ATHENS — Georgia has turned the page from its season-opening win over UT-Martin and is now readying for its next game against Ball State.

The Bulldogs will take on the visiting Cardinals this weekend, with the game starting at 12 p.m. ET on the SEC Network. Georgia is coming off a 48-7 win over UT-Martin.

And while the final score shows a dominant win, Smart knows his team has plenty to clean up.

Below is a full transcript of Smart’s remarks from Monday.

Opening statement...

“On to Ball State, for us. They’ve got a really good football team. I don’t know their coach, Mike Neu, well but I get to meet him obviously. Got a lot of respect for their conference. We played Kent State out of their conference last year and the MAC has done an incredible job of creating a good football environment and some really good football teams. We got to put last game to bed this morning, which we don’t usually get to do on Monday. But with no school, we’re able to jump ahead. So this afternoon we’ll jump into Ball State and get prepared for them.”

On how the offensive line played...

“Probably less on them and more on us. UT-Martin did a good job of changing some things up. We had some plans to handle things a different way and they did a couple things to hurt us. It probably hurt our offensive line more than our offensive line didn’t play well. We probably have to do a better job helping them out. In game adjustments, things like that. I think they played better in the second half. They pass protected well, really in the first and second half. We didn’t run the ball particularly well in the first half and that probably led to some of the issues we had.”

On the improvements he wants to see made in Week 2...

“God, a lot. There are so many things we can get better at. Every coach in the country is saying that you get better from game 1 to game 2, that’s the biggest jump you make. So if that’s the case, then there is a lot of areas to improve in. Certainly. Turnovers on defense. Pursuit angles, we got cutback on several times. Offensively, being able to be explosive in the run game, convert on third downs. There are a lot of things. Special teams, I didn’t think we didn’t dominate in any way in special teams like we’re capable of. I can’t pinpoint any one way.”

On Ball State running back Marquez Cooper...

“Downhill, really physical. Power runner. Good back. Our guys were talking about just this morning. About how powerful he is and how ironic it is that you’re getting to play him again at a different school in the same conference. We have a lot of respect for him.”

On finding rhythm on defense...

“I think rhythm is a weird thing on defense.  Rhythm to me is 3-and-out, 3-and-out, 3-and-out, 3-and-out. That’s not realistic, right. That’s not going to happen in today’s and age.  People have the ability to get first downs, be explosive. There are so many different ways to run offense. You can go really fast, go on the perimeter, trick people, go right at people. There are just lots of options. Offenses are so much more elaborate now than they’ve ever been. Defining rhythm for a defense is not necessarily easy. Rhythm to me is havoc-related. When we would be in our best rhythm is when we’re creating our most havoc, tackles for loss, PBUs, interceptions, sacks. We didn’t hit our havoc goal the other day. We played decent on defense but you can’t hit your havoc goal if they get the ball out in 2.1 seconds. It’s hard to do that. You have to bat balls, force turnovers and we didn’t do that.”

On EJ Lightsey’s status...

“He’s dealing with an injury. Can’t remember exactly, but he’s had some shoulder pain, some back pain from a high school injury. He’s been fighting that. Hopeful to get him back.”

On overseeing the walk-ons, anything different for them...

“I hold walk-ons in the highest regard. As we recruit them, we explain to them that they will not be treated any differently. They’ll be treated just the same and afforded the same opportunities. I think if you asked the walk ons that question - we had a kid stand up in one of our connection meetings and I thought he did a tremendous job, we said to him, ‘Explain to everybody what it’s like to be a walk on.’ He might tell you that’s different, that you don’t get the first shot, you have to really truly earn it and go out there and work, be a part of the scout team and out work people. We’ve had some guys do that. We show Prather Hudson examples all the time. The first year I was here he was busting long runs repeatedly on our defense, and he earned his way to a scholarship. Really good player. We have opportunities for that. When it comes to team meetings, you sit by your class, hierarchy in the locker room it’s not like there’s a room over here for walk ons. I hold walk ons in a high regard, and it’s very personal to me that they get treated like everyone else. Now, I can’t say that every one of them would say that, but I certainly try to do that.”

On trying to double up around halftime, what happened with the run play on 1st and Goal...

“Bad deal, man. Bad deal. To be honest with you, it’s just a miscue not knowing how close it was to the goal line and probably making a decision too fast. We spend a lot of time on moments like that, and I take a lot of pride on moments like that. Should never happen, but making a decision fast like that, sometimes you don’t make the right decision. We had enough time, we actually got the ball snapped without losing any time on the clock. The decision was about thinking it was actually closer than it was, and it cost us at least one play.”

On Jarvis Jones’ arrest...

