but he'll be on the sideline with the leadership. He'll be yelling and screaming and He's itching to get out there."

Kirby Smart on who could be the breakout players today:

"Well, I think anytime you ask the guys on the perimeter cover one on one, they're gonna have to step up. So Kelee Ringo, Kamari Lassiter, Chris Smith, Malaki Starks, they're gonna be a one on one situation, you cannot not play one on one against these guys, because it's too spread out. So they're gonna have to play well, and we're gonna have to affect them with the rush inside."

Kirby Smart on Preparing for this Offense:

"Replicate it. That's all you can do. Be better organized at practice. You know, we think we got a really good organization in terms of how we roll up their plays and what we do, but they still change just enough, they tweak just enough if they know if you're stopping this, then you can't stop this and they've got answers for things and they're usually one step ahead of you because it's their offense is what they do. It's a form have the option in a different way."

Kirby Smart on Stetson Bennett:

"Thought last year in this game, it was Stetsons probably best game. I mean, he protected us He saved us from some sacks to three times he ran for third down conversions. He ran for a touchdown off of a boot we didn't have somebody played so we're gonna get that kind of game out of him where he's elusive and athletic and uses the playmakers he's got around him"

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