The Georgia Bulldogs practiced two-hours Wednesday, Sept. 30, in preparation for the first home game of the season versus Auburn University.

The Bulldogs will kick off against the Tigers in Sanford Stadium at 7:30 p.m., ET, on ESPN. Before practice, Georgia head coach Kirby Smart participated in the SEC Football Weekly Media Teleconference and provided an update on the Bulldogs. Following practice, Kearis Jackson and Justin Shaffer offered these comments on the contest with Auburn.

Selected comments from Smart and the student-athletes follow:

Coach Kirby Smart
Opening Statement
“This is a big game at home. We are excited about College Gameday being here and a top-10 matchup- which is what the SEC is all about. You have an opportunity to play a great program at Auburn. Gus [Malzahn] and them have done a tremendous job—always have. Their kids play with tremendous toughness, very physical team. Every time we play them, although it’s usually later in the year, it’s extremely physical.”

On keeping D’Wan Mathis’ mentally focused this season and an update on JT Daniels…
“Well, with the D’Wan [Mathis] question, he is working. He’s continuing to work. He’s getting better. He’s growing as a player. He has learned from some of his mistakes, and [we’re] trying to get the players around him to play better too so that allows him to have success. Really the same thing with JT [Daniels], he’s continuing to work. He’s doing a great job—glad he’s cleared because he is able to play now. We’re excited to see him and see what he does.”

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By John Frierson
Staff Writer

Lewis Cine graduated from Trinity Christian School in Cedar Hill, Texas, but the Georgia football defensive back is a Boston-area guy at heart. The Bulldog sophomore grew up mostly in Everett, Mass., and that is home, that is the placed that shaped him as a football player and as a man.

Cine (pronounced like “seen”) had six tackles in the Bulldogs’ 37-10 season-opening win at Arkansas on Saturday, and he said during a Quick Chat on Monday that it felt really good to be back playing again after the season was delayed because of the coronavirus pandemic. He also talked about loving mom’s cooking, how he got into football and much more.

Here’s some of what he had to say:

Frierson: Just how good did it feel to take the field and play a game Saturday, for the first time in almost 10 months?

Cine: It felt amazing to be back, to actually be able to play against someone other than ourselves. In practice we go against each other a whole lot and to finally play a different team and see something different was a lot of fun.

Frierson: What did you think of the special uniforms?

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Georgia head coach Kirby Smart and players Azeez Ojulari and Nate McBride offered the following comments after practice Tuesday, Sept. 29.

Kirby Smart, Head Coach (Full transcript)
On how he felt with Jack Podlesny as kicker going into the first game against Arkansas and how he got the starting job…
“I thought he did a tremendous job. He had a lot of composure. Trust me, it was not easy for him to win that job. There were a lot more intense battles throughout our 26-26 practices for him to get to that point. He’s done a great job. The best thing about him is he’s improved. Rod [Rodrigo Blankenship] was here and he was kicking with Coach [Scott] Fountain and those guys and working each day and didn’t really stand out, and he stood out this year. He’s done a great job. He’s really been impressive with his kick-offs. He kind of won that job first in camp, and then he continued to battle at field goals with Jared Zerkel and Jake Camarta, and he ended up winning the job. He’s a great young man. He does a great job. I know his high school coach [Rocky Hidalgo] really well, and he bragged on him all the time. Rocky Hidalgo told me how good he was, and [Jack] came to us, walked on, and he’s done a great job so far.”

On the performance of UGA’s defensive line and how much freshmen Jalen Carter and Warren Ericson have helped bolster the rotations…
“They’ve both done a good job. They’re a work in progress. Like most freshmen, they’ve had some mistakes. They were able to go in and play and the kid who didn’t get to make the trip based on sheer numbers but is playing really well. The one thing I’ve learned is how much better kids get during the season by going to the scout team. Warren [Ericson] goes down there, Jalen [Carter] goes down there, Naz [Nazir Stackhouse] goes down there. Naz has gotten reps in and is getting so much better by going against Trey Hill and Justin [Shaffer] every day. They just get so much work, and it makes you realize how much faster you can get better. Those guys have helped bolster the rotation for sure.”

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The Georgia Bulldogs vs. The Auburn Tigers

Game & Broadcast Info

Due to the delayed start of the 2020 season because of the pandemic along with Georgia starting its season on the road, Saturday will mark the Bulldogs’ home opener. The Oct. 3 home opener will be the latest in Georgia history since the 1966 SEC champions made their Sanford Stadium season debut on Oct. 8. It was the fourth game of the year and the Bulldogs beat Ole Miss 9-3.

