No. 6 Ole Miss is finished celebrating its first round College Football Playoff win against Tulane on Saturday. Now, the focus is on No. 3 Georgia in the Sugar Bowl/quarterfinal playoff game.
On Monday, Georgia coach Kirby Smart held his weekly press conference to talk about what his team has been doing since the SEC title game, injury updates and much more.
Smart also talked a little bit about Ole Miss, previewing the upcoming CFP game and looking back at the Bulldogs’ comeback win in October.
Here’s what Smart had to say Monday about the Rebels:
On changes to Ole Miss offense without Lane Kiffin…
“The offensive coordinator and the staff is still all there. They’re not gonna make overhaul or make large changes, right? They got something that really works well. They got a really high powered, explosive, great wide outs, really good tight end. One of the best backs in the country. Arguably the quarterback that may be playing the best in the country in terms of his ability to make throws in all areas. I mean, the guy’s elite. He’s elite last time he played him. He’s just as elite or more elite now because he’s gotten more experience and more confidence.
“So they’re playing at a really high level offensively and, I mean, Lane has something to do with that because he helped build it and get them there, but Charlie’s done a tremendous job calling the plays and doing those things.”
On turning point for defensive improvement in first game vs. Ole Miss…
“I don’t even remember the sequence of games after that. So I do think that those stops were huge for us from a confidence standpoint, but there was a lot of the game that there weren’t stops. And they do a really good job. They’re hard to stop. They’re explosive for a reason. They have good players. They have good tempo. They have good schemes. And the quarterback makes things go. And so does the back. So I don’t know if that was the moment that kick-started us to improvement on defense, but, because I don’t remember the exact games after that, but we have played better down the stretch defensively.”
