Nick Saban and the Alabama Crimson Tide lost to the Georgia Bulldogs in the national title 33-18 Monday night.

UGA took over the game in the second half and outscored the Tide 27-9. Alabama quarterback Bryce Young finished 35-of-57 for 369 yards, 1 touchdown and 2 INTs. Once his best receiver Jameson Williams left the game due to a knee injury, Georgia’s defense started to settle in and eventually the lack of weapons on the outside had a significant impact on the outcome.

Tight end Cameron Latu finished with an Alabama high 5 catches for 102 yards and 1 touchdown.

For Georgia, Stetson Bennett finished 17-of-26 for 224 yards and 2 touchdowns in the victory.

Nick Saban spoke to the media following the Tide’s loss to the Bulldogs, and below is everything he said about the Georgia Bulldogs.

Opening Statement

“I’m extremely proud of this group, our team, for what they were able to accomplish this year, the adversity that they overcame.

“They’re a really great bunch of winners. They won going away this year. They came from behind and won, and won close games to have the opportunity to play in this game.

“And I just feel really poorly that we didn’t finish the game better than we did in the fourth quarter, because we played a heck of a game against a heck of a team for the first three quarters of the game.

“Congratulate Georgia for the job that they did, but nobody can take the SEC Championship away from this team, the Cotton Bowl championship. And I’m extremely proud of everything that this team had to overcome to get to this position to have an opportunity to win the national championship. We just didn’t finish the way we needed to finish.”

What Nick Saban told Kirby Smart after the game

“You know, Kirby asked about J-Mo. And I will answer for Bryce. J-Mo was a great player for us all year. He made a lot of explosive plays. And I think anytime you lose players like him and John Metchie it certainly has some impact on how you can perform offensively. And Bryce is a great quarterback. He had a great year.

“But at the same time, when you play quarterback, players have to play well around you, and we had some guys step up tonight and get some opportunities and they did some good things.

“But 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.

“If any team deserves — they deserve it. They 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.

“But I think Kirby has done a really really good job there. I congratulated him on the win. I’m really proud of him. And I’m proud of the way he’s been able to coach his team and the consistency that they’ve played with all year.”