Georgia Tech quoteboard

TEVIN WASHINGTON

On passes being open against 9-man front:

We had put it on the check. The pass I threw to Embry (Peeples), we had put in a check for that because last year when we played them, we saw how they were lining the safeties really wide and they were leaving the middle of the field wide open. We wanted to take advantage of that.

On responding to coach Paul Johnson’s challenge to take care of business:

I think we responded well. At times, it wasn’t always perfect, it wasn’t always a good at times, but the end result is we finished out strong and got the win. We got the result we came here for.

It’s like that every week but this week, there was more emphasis on taking care of business. We worked too hard all year, all offseason, to come here and not take care of business, not finish the way we want to.

On the first-down run to run out the clock:

Coach (Paul) Johnson just told me to get the first down. He was like, the sprint-out, there shouldn’t be anybody out there. You should be able to just sprint around the edge and get the first down.

On receivers making adjustments to make catches:

When they make an adjustment, it gets your confidence up. Guys go out there, make a play for you, you go out there and try to make a play for them.

EMBRY PEEPLES

On not having Orwin Smith:

It was a little different, because you normally have that power at that position that we usually get from Big O. We still just have to come out here and play the same like he was there.

On his race to the pilon for his touchdown run:

It was a little closer than I thought. I was thinking Roddy (Jones) was going to get the safety down and he kind of chipped him and he kind of stayed on his feet and stumbled up. It made it a little more difficult, but the end result is I got there. That’s all that matters.

JEREMIAH ATTAOCHU

On if it was difficult to get into the flow of the game after halftime:

Not really. I mean, football is what we do. We step on the field, it’s time to go. It doesn’t take long to go. Mentally, I was ready to go and physically, I felt like I was ready to go in, too. So I just went in relaxed. I didn’t try to be a savior or anything. l just went in to play my role on defense.

On the penalties extending drives:

That’s definitely a concern. The funny thing about it is, it’s an easy thing to fix. We know exactly what’s wrong. That’s an easy problem to fix. We’re definitely going to fix it, be more disciplined.

STEVEN SYLVESTER

On Georgia:

We definitely want to go out on a good note. Georgia’s had our number the past couple years. They just keep rebuilding and reloading. Georgia’s always going to be a good football team, so we’re going to have to really be on our game when it comes to next Saturday.

DUKE NOSE TACKLE CHARLIE HATCHER

Being one of the defensive tackles, we came out wanting to stop the dives, and they were able to get some yards on dives on occasion, and we can’t let that happen. Then there were some pass plays and some outside running plays. You have to stop those big plays from happening by holding them to under three yards. We were able to do that on a lot of drives, but not every one of them, so it kind of hurt us.