Following No. 1 Alabama’s 33-18 loss to No. 3 Georgia in the CFP National Championship, Nick Saban and several of his players met with the media. Here are the highlights of what the Crimson Tide had to say regarding their defeat at the hands of the national champion Bulldogs:
…Saban opened the press conference by declaring how proud he was of his team, including the fact it had the opportunity to play in the national title game against Georgia. Yet, after taking an 18-13 lead over the Bulldogs tonight with just over 10 minutes remaining in the final quarter, Alabama faltered at the end, allowing Georgia to score 20 unanswered points.
“I just feel really poorly that we didn't finish the game better than we did in the fourth quarter,” Saban said, “because we played a heck of a game against a heck of a team for the first three quarters of the game. [I] congratulate Georgia for the job that they did.”
…Saban was asked about the Bulldogs’ fourth-quarter comeback. The head coach provided some details regarding Georgia’s possessions, and then seemed irritated with the question.
“We still had an opportunity when it was 26-18, when we're going two-minute down the field to score a touchdown and go for two and tie the game and have a chance in overtime. And we threw a pick-6,” Saban said. “That's what happened. I assume you watched the game, but that's really what happened. And that's what it felt like.”
…For its first six offensive possessions of the game, Georgia was limited to six points—two field goals. However, the Bulldogs scored touchdowns on three of their final four possessions. According to Alabama junior nose guard DJ Dale, it wasn’t necessarily anything Georgia did differently which led to its instant success on offense.
“I wouldn't say anything changed. We just needed to do a better job stopping the run,” said Dale, who totaled two tackles. “[Georgia] didn't do really anything different. It was just on us stopping the run.”
Notably, after the Bulldogs rushed for only 26 yards on 13 carries in the first half, they gained 99 rushing yards on seven attempts in the third quarter alone.
…Still, the primary difference in the game, especially when compared to the first time the teams met in the SEC Championship—a 41-24 Alabama victory—was Georgia’s ability to contain Crimson Tide quarterback Bryce Young. In the first meeting, the Heisman Trophy-winning signal-caller picked apart the Bulldog defense, completing 26 of 44 passes for 421 yards, three touchdowns and no interceptions. He also rushed for 40 yards and a touchdown and was not sacked. Tonight, Young completed 39 of 57 passes for 369 yards. He passed for a touchdown, but was intercepted twice and sacked four times.
“They switched some things up,” Young said when asked about the Georgia defense compared to how it appeared in the SEC title game. “We knew that we might get some different looks. Some looks took me a little bit just to get down. … I think that they switched up some stuff, had different tendencies. And I have to process that faster, just make the right play for the team better than I did tonight. So, they changed some things, and I wasn't able to execute.”
…As is often the case, Saban was asked about Georgia head coach Kirby Smart, who was an assistant under Saban at LSU, the Miami Dolphins, and most notably at Alabama. The Crimson Tide’s head coach spoke glowingly of not only his one-time assistant, but also the team in which Smart just led to its first national championship in over 40 years.
“I love Kirby. I think Kirby has a lot of respect for us. He did a great job for us for a long time. If we had to lose a national championship, I'd rather lose one to one of the former assistants who certainly did a great job for us and has done a great job for his program and his team,” Saban said. “If any team deserves—they deserve it. [Georgia] played great all year. We were the only team to beat them in the SEC Championship game. And we just couldn't finish the game tonight like we wanted to.”
