University of Georgia Athletics
Mark Richt Follow-Up After Oklahoma State
September 03, 2007 | Football
ATHENS, Ga. Georgia head football coach Mark Richt held a teleconference Sunday to follow up Saturday’s 35-14 win over Oklahoma State and address how the team will make improvements heading into next weekend’s contest against South Carolina.
Q&A Responses
On the team’s performance against Oklahoma State...
“It wasn’t by any means a dominating performance. We had a lot of problems. We had some backs who made us look better than we were, a quarterback who made us look better than we are up front, and we just have to continue to get better. We’re going to get better, but we have a ways to go.”
On offensive coordinator Mike Bobo’s play calling...
“Part of what he did was just realizing that up front we weren’t protected all that well. We had to do some things to take pressure off that bunch. One of the scores was a gift early in the game, but we have a long way to go up front and I think we all realize that. Mike did a very good job of taking what they gave him. We knew the longer we held the ball, the less Oklahoma State would and that was part of the plan.”
On Knowshon Moreno’s performance against Oklahoma State...
“He ran with a lot of energy like he always does. That’s how he practices. He made some people miss out in space but when there wasn’t a lot there, he still saw the crease and got an extra three or four yards. There were a few times he had a linebacker on block but won the human equation’ and drove him back a few yards after contact. He finshed runs extremely well.
On going 5-6 in red zone...
“That was very good, and especially because they were touchdowns. And the one we didn’t score on was at the end when we were running the clock out. So in competitive situations we were really 5-for-5.”
On Kregg Lumpkin’s injury status...
“Kregg Lumpkin broke his thumb. He’ll probably be out for a little bit, but I don’t know how long. He won’t be able to hold the ball in that hand for a little while. He’s not going to be able to carry ball for a while. (On how that will affect Caleb King’s situation...) We’ll see how healthy he is. We’ll definitely get him ready to go. But we also have Jason Johnson read to go. He knows the tailback position. Shaun Chappas can do some tailback as well. We’ll have to wait and see. Lumpkin’s is not a seasonending injury so there’s no need to rush anything.”
On offense and defense coming together sooner than last year...
“We played very solid. I use that word because sometimes teams will do a bunch of things and self-destruct, and we didn’t do much of that. We had a few things that could have really hurt us, but there were no balls on the ground or balls that should have gotten picked. There were also not one or two true stars. Everybody played collectively well, and that’s exciting. We have to build off what happened so far, and we’ll have chance to be pretty good.”
On special teams issues and how those can be corrected...
“What happens is no matter how hard you try to simulate full speed with scout teams, you can’t do it. It takes a little while to get used to game speed. It’s happening a lot faster with better athletes and live. You can’t do it in practice every day live, it’s too violent. It takes a little getting used to. We had a special teams issue didn’t sub very well, and that’s correctable. We had one return we let get to midfield and we’ll correct that.”
On preparing for the South Carolina quarterback situation...
“I think with (Steve) Spurrier, whoever he plugs in is going to run his system. He may have a guy a lot more athletic than the rest, but for most part he’s going to do what he like to do so we’re going to prepare for his system. We do think it’s going to be Blake (Mitchell) though.”
On if he expect a more physical defense from South Carolina...
“We know that they’re very physical up front and strong. Southeastern Conference defenses are just better than everyone else’s. There might be a couple around the country that could fit in that mix, but for most part our conference has the best defenses in America, and South Caroilna is one of them.”
Q&A Responses
On the team’s performance against Oklahoma State...
“It wasn’t by any means a dominating performance. We had a lot of problems. We had some backs who made us look better than we were, a quarterback who made us look better than we are up front, and we just have to continue to get better. We’re going to get better, but we have a ways to go.”
On offensive coordinator Mike Bobo’s play calling...
“Part of what he did was just realizing that up front we weren’t protected all that well. We had to do some things to take pressure off that bunch. One of the scores was a gift early in the game, but we have a long way to go up front and I think we all realize that. Mike did a very good job of taking what they gave him. We knew the longer we held the ball, the less Oklahoma State would and that was part of the plan.”
On Knowshon Moreno’s performance against Oklahoma State...
“He ran with a lot of energy like he always does. That’s how he practices. He made some people miss out in space but when there wasn’t a lot there, he still saw the crease and got an extra three or four yards. There were a few times he had a linebacker on block but won the human equation’ and drove him back a few yards after contact. He finshed runs extremely well.
On going 5-6 in red zone...
“That was very good, and especially because they were touchdowns. And the one we didn’t score on was at the end when we were running the clock out. So in competitive situations we were really 5-for-5.”
On Kregg Lumpkin’s injury status...
“Kregg Lumpkin broke his thumb. He’ll probably be out for a little bit, but I don’t know how long. He won’t be able to hold the ball in that hand for a little while. He’s not going to be able to carry ball for a while. (On how that will affect Caleb King’s situation...) We’ll see how healthy he is. We’ll definitely get him ready to go. But we also have Jason Johnson read to go. He knows the tailback position. Shaun Chappas can do some tailback as well. We’ll have to wait and see. Lumpkin’s is not a seasonending injury so there’s no need to rush anything.”
On offense and defense coming together sooner than last year...
“We played very solid. I use that word because sometimes teams will do a bunch of things and self-destruct, and we didn’t do much of that. We had a few things that could have really hurt us, but there were no balls on the ground or balls that should have gotten picked. There were also not one or two true stars. Everybody played collectively well, and that’s exciting. We have to build off what happened so far, and we’ll have chance to be pretty good.”
On special teams issues and how those can be corrected...
“What happens is no matter how hard you try to simulate full speed with scout teams, you can’t do it. It takes a little while to get used to game speed. It’s happening a lot faster with better athletes and live. You can’t do it in practice every day live, it’s too violent. It takes a little getting used to. We had a special teams issue didn’t sub very well, and that’s correctable. We had one return we let get to midfield and we’ll correct that.”
On preparing for the South Carolina quarterback situation...
“I think with (Steve) Spurrier, whoever he plugs in is going to run his system. He may have a guy a lot more athletic than the rest, but for most part he’s going to do what he like to do so we’re going to prepare for his system. We do think it’s going to be Blake (Mitchell) though.”
On if he expect a more physical defense from South Carolina...
“We know that they’re very physical up front and strong. Southeastern Conference defenses are just better than everyone else’s. There might be a couple around the country that could fit in that mix, but for most part our conference has the best defenses in America, and South Caroilna is one of them.”
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