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NOKIA SUGAR BOWL: WEST VIRGINIA v GEORGIA

January 2, 2006

ATLANTA, GEORGIA

COACH RICHT: Well, I just want to say that it was a heck of a ballgame. Unfortunately we dug ourselves a big hole. West Virginia did just a phenomenal job of jumping on us early, running the ball extremely well, took advantage of our turnovers, and when we were down 28, I didn't know if anything good was going to happen tonight.
But to our credit, our players really fought back, got it down to a three-point ballgame, and made it a battle and made them sweat a little bit, anyway. But I'm proud of our guys, I'm proud of our seniors especially, these two guys right here, just good men.
You'd like to win them all, but you can't. At least the only consolation tonight is that we didn't lay down and die when things looked like it was insurmountable and I'm proud of the fact that we did that.
Q. D.J., can you talk about starting the game, what turned it around for you in the middle of the second quarter?
D.J. SHOCKLEY: I really don't know what to say, what turned it around. I guess it was just the faith that we needed to make some plays and they were starting to -- things happened early in the game and we didn't execute as well as we planned to. It was just, you know basically just came down to offense tonight, we were going to make some plays. The guys had to step up and I think the turning point was the guys just turned and said, "hey, we've got to make a play."
Q. D.J., what did you see in the second quarter that seemed to open up the passing game so much, it seemed like you guys really clicked in the second quarter.
D.J. SHOCKLEY: I think it was more of who is taking underneath things a little bit more, they played the 3-5 that we knew they were going to, I think we settled down and they started sitting back in their coverage a little bit more and gave them a little bit more time to see what's going on. I just took what they gave me and that was kind of the start for us, just take us what the defense gives us.
Q. Can you talk about what this game meant to you, you waited five years for the chance to play in a Bowl game, just talk about the experience?
D.J. SHOCKLEY: It was a huge game. I've been so excited since the SEC Championship Game was over, and was going to play in the Sugar Bowl, it's always a privilege to play in such a huge Bowl and it's a BCS Bowl at that. Coming into the game, I knew it would be my last game and my last time playing in this Georgia uniform and I just wanted to come out and play the best I could.
My experience this whole year has been nothing but great. I wouldn't take nothing back from it. I've enjoyed every part of it and, you know, like Coach Richt said, we can't win them all, but seeing the way this team fought through the game, when you're down 21-0, any other team that was not together and unified like we were would probably have laid down. But the defense stepped up and made plays when they needed to and the offense did the same. I think that just shows the character of our team and I think that's why I've enjoyed this team so much because of the type of players that we have and when things are not always good, they still step up and lead on.
Q. DeMario, I know you were worried about Slaton and he was a good runner, seems like he stepped it up a notch; your impressions of him?
DeMARIO MINTER: Still same impressions. He really didn't show me nothing, he's just a special guy, just from looking at him on the film, I didn't expect him to do nothing else but just play like he did.
Q. With what you guys have been through in your four years here, playing through SEC championship games, winning two of them, the winningest class in Georgia history, how does it feel to go out this way, is it disappointing with the close emotional loss? How does it feel to end your career like this?
DeMARIO MINTER: You know, it was very heartbreaking to say that you lost your last game. But, you know, I think for the seniors, we accomplished a lot. I know that what we accomplished is not going to erase this loss, but we can say that we did some good things in our careers and I think that's a good thing for us.
D.J. SHOCKLEY: Just to piggyback on what DeMario said, this team has gone through so much throughout this whole year and to make it to this game and to compete the way we did, you can't ask for anything more than what we put out. It's always frustrating to lose, it's always frustrating as a senior, losing your last game and such a huge game. Coach Richt said something in the locker room before the game, he said, you know it would have been a lot worse if we'd have lost by 30 or 35 points. But just seeing the way this team followed through and came out and still competed when things were rough, we did it out of love and just enjoy being on this team.
Q. There seems to be a lot of emotion on the field, especially right there at the beginning with the personal fouls and everything; what did you say to the guys to calm them down and reign them back in?
COACH RICHT: Well, we're just going to beat ourselves if we can't control ourselves. We need to stop shooting ourselves in the foot with the turnovers and the penalties. At least three of our drives were destroyed because of those things, and actually four, because we had three turnovers, and I know we had a big penalty that probably cost us a drive. You just can't afford to do that. You can't turn it over three times. You can't have those types of penalties that set you back when you're trying to sustain, create and sustain some type of momentum.