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University of Georgia head football coach Kirby Smart and several Bulldog student-athletes offered the following comments on Monday.

Head Coach Kirby Smart

Opening statement … 

“I am excited to be here. We have a big game this week. This is one of the most traditional rivalries in all of college football. I think any time you talk about Georgia-Auburn, you talk about rivalry. They’ve got a lot of kids from our state. They recruit our state hard. There are a lot of ties between the two universities — always has been. It’s been a big game. I never remember it being game two, that’s for sure, so that is very unique in that we will be playing them pretty early. I have a lot of respect for their coordinators — Coach [Kevin] Steele, Chad [Morris] — both really good. I think what Chad has done for their offense really shows on tape. The ability to use their skill and get their skill players the ball from different locations. You can see it showing up already, and they’ve done a great job of that.

“I’ve got a lot of respect for Gus [Malzahn] and the organization he has put together. They have recruited well, they have really good players, top-10 team in the country, so it should be a great ball game, great atmosphere. I certainly wish we could have 93,000 there, but we won’t be able to do that, so we will do the best we can with the crowd we’ve got, and we will need them to be loud. I thought that Arkansas’ group was good and loud last week, and the atmosphere will be really good for that this week as well. So, we are excited for that.

“I know you guys will want to ask the quarterback question, and you will want to ask it all week. All I can tell you is that we are going to continue to work with all the guys we’ve got to put the best guy in there to give us the best opportunity to win the football games. D’Wan [Mathis] did not play as bad as it seemed to some. I thought he did some good things watching the tape, and he had some unfortunate bad breaks that happened while he was in a quarterback. JT [Daniels] will be cleared, but I don’t know how much that changes the picture in terms of reps and development. We will be looking at everybody across the board. JT has got to be able to show us that he can function efficiently and do it with his knee being able to do it. We always thought he would be cleared by this time anyway, but those guys will all compete as well as Carson [Beck] will too and will continue to grow at the quarterback position. With that, I’ll open it up.”

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37

 UGA 1-0 , 1-0

10

AR 0-1 , 0-1

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Overcoming early offensive struggles and a halftime deficit, the fourth-ranked Georgia Bulldogs (1-0, 1-0 SEC) opened the 2020 season with a 37-10 victory over the Arkansas Razorbacks (0-1, 0-1 SEC) Saturday afternoon before 16,500 spectators at Donald W. Reynolds Razorback Stadium and an SEC Network audience.

With the victory, Georgia improved to 97-27-3 all-time in season openers, including a 5-0 mark under head coach Kirby Smart. Wearing throwback uniforms honoring the 1980 national championship team, the Bulldogs increased their series advantage over the Razorbacks to an 11-4 margin.

“We didn’t execute well early, and when we did, we had penalties,” said Smart. “I thought the defense played with a lot of heart, but we’re not going to beat many football teams playing like we played.”

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Slow Start For Offense, Then Bennett Leads Comeback:
Trailing 7-5 heading into the second half, Georgia exploded for 22 points in the 3rd quarter on its way to a 37-10 win. It was a combination of offense, defense and special teams that sparked the Bulldog comeback and improve Kirby Smart to 5-0 in season openers and Georgia all-time at 97-27-3 in openers. Georgia now leads the all-time series with Arkansas 11-4.

With four first-time starters on offense including redshirt freshman quarterback D’Wan Mathis, Georgia tallied three points on 177 yards in the first half. In the 2ndquarter, Georgia came through with a safety for its first points. It was the first safety since the 2016 season opener against UNC. Mathis returned midway in the 4thquarter.

With 10:07 left in the first half, junior Stetson Bennett came in at QB and finished the day 20-for-29 for 211 yards and 2 TDs, all career highs. Today marked the first time Georgia had a new starting signal-caller since 2016 as Jake Fromm had started the past 42 games. Fromm is now in the NFL with Buffalo.

In the second half, Bennett directed a six-play, 57-yard go-ahead TD drive, capped by a 19-yard touchdown pass to George Pickens (4-for-47 yards, 1 TD). It gave the Bulldogs their first lead of the game. Then Bennett covered a two-point conversion, scampering in to make it 13-10. It was Bennett’s third career TD pass and Pickens ninth TD catch.  Zamir White’s six-yard run capped a 13-play, 81-yard drive for a 34-10 lead with 11:15 left. Kearis Jackson led the team in receiving with a career-high six catches for 62 yards and two punt returns for 34 yards.

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