The Georgia Bulldogs were beaten soundly by the Texas Longhorns Tuesday night 28-21.

The Bulldogs’ offense never could get in any rhythm all night, and Texas proved to be the more physical team. The Horns’ defense limited Georgia to just 72 rushing yards. Georgia’s special teams play and two turnovers proved costly, too.

Texas controlled the line of scrimmage from start to finish.

Kirby Smart met with the media following the loss to Texas, and below are his comments:

Opening Statement

“I’ll open with the City of New Orleans and Sugar Bowl staff. They do a tremendous job. Give our guys a lot of opportunities to grow. So many people talk about the fact the bowl games don’t mean as much anymore. Our players had an experience this week that they’ll remember the rest of their lives. It’s one of the best bowl games in the history of bowls.

“And I know these guys aren’t happy, nor am I, with the performance we had. We didn’t come out and play the way we’re capable of. But I certainly want to thank the people of New Orleans for hosting us.

“I also want to congratulate Texas. Tom [Herman] did a great job with his team and his program. They’ve gotten better throughout the season. They played more physical than us, and it showed to me that they wanted it more than we did. And you’ve got to give them credit for that.

“Also, I want to thank my seniors. We’ve got a group of seniors on this team that have — they came in as 30-something signees and it’s down to about six or seven or eight guys that are actually playing now out of that senior class, and that’s all that’s left is that group.

“And they bought into what this staff has wanted to do. They’ve led. They’ve done the hard things. And they’ve won a lot of football games, and they’ve helped turn this program the right direction. We’ve just got to find a way to finish it and do it the right way, and we’ll do that moving forward. Thank you.”

On how physical Texas was

“I wouldn’t say it surprised me. They’re league (Big 12) guys. People don’t respect their league like we do, especially from a scoring standpoint. They do a great job in their league of up tempo, fast.

“But when they have to play physical, they played physical. They did a good job of that. I thought their quarterback managed the game well with his quarterback run play. He really hurt us. We missed tackles and didn’t finish on him defensively. And then we weren’t really able to run the ball like we like to consistently and give Texas credit. They did a good job stopping that.”

On Georgia’s focus for the Sugar Bowl

“I think that would be easy to say, but I certainly don’t think that when you go to a meeting that’s what you’re thinking about. You’re thinking about Texas. When you’re on the practice field, you’re thinking about Texas. We’re prepared for Texas.

“We prepared for Texas for a long time. That would be an easy excuse to use. I’m not touching that because it has nothing to do. We had an opponent to play, a good football team in which our team was focused on ready to play.

“I think in the world of social media it’s easy to say things. But 15, 20 years ago you didn’t know what kids were thinking because they didn’t have the ability to tweet it out or show it. Now, their thoughts change every ten seconds.

“So just because they tweet something emotional during that time, that doesn’t matter. It gives the other team motivation. But our team was motivated to play Texas. Texas outplayed us, outcompeted us. They outcoached us. They out physicaled [sic] us. They did a lot of things better than us, and I think you give Tom [Herman] a lot of credit.”

You can watch Kirby Smart’s full press conference below: