ATHENS — Oklahoma has scored just 24 points in its last two games, as the Sooners have struggled to score against Michigan and New Mexico.
Now it faces a Georgia defense that has been one of the best in the country so far, albeit against limited competition.
Still, Kirby Smart knows it’s best to say little about the Sooners and their offense at this point in time.
“It’s not my job to evaluate and criticize and talk about,” Smart said. “I have to get our guys ready to play. I think that’s a hard job each week in our conference because so many kids and teams live through perception of what’s said.”
Smart spoke in much greater detail about his own team ahead of Saturday’s SEC contest.
Below are Smart’s full remarks from his Monday news conference. Georgia’s game against Oklahoma is set for a 3:30 p.m. start, with ESPN broadcasting the game.
Kirby Smart explains why this is a very different Oklahoma team from 2018 Rose Bowl
Opening statement...
“Excited to continue, the continuation of SEC play this week at home. I know our crowd will be fired up and ready for a great matchup. A lot of respect for Coach Venables and the job he’s done everywhere he’s been. I have known him for a long time and have the utmost respect for him as a coach and a man and a person. We go way back. He’s probably been one of the premier defensive coaches in all of college football for a long time. So they have a really good football team, and it’s a great matchup. It seems like the conference is going to be full of them all year in terms of that. We’ll be getting ready to play those guys today.”
On Brent Venables’ defensive traits...
“Very fundamentally sound, aggressive, attacking. They lead the country, or tops in the country every year in tackles for a loss and sacks. I don’t think people give their coaches and their kids enough credit for how they play. They get off blocks. They strike you. They play with unbelievable pad level, and really an intensity that’s unmatched in terms of the way they play. You see it on tape. He’s always been that way. He did it at Clemson, and he’s just a great defensive coach.”
On Nate Frazier’s health...
“Nate, I think is going to be fine. He’s day-to-day. We expect him to be able to play.”
On Oklahoma wide receiver Isaiah Sategna...
“He’s really explosive. That usually comes from speed. It comes from confidence. He can accelerate from point A to point B really fast. He’s a great returner. He’s got great hands. They find schemes, find ways to get him touches. He has to touch the ball to be explosive, and they’ve done a good job with that. You look at the history at what he’s been able to do in the return game and being able to touch the ball. He is a very good playmaker.”
On challenges from John Mateer...
“Obviously his athleticism pops out at you. He’s hard to tackle. He breaks a lot of tackles. He’s tough. You talk about the run game. He runs inside. He runs outside. He runs to pass. He scrambles to throw. He’s made explosives with his legs. I think back to last year, his growth because we didn’t play them. You saw his highlights and you saw the things he’s done. He’s become even more that way this year in terms of understanding our conference, when to run, when not to. He’s done a good job of it.”
On importance of first game against Oklahoma in Rose Bowl...
“It got us to the national championship.”
On what he remembered from the Rose Bowl and what looks different about this team from 2017...
“Man, that’s a long time ago. I really was not thinking of that game coming in here today because the staff’s were almost entirely different, even ours for the most part has changed. I think we’ve got a couple guys leftover from that staff. I know they probably don’t have any. If they do, I don’t know who they were in terms of overlap. It was an iconic game because of what it meant and what it led to and where it was played. Some great players in the game. You look back at Baker, who’s a good friend of mine now, and then Nick and Sony being a part of it. So it was a great game.”
On Gentry Williams coming from Oklahoma...
“Gentry’s a great kid, man. He is quiet. He works hard. He’s a good tackler. He competes every day out there for us. He’s made us a better team. Hoping that he can continue to work to carve out a role.”
On Oklahoma creating havoc...
“The way they go about their business, they are violent. They play hard. They play with a purpose. They are very intelligent. They know what they’re doing as well as you know what you’re doing. They do a great job of formationing things and understanding what your tendencies are. They play really hard. When you get good talented players playing with fundamentals, they don’t get blocked. They might get blocked, but they don’t stay blocked. They get off blocks. They’re hard to block.”
On Tyriq Green, Chase Linton and Isiah Canion health...
“They’ll all be back soon.”
On Oklahoma’s physicality being similar to Georgia...
“It’s not a different matchup than we have every week. Every week in the SEC is intense, tough, physical, line of scrimmage. That’s not any disregard to Oklahoma. They’ve got a tremendous team. But we’ve got eight of those in a row, so I’m worried about us. I’m worried about how we prepare. I’m worried about what we can do to make our team better. What allows you to have consistency in performance that’s maybe unmatched? What can we do better than the opponent and get our players in a better position to be successful? Whether it’s what we show them, whether it’s what we teach them, whether it’s how we do things. You’re constantly looking for a better way. When you look across college football, it’s going to be one of those kind of year beacuse there’s a lot of parity out there.”
On Ekene Ogboko’s early experience...
“It’s only as valuable as he learns from them. I would argue the practices he’s had 36 times are more valuable than those games, but I know that’s not what the book says. I can promise you he’s working just as hard or harder in practice to grow and advance as he is in those games. I get it. There’s a certainly level of anxiety that comes from playing in a game, and he’s gone in there and played in them.”
On what you see from David Stone on Oklahoma defense...
