Georgia won a huge road game against a tough Notre Dame team 20-19 Saturday night.

The Bulldogs’ defense wreaked havoc on the Irish’s offense in the second half, even causing the game-clinching fumble in the closing minutes.

It was a big career win for Kirby Smart, and he has the UGA program on the rise.

Here’s what Notre Dame coach Brian Kelly said about Georgia after the game, according to ASAP Sports transcripts:

COACH KELLY: Well, certainly, you know, disappointed for my guys. They battled. Played hard. Proud of their effort. I mean, they continue to do exactly what I ask them to do. The credit should go to Georgia today. They made the plays in critical times; when they needed the big plays, they came up with them.

In a one-point game, there’s going to be a play or two that decides the game, and credit goes to Kirby Smart and the Georgia football team for making the critical plays when they were needed.

Nevertheless, I’m proud of my football team and the way they competed. They are going to learn from this game and they are going to grow from it, and they are going to be better because of it. Still, the loss hurts. It stings. But like I said, we’ll grow from it and be better as a football team because of it.

Q. Did you feel like Georgia may be the quickest defense you’ve faced in a long time?
COACH KELLY: Quickness wasn’t an issue for us today. You know, they were — you know, I knew coming in, they had great depth, and you know, at times we struggled with controlling any kind of continuity with the line of scrimmage. They are physical up front.

You know, we felt like if we could get the ball into the second level and into the secondary, we could have some success but we didn’t have at times the chance to do that.

Q. Georgia’s defense against you guys on first down, you’re second and long pretty much all night. Was that just a matter of they are that talented, or they were doing something in particular that threw you off?
COACH KELLY: No, they deserve the credit for getting us in the second-and-long. You know, we’re going through some — you know, we’re learning. Our quarterback is learning the tools of the trade. He’s getting, you know, different looks and different reads. It was three down and they brought a lot of pressure. They didn’t want to get him out on the edge. I thought he learned a lot tonight. This is a great game for him to grow from.

But they did a really good job up front. I mean, I’ve got to give them credit. They made it hard for us to establish a good rhythm offensively on first down and got us behind the chains. So I give them more of the credit.

Q. And just tackling for your defense, how did you feel like that improved?
COACH KELLY: Much better. You know, we had a couple of misfits on a jet sweep, and we didn’t get off a block here or there. But we played well enough defensively for us to go into a game like this and say, look, we’ve put our defense now in a better position that we can go and play with anyone.

We had three possessions with eight minutes and 30 seconds to go. We had our chances to win the game. Georgia was better than us up front. They deserve the credit. They made the plays when they needed to.