“There will be internal discipline. It’s a personnel matter. I really can’t comment further on it.”

On Ladd McConkey, Daijun Edwards and the plan to get them up to speed...

“Daijun we feel like could’ve played in that game. He practiced, he warmed up, he did everything leading up to the game. He’s actually had this injury before - can’t remember if it was Vanderbilt or during the off week last year - very similar injury. We feel good about him. I haven’t seen him practice today, so I don’t know that, but we feel good about Daijun and thought he could have gone last week.

Ladd, he’s day to day. We thought he might be able to go last week, and he was really a game time decision. Didn’t feel good on Friday so we held him on Saturday. He’s running today, but he’s dealing with some back pain that’s been lingering for him.”

On Carson Beck’s performance and maybe dealing with nerves...

“(laughs) I don’t understand you guys sometimes. I really don’t. I thought Carson played... I thought just like I did when I looked at it as when I came in there and talked to y’all Saturday night. I thought Carson played really well. I thought he played composed. I’m trying to think of the throws that were just awful or erratic and I didn’t see that. Now, the one third down, he admittedly threw the ball a little bit behind, thinking Dom (Dominic Lovett) was sitting down. Dom broke in, which Dom was correct. He missed him on that throw. Outside of that, there’s going to be incompletions in games. There’s going to be looks that maybe they fool you with that you didn’t see in the week in the scouting report but his run-check game, his carrying out his fakes, his decisions in the pocket, him throwing the ball away. I mean, I thought the guy, for a first start, did well.”

On Mekhi Mews and Dan Jackson and awarding any walk-ons scholarships...

“Yeah I’m not big into talking about the scholarships. We have multiple guys who’ve gotten them outside of the one time in the Notre Dame locker room we awarded Rod (Rodrigo Blankenship). I learned a valuable lesson in that. I don’t think that’s always worth the publicity you get. I think sometimes you can do more damage than good with guys who maybe feel like they deserve one. We keep that internal and if it gets out, it gets out. But Dan and Mews have been tremendous. There’s another 20 walk-ons that go out and practice so hard every day that you don’t get to see because they maybe don’t have quite the ability or their not quite as high on the depth chart. So I really respect all those guys and it’s a credit to Mews who came in here and wanted an opportunity to compete, earned it. We saw him in high school and he was high on our preferred walk-on list. He earned it. He came out and really competed and did a great job. I think everybody on the team would tell you he has earned what he has gotten by the way he practices.”

On Carson’s run checks and how much freedom the QB has at the line...

“There’s parameters you give them. There’s runs that have checks. There’s runs that have checks from run to run. There’s run that have checks from run to pass. There’s certain looks you’re allowed to check to pass. Every week we package those but not every play has those. So there’s sometimes you’re gonna sit back, as you guys can do and we can do as coaches, you can second guess and say ‘well, he should have thrown that ball” because it had an option to throw. Then there’s the check to a throw, which is completely different than a run-pass option. So it’s really complicated and elaborate but he did what he was coached to do. He did exactly the things we want him to do. If they get too outside, we’re checking this. If they’ve got this, we’re doing this. He followed those and he’s already done that. He did that all last year under coach Monken. So he did it in practice because he had to be ready to play. If they’ve got this coming, we can’t run that play. We’ve got to go over here and do this play. So not every play has that because some plays are fast ball, some plays are speed break. Every play has it’s own identity but he’s very bright. He understands it. We’re lucky that we can do some of the things we can do because he’s like Stetson (Bennett) in that way. He’s been in the system long enough to handle the volume.”

On freshman linebacker CJ Allen...

“The praise I have for CJ Allen is not more about his performance, but his ability to handle information and play within our defensive scheme at the signal caller position. That position? You go comb the country, you’re not gonna see a ton of freshmen linebackers that are out there playing, making the calls. That is impressive. As far as how he played, I think he had some jitters, I think he was nervous. I think a lot of our guys were — anxiety there. You have to go out and play in your first college game. I mean, I can’t imagine going straight from high school to being out there and playing and he got afforded that opportunity and he played okay, but he’s really bright.”

On Brian Kelly’s reference to Georgia and what it says about Georgia as a program...

“Says you’re one week away from humility. All it says is how are we going to practice today.”

On what he made of Earnest Greene’s first start...

“Yeah it’s interesting, I was just talking to Earnest going out there and in my mind I see Earnest like this: man he’s been out there all spring, he’s competed, he’s played, he’s in his second and third year and you forget that, that was his first game in, I guess two years from high school and he’s not had to play. He didn’t even get to play, you gotta think about when guys got to play last year in the games we had a lead, he didn’t never got that. Now my expectation is he plays to the level of a starter. He flashes at times to be sudden, quick, do everything right and then he had a couple of plays where he didn’t and I’m like ‘you know what, that’s no different than CJ Allen. That’s no different than how Dillon Bell was last year. [Greene’s] gonna go through those WTF moments I call them and it’s inevitable that they’re gonna have them and he had a couple, but he also had a couple really, really good plays. I’m excited for what he can do if he continues to grow and get better. He can’t have those moments.”

