Everything Kirby Smart and Ryan Day said on the eve of the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl

KIRBY SMART: I think physicality is part of this game. It’s a major part of every football game. When you look across the board, and you do studies on these semifinals and final playoff games since the playoff started, physicality at the line of scrimmage has been really critical.

You look across the board, teams that run the ball well tend to win these games. Also, red area, third down, and explosive plays are indicators, but the line of scrimmage play and physicality, but physicality can be a lot of different ways. It can be on the perimeter. It can be on special teams. It can be a lot of different ways of looking at it.

I’ve got a lot of respect for both conferences because, when you play in a bowl game, you get to watch the other conference all the way through. You get to see all these teams they play, and you have a lot of respect for the conference that you’re playing. They have great physicality in that conference, always have, and we respect that.

RYAN DAY: I agree with everything Kirby said. That’s the way the game is played. It’s football, and you have to play physical. When you’re playing in the CFP, certainly it’s going to be the most physical game you’ve played allseason. The SEC and the Big Ten coming together, like you said, for years, two of the most physical conferences there are out there.

So it’s everybody on the field. It’s like you got the perimeter game out there. You’ve got special teams. You have the game in the trenches. You have to win your one-on-one battles. That’s what this game is all about. It’s about running around hitting people. That’s to be expected in a game like this.