And we played a great football team tonight. They executed beautifully. If I wasn't coaching them, I really would have enjoyed watching it, they did a great job.
Q. Had that call not been reversed, would you have gone for it for sure in that situation?
COACH RICHT: Well, what happened was the ball was sitting less than a yard from the first down. And then when I saw them spot the ball there, I'm going for it. Well, then just we called the play just prior to getting ready to run the play, and the official felt like he had made a mistake and moved it back about a yard. And then when it became about a two-yard run or whatever it would have been, we were going to run the ball right there, I just -- I called time out and said I didn't want to take that risk at that time because we still had plenty of time, if we'd have punted them down.
But at the moment when it was fourth and less than a yard, I thought it was time to go and try to keep the momentum going. But once he moved it back a yard, I was going to punt it. And then if he moved it back up that half a yard, by then I was convinced of punting at that point anyway no matter what happened and then it turned out to be incomplete and of course we had a beautiful punt and knocked it on the five-yard line which was fantastic, but still wasn't enough to win.
Q. Can you talk about D.J. Shockley's performance after the slow start?
COACH RICHT: Oh, he did fantastic. Once he settled in, he played fantastic. Of course, looking at his statistics, he did a beautiful job, no picks. He did get hit while he was throwing one time, which of course is a turnover, but threw for a very high percentage. Really he was pretty sharp, maybe missed a couple but not many, for as many times as he threw the ball, I thought he played beautifully and I thought he ran the team beautifully. He's just poised, kept us in the game. I'm just real proud of the job that he did.
Q. Do you think in retrospect your team was excited about playing in Atlanta?
COACH RICHT: Do I think they were excited about playing?
Q. Instead of New Orleans or any other place?
COACH RICHT: I don't know, I think we were just excited to play in the Sugar Bowl, period.
One thing about this match-up was that there was -- there was no team we played this season that ran the offense that they ran like they do or as well as they do; and there's no defense that lined up the way this defense lined up. So it was just impossible to simulate what we were about to see and I felt like -- I really felt like it was going to take a little while to get used to both sides of the ball and the schemes that they ran. Didn't think that we would be down 28, but I wasn't surprised that we started out a little slow.
But I don't think it was a lack of effort or lack of excitement. I think West Virginia was extremely excited, and as I watched them execute and get after it, I think they probably brought just a little bit more emotion in the beginning. But I don't think our guys were flat; I think they just were extremely excited and they just did a beautiful job.
Q. Did you feel good when you had them backed up on the 5-yard line? And also Slaton, the two-yard runs, did they do anything special?
COACH RICHT: I felt good at that moment that we were in good shape. I thought if we got a stop there, we would really be in good shape and then all we need is a field goal to at least put it into over time or at least tie the game at that point.
No, they just ran their offense. They ran it to perfection, or near perfection, anyway. They didn't turn it over once. Their quarterback, you know, from what I could tell made the right decision almost every time on their zone read, their own option stuff, and you know, there's some times when we did not fit up the way we should in the running game, and that's when they got the big runs.
I know one, third and short, that busted big, we just did a poor job of not handling that gap. Sure enough, they ripped it right in there for a long gainer on third and short. But a few times -- that happened a few times, but great execution on their part.
Those guys are hard to tackle. Even when you get them in your sights and you call the right defense and you get guys in position, you've still got to get them down. Even though they didn't break long runs every time, even the times when they got the yards after contact, it reduced the yardage for them to where the great majority of their third downs were short.
Q. Fourth down, they line up in a punt; were you guys trying to get that return set up?
COACH RICHT: Oh, we were definitely looking for a return. We didn't think they would do that. Got to give them credit, it takes a lot of nerve to do that at that point. I don't even remember -- it was fourth and more than two or three, seemed like it was at least seven or eight or maybe even over ten.
I think they felt like even if they didn't make it, we still had to drive about 70 yards or so probably and their defense was playing pretty well throughout the night.
But if they made it, they figured the game was probably over and as it turned out it was, just a gutsy call and great execution.

End of FastScripts...

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NOKIA SUGAR BOWL: WEST VIRGINIA v GEORGIA

January 2, 2006

DeMario Minter

Mark Richt

D.J. Shockley