Head coach Kirby Smart wasn’t crazy about the continued questions about the performance of his offense, in a game played in a steady rain during Saturday’s 21-0 win over Kentucky.
The Bulldogs struggled in the first half, finishing with just 95 total yards. Quarterback Jake Fromm only attempted 12 passes the entire night, completing 9 for 35 yards.
But the questions about his offense continued during the post-game press conference. Smart had heard enough after a question over the current structure of his offense, and about Fromm as the team’s quarterback. That question drew a pointed response.
“I’m not concerned. I feel good about what our offense does. I feel good about Jake. To judge it based on that game is just not very smart. It’s hard to judge anything in that game. You can’t evaluate that,” Smart said. “What you’ve got to evaluate is what is your heart, what is your courage, what is your love of the game. Think about those wideouts in that game. 'For the love of the game' is what’s that for. George Pickens, Kearis Jackson, those guys going out there and blocking. That’s for the love of the game. You evaluate things based on what’s going on around them. What’s going on around them is a tough environment.
“I could have told you two days ago we weren’t going to go out there and throw it for 200 yards in those conditions. We had to put a plan together to give us the best chance to be successful. I thought we did a good job.”
Smart gave a more direct answer as to what he thought of tonight's work by offensive coordinator James Coley, who has drawn fire from fans in recent weeks.
“Very pleased today, I thought we were extremely patient on offense and in tough conditions. And we’ve got more explosive plays than we did last year at this time, with three wide receivers that are in the NFL,” Smart said. “That’s taking today out of it, because today, I don’t know how many explosive plays we got.”
Georgia finished with 270 total yards, 235 on the ground. Junior D’Andre Swift led the way with 21 carries for a season-high 179 yards.
All 21 of Georgia’s points came in the second half.
“When you play in those types of games, guys, you’ve got to be extremely patient. You’ve got to be patient as a coach, patient as a player, patient as an offensive coordinator. You get frustrated very easily, and you can magnify mistakes,” Smart said. “Our offense did a TREMENDOUS job of protecting the ball. To play in those conditions, and not put the ball on the ground, not turn the ball over—that was big for us.”
Smart laughed off a suggestion that Fromm said the conditions were too difficult in which to throw.
“No, he never said that. Jake had a 100 percent confidence that he could throw the ball, and he wanted to. Sometimes we tried to make sure we did it when we had a fresh ball, sometimes we did it when we had a fresh set of downs. You take calculated opportunities to do that. It’s tough.
“At the end of the day, there’s some tough things that had to happen to throw the ball in those conditions. One, you’ve got to protect, two you’ve got to throw and catch, and you’ve got to protect the ball once you get it. Handing the ball to a guy is a helluva lot easier in those conditions. I said it takes patience. Jake was never really rattled or frustrated by anything. Jake has a calm demeanor. At halftime he was in a good place, and he kept leading our team and offense.”
Smart also took issues with the notion that the elements caused problems with his receivers getting consistent separation from Kentucky’s defensive backs.
“You guys probably [think so], because you’ll write about it. But if you go out there and evaluate that, and you give judgment based on that, you’re a lot smarter than me,” Smart said. “There’s not a lot you can do in those conditions; they didn’t play a ton of man to man. They played in different coverages, they mixed and played what they played and what they do.
“It’s tough to throw the ball in those elements. It’s makes it hard and challenging. You’ve got to be smart about it, and you’ve got to work in it. We were able to do that a lot.”
