ULM Head Coach Todd Berry
On the game...
"Like every first ball game, I think that there's a significant amount of exposure that you now know about some things. Obviously our kicking game is a struggle right now and we knew with the young players that could potentially be a problem for us and obviously it was. I think it impacted significantly the field position, especially in the first half. Georgia's a very good football team. We can say that because we have experience playing against the top 10 every year and they're a very good football team. I said going in it was going to be very tough for us to stop the run game, and obviously we struggled with that significantly."
On wanting protective play-calling for RS Fr. QB Garrett Smith...
"It was field position. The kicking game, our inability to move the ball on offense, our inability to stop them on defense that created some difficulties for us. We kind of wore out as the game progressed a little bit too. Up front we weren't able to substitute a lot of guys, and I think that hurt us. Right before the lightning delay I thought we had a little bit of momentum, I thought we were in a little bit of a groove, and against a good football team. That's good to see. I was excited about some of the things that we were doing, and I think we needed to see some of those things happen for us offensively. We'll be fine on defense, we just faced a very good offensive team. I'm not worried about that moving forward. We have to make some corrections in the kicking game. Part of that is people growing up. They got their feet wet today, and I think they got really wet. Hopefully they'll learn from this and shake that thing off. Obviously this is one of the more intimidating venues that they'll play in. Now that they've got their feet wet, we'll hopefully grow from that. Offensively I think there was enough there to be encouragement moving forward for the rest of the season."
On the matchup along the line of scrimmage...
"There's obvious corrections. For the most part, they just had too much for us. They know what they're doing. We can go back to some of our other ball games against top 10 teams where we've had some success. Sometimes they didn't handle schematically what we were doing on defense, couldn't handle the quarterback running around, those sorts of things. Georgia handled it really well. That's one of the things I think in relation to the opening game where they have a little more time to prepare for, and we hope that weekly that gives us a little bit of a differential advantage because it's a little harder to prepare for. They had a little bit more time to do that, and I'm sure it helped them. We just weren't able to dictate anything today at all."
ULM QB Garrett Smith
On looking forward to different competition...
"I think our offense needs to start faster instead of on our fourth or fifth drive of the game. It was good to see once we got moving from an offensive standpoint that we were really running up and down the field on them, which was good to see against a great team like Georgia. I just think we need to start fast."
On what the team needs to do to put the game behind them...
"I think we need to go in and watch film and learn from our mistakes and forget about that game. We need to go out and practice and get ready for our next game, things that we need to do every week whether we win or lose."
WR Rashon Ceaser
On career day receiving...
"Just thinking about the team, I tried to put my team on my back and put some points on the board. When you play a team like Georgia and you aren't executing than this is what happens. We have to take this as a team learning experience."
On going against Georgia's defensive backs...
"Every game to me, I don't look at it as which team or which conference because everybody comes out and plays hard and competes. We just have to make plays on offense and stay on the field and give our defense a break."
LB Michael Johnson
On the toughness of Georgia's running backs...
"Georgia definitely has a stable of running backs. But missed tackles really come down to our defense. I missed a tackle on Chubb in the backfield by having my head behind him instead of in front of him. It's just attention to detail. They are great backs, but it falls back on us."
On the injuries to the team...
"Coaches always say control what you can control...We just have to roll with the punches. Teams across America are going through the same thing so we just have to respond. It's all about getting these younger guys up and ready to play."
On the game...
"Like every first ball game, I think that there's a significant amount of exposure that you now know about some things. Obviously our kicking game is a struggle right now and we knew with the young players that could potentially be a problem for us and obviously it was. I think it impacted significantly the field position, especially in the first half. Georgia's a very good football team. We can say that because we have experience playing against the top 10 every year and they're a very good football team. I said going in it was going to be very tough for us to stop the run game, and obviously we struggled with that significantly."
On wanting protective play-calling for RS Fr. QB Garrett Smith...
"It was field position. The kicking game, our inability to move the ball on offense, our inability to stop them on defense that created some difficulties for us. We kind of wore out as the game progressed a little bit too. Up front we weren't able to substitute a lot of guys, and I think that hurt us. Right before the lightning delay I thought we had a little bit of momentum, I thought we were in a little bit of a groove, and against a good football team. That's good to see. I was excited about some of the things that we were doing, and I think we needed to see some of those things happen for us offensively. We'll be fine on defense, we just faced a very good offensive team. I'm not worried about that moving forward. We have to make some corrections in the kicking game. Part of that is people growing up. They got their feet wet today, and I think they got really wet. Hopefully they'll learn from this and shake that thing off. Obviously this is one of the more intimidating venues that they'll play in. Now that they've got their feet wet, we'll hopefully grow from that. Offensively I think there was enough there to be encouragement moving forward for the rest of the season."
On the matchup along the line of scrimmage...
"There's obvious corrections. For the most part, they just had too much for us. They know what they're doing. We can go back to some of our other ball games against top 10 teams where we've had some success. Sometimes they didn't handle schematically what we were doing on defense, couldn't handle the quarterback running around, those sorts of things. Georgia handled it really well. That's one of the things I think in relation to the opening game where they have a little more time to prepare for, and we hope that weekly that gives us a little bit of a differential advantage because it's a little harder to prepare for. They had a little bit more time to do that, and I'm sure it helped them. We just weren't able to dictate anything today at all."
ULM QB Garrett Smith
On looking forward to different competition...
"I think our offense needs to start faster instead of on our fourth or fifth drive of the game. It was good to see once we got moving from an offensive standpoint that we were really running up and down the field on them, which was good to see against a great team like Georgia. I just think we need to start fast."
On what the team needs to do to put the game behind them...
"I think we need to go in and watch film and learn from our mistakes and forget about that game. We need to go out and practice and get ready for our next game, things that we need to do every week whether we win or lose."
WR Rashon Ceaser
On career day receiving...
"Just thinking about the team, I tried to put my team on my back and put some points on the board. When you play a team like Georgia and you aren't executing than this is what happens. We have to take this as a team learning experience."
On going against Georgia's defensive backs...
"Every game to me, I don't look at it as which team or which conference because everybody comes out and plays hard and competes. We just have to make plays on offense and stay on the field and give our defense a break."
LB Michael Johnson
On the toughness of Georgia's running backs...
"Georgia definitely has a stable of running backs. But missed tackles really come down to our defense. I missed a tackle on Chubb in the backfield by having my head behind him instead of in front of him. It's just attention to detail. They are great backs, but it falls back on us."
On the injuries to the team...
"Coaches always say control what you can control...We just have to roll with the punches. Teams across America are going through the same thing so we just have to respond. It's all about getting these younger guys up and ready to play."