On Kendall Milton’s recovery...

“Kendall’s dying to get out there. He’s got a great heart, great soul. He loves this program. He’ll give anything to this program and it kills him not to be out there. He has not been able to practice most of camp due to his injury. We’re dealing with a little bit now with, how does he stay warm? He’s used to playing, right? He plays in a rotation at running back, but he played in on all the special teams. Well now he’s not doing that, so when he’s not in on offense, he sits over there, he gets cold, he’s gotta stay warm, he goes in at halftime, leg tightens up and he doesn’t have what I call the camp stamina. You know, he didn’t really go through camp. He worked out, he ran, he did what he had to do, but he could not get himself in playing shape just by camp, so we’re really battling that now to get him back right. I think he said himself, if you asked him, he said ‘I’m at about 92%’ that what he was quoted at. Now, I don’t think his stamina is at 92%, I think when he’s 100% conditioned, he’s at 92%. We’re trying to fight that to get him back. It’s a delicate line, right? Do you bring him back, try to play him and get him in shape or you sit him on the shelf and you don’t get him carries. That action that he got the other day was like scrimmage one and two. He didn’t get to play in those.”

On the offensive coordinator helping guys play through jitters...

“Yeah, I don’t think you can say it’s up to a coordinator to settle the players. You certainly can call it conservatively to try to figure where we are, where the guys are. You’ve got two backs that have played and never carried a ball. You’ve got a quarterback that’s never started. You’ve got two starting receivers I know of out, one that’s played a lot and Meeks out. So there’s a lot of new pieces of the puzzle, let’s say. And I have high expectations for all those guys, but there’s a little anxiety there and a little bit of let’s figure out where we are.

And when you take the gloves off and say, ‘Alright, let Carson go play,’ then he goes and he plays well. And those guys did, too. I mean, think about CJ Smith and Rara and Dom for the plays they’ve made — and it’s different for Rara and Dom. I can’t explain it because they’ve made plays in our league, but they haven’t made them here.”

On Marcus Rosemy-Jacksaint’s availability and what Georgia loses when he is not available...

“Yeah, Marcus is going to be available to play. The number one thing we miss is leadership. I mean, the guy is incredible as a leader. He stands up, admits when he made a mistake, and he is one of the toughest, most competitive — like, the practice today for him will be like the Super Bowl, and every day is like that for him. I mean, he sets an example in that room that I think it embodies our receiver room. I haven’t been around a receiver room that actually cares as much about blocking as these guys do, and they do that because their leader has that personality.”

On Smael Mondon’s limited play and how close he is to being fully back...

“He’s close. We felt like in some sub situations he would be able to play. I thought he played [more than one snap]. I didn’t chart it, so I don’t know. But I know the play you’re talking about over on our sideline. That’s the only one I remember. But he feels good. He feels healthy. It’s another one of those deals where can he get in shape by running and playing without wearing his legs out and staying fresh. So he looks good out there, and we expect him to be able to play. I mean, he was cleared to go this week, and it was one of those where we were going to be as safe as we could.”

On the outside linebacker room and their play against UT Martin...

“Well, we didn’t get to see a whole lot. In the run game, I think they did a good job. Chaz had several good closes, several good plays setting edges. I mean, the things that hurt us in terms of quarterback run was not always on them. So we got hurt on quarterback runs several times where it was couple times the linebacker, one time the safety. I mean, it was different things.

We didn’t really get a chance to drop back pass and say, ‘Can you get home in 3.5 seconds?’ Fifty percent of sacks happen after four seconds. I don’t know if they had a pass that lasted over four seconds. It’s just the same song, different year of if the ball’s going to get out quick, what are your answers and how can we grow those guys? We need growth in that room because there’s like this big level race. It’s like all these guys that are kind of in the same spot, and no one has done that [gone up]. And we need somebody to step up in there.”

On Ball State’s play against Kentucky...

“Very impressed, both sides of the ball. You’re right: It’s 7-3 they’re up on Kentucky in the second. I watched the game. I’m like, ‘Man, these guys are a really good team.’ Now we had watched them in the offseason ‘cause we wouldn’t have but one game on them [this season]. Young quarterback’s playing really well. They do a good job of mixing it up in terms of bringing the athletic quarterback in. They’ve had some tough injuries, but they have a really good football team.”