“I’ve got much respect for him and all of them. To be honest with you, there’s not a guy on their defense that comes in — and they rotate guys — that doesn’t play with great pad level and great effort. When you turn on the tape, they run to the ball like they’re in elite shape. They don’t get tired. They strike. They knock back. They get off blocks, and he’s the leader of that, but they all do.”
On Justin Williams’ growth...
“Well, he’s been able to maintain and keep his weight. That’s one thing. That’s helped him. He’s stayed healthy, which has helped him. He’s always been really smart, intelligent. He plays hard, like a leader. Very positive, upbeat attitude, loves practice every day, so I was happy to see him have success, but it doesn’t shock me because of the way he works.”
On Oklahoma’s offense, turnovers from quarterback and struggles running football...
“It’s not my job to evaluate and criticize and talk about. I have to get our guys ready to play. I think that’s a hard job each week in our conference because so many kids and teams live through perception of what’s said. Whereas coaches, we’re going off what’s on tape. There’s a lot of times those two don’t match. I know the players. We recruited almost every one of them. The quarterback has tremendous athleticism. I know the backs, the receivers, know the coaches. They’ve got a good team, and we’ve gotta prepare to play against those guys.”
On what makes Brent Venables a great defensive coach...
“Technique and fundamentals. They have great scheme. They have awesome scheme. They’ve got an answer for everything you do. But that ain’t what does it for them. They strike people. They get off blocks. They attack the ball. They play downhill. They don’t play passive. They have technique and fundamentals. You can see when people go to block them, they can strike and get off the block. That’s what football is. Defensive football is, are you hard to block? When you turn on the tape, they’ve got a bunch of hard to block guys. When you’re hard to block, you’re good. Then you put some size and talent with it, and then you get what you’ve got in Oklahoma, which, you can ask anybody in our conference. They’re year-in, year-out, one of the best defenses.”
On Ja’Marley Riddle’s progression and thoughts on the secondary...
“Getting better. He’s getting better. We’re getting better. Work in progress with each of those guys. A lot of things we can do better and clean up on technique and fundamental-wise. We need to. But I’m proud of where Ja’Marley is. I’m proud of his work ethic. He’s coming off a signficant injury that most people don’t associate him with that injury because he wasn’t here when it happened, but his last game there at ECU, he had a really tough injury, and he’s bouncing back from that.”
On free-roaming safeties and if that’s changed...
“Safeties could never roam. They have a job. Their job is either the middle of the field or half of the field or a quarter of the field. But they could never roam and do what they wanted. I think people think that’s a perception. They can’t do what they want. They’ve got a job to do. But certainly the evolution of football has become more spread. With more spread, tighter coverage results in less interceptions — believe it or not — because there’s less zone. Zone leads to more interceptions than man does. Teams force you nowadays with running quarterbacks, RPOs, run game, variations of things, pressure, trying to get negatives, to play more man, and it probably results in less interceptions.”
On similar paths to Venables as DCs turned HC...
“I don’t know that because I don’t know his program. I’m not going to sit here and profess that we’re like them or they’re like us. I don’t know that. I know he’s a defensive-minded guy. I know he’s built on physical toughness and the way you play the game. It’s important. But I don’t really know how he runs his program, and would be remiss to comment on that.”
On Drew Bobo through three games with club on his hand...
“Effort and toughness is what Drew embodies. He’s a captain. What have I seen from him? Effort and toughness. He plays with elite effort. You won’t find a play that he doesn’t cover down. He’s by the pile. He’s knocking people off the pile. I don’t know what it is, but he has elite stamina to run and play and just keep playing. He can play every snap and not get tired. His toughness, he playing with an injury that’s been significant. I know he’s excited that he’ll be out of the club this week. He’s cleared to get out of that, so I’m just proud of what he’s done, what he’s meant to our program. People don’t realize how many years he spent down there on the scout team, taking reps and just going against older D-linemen and improving. He’s improved himself to be the player he is, but he’s even better as a person and character in terms of carrying the mantra of our team, which is effort and toughness.”
On Rasean Dinkins’ role at safety...
“He’s a physical tackler. He had a really good hit on kickoff last week. He’s a knock-back tackler. He’s a thumper. He’s got really good ball skills. He plays the ball well in the deep part of the field. He can play multiple positions. He’s hard to block. We talked about it earlier, if you’re hard to block, you can be a really good defensive player. I’m very pleased with his growth, and he’s continuing to improve. He’s a good football player.”
On next steps for Talyn Taylor...
“Talyn’s worked great. The next step is continuing doing what he’s doing. He didn’t get many opportunities on Saturday, not by his choice. There was a PI that he’s probably going to catch a touchdown on. He ran a couple great routes on plays that protection broke down. He’s done a great job. He’s improved on his physicality and blocking. That’s always a big asset for him. But he runs good routes. I think he’s gotta continue to get better and improve, but it’s on little things that he continues to grow and get more confidence in.”
On Elyiss Williams and Ethan Barbour’s roles...
“I would argue all four of those guys. I mean, Lawson had two huge blocks in the game. Reddell had a huge block on a outside pin-pull play. They’re all doing a good job in that room. Elyiss and Ethan, as well as the other two, continue to be assets and finding ways to incorporate their physicality and how they help the team. They’ve all helped us on special teams with those four guys taking a lot of snaps.”
