Although it wasn’t the desired outcome that Kirby Smart and Georgia wanted, Smart knows his team will be back and his program is just getting started.

ASAP Sports had the complete transcript of Smart’s postgame interview with the media:

KIRBY SMART: This was an incredible opportunity for the University of Georgia. It’s our privilege to represent the institution, our fans and players, in what I think is one of the greatest events in all of sports, the College Football Playoff system.

We thank the committee for the treatment they gave us here in Atlanta and also out in Pasadena. I’d also like to take this opportunity to thank President Morehead and Greg McGarity, showing support in our team and our program, investing in us. We told our team that this game wouldn’t be decided by past traditions or anything else. It was going to be decided by performances that happened on the field. Our guys performed on the field, competed.

I can’t say enough about the remarkable senior class. These two young men sitting next to me, they meant more to Georgia than yards. A lot of heart and soul. A lot of fire. Sony Michel came over and talked to the group several times during the game, inspired those guys. But in overtime we didn’t finish when we had to and Alabama did. Give them credit, but I think everybody can see that Georgia’s going to be a force to be reckoned with.

I’m very proud of this team and this university, and we’re not going anywhere.

Q. Looking back now, your first experience in a Playoff or a National Championship Game as a head coach, how was it different than when you were a coordinator, and were there any surprises in this position?
KIRBY SMART: Not really any surprises. It obviously helped a lot having done that from a coordinator’s position. So we saw how to manage the turnaround, the quick turnaround, recovery for the team, how much to practice, where to travel, where to practice. There’s a lot of things that go into the decision-making process that I thought really helped having done that before.

Obviously, the first time managing games from a head coaching position is making decisions on going for it, punting the ball, those are different. But not a whole lot different, to be honest with you, being head coach from being defensive coordinator.

Q. They go to Tua in the second half. Was that something you expected to see in this game?
KIRBY SMART: Yes, absolutely. We talked long about it and talked about the ways we play him. We played enough snaps. We’d seen him on tape. We told everybody at halftime there was no question they were going to him because they were struggling and they needed some momentum. He provided them some juice, got them some momentum, got the momentum swung back their way.

He’s a good player. He’s got confidence in his arm. He scrambles and makes plays, throws the ball down the field. He’s a really talented freshman, reminds you of Jake with a lot of things he did. He’s got poise in the pocket, and he made the plays when he had to.

Q. Obviously, with Jake tonight, he hit a bunch of third downs, hits the 80-yard touchdown pass. Just talk about his performance in this spot as a freshman.
KIRBY SMART: You know, Jake’s a special kid. He’s a gamer. He understands the game of football. He sees spacing on the field. He sees guys open, very accurate passer. I mean, I think, if you want to find out about Jake Fromm, go ask those guys on the other side of the ball, and they’ll tell you because that’s a really good defense he just went against.

These guys over here pounded the rock, had some hard, tough earned yards. It’s as physical and big as a defense there is, and Jake Fromm really did some nice things in the game.

He continues to grow. He had some freshman mistakes. You can’t take a sack in that situation, and Rodrigo bailed him out. And then throwing the ball into the helmet and getting an interception was tough, but he certainly kept us in the game with his decision making.

Q. What was the mindset going into overtime? Obviously, you guys were in this position just a week ago, having it go into overtime.
KIRBY SMART: Mindset in overtime is pretty much common across college football. You want to play defense. We lost pretty much every coin toss we’ve had. We lost the one before the game in Pasadena and we lost the one in overtime in Pasadena. We lost the one before this game, and we lost the one in overtime. We’ve got to get some new guys to call the coin toss or something.

But you want to play defense first and find out what the other team’s got. Fortunately, we’ve got a good field goal kicker who drilled it, had ice in his veins and made a huge kick that I’ll never forget to put us in a situation to have a chance to win, and then we couldn’t close it out defensively.

Q. Coach, kind of expanding on a couple of things you mentioned here about Jake and his growth and the fact that Georgia’s not going anywhere. Obviously, it hurts for the seniors, but what do you feel like you learned from it, from a game like this for your underclassmen to be able to come back stronger with that? Or is that something that you don’t even think about for a couple days yet?
KIRBY SMART: Yeah, I don’t really know. I do know this, and I want to say this. The standard’s been set by these young men right here. I can’t put into words what these seniors mean. We’re running out of the tunnel tonight, and this guy over here next to me, 27 comes by me and says, I’ll go anywhere with you, and I’ll follow you anywhere, and I’ll fight for you because I believe in you. And that meant more to me than anything.

The way he practices, the way he’s in every meeting, the way he carries himself, the way Sony Michel affects players on our team, Isaiah Wynn, Roquan, all these guys have been incredible leaders. And if we have that kind of leadership, there’s no doubt. The sky’s the limit. Because these guys are hungry. I just hope the younger class doesn’t take it for granted that it’s just going to happen. You’ve got to make it happen, and they’ve got to believe that.

Q. Coach, before the season, I know externally, myself included, a lot of questions about the offensive line, and going against Alabama. I mean, you know it, most seasons they’re the gold standard in the front seven. How pleased were you with the offensive line? The development through the season, but especially tonight going against that bunch.
KIRBY SMART: That’s a big, big bunch, and our offensive line fought, Isaiah Wynn fought, Lamont Gaillard fought, Kendall Baker, they fought tooth and nail. They hammered. I’m just sick for these kids. They deserved to win. Sony Michel made some runs tonight. I’m talking about just willed himself to five and six yards and we talked about that, that five and six-yard runs are really good against these guys, and the offense did an incredible job of doing that.

Q. Coach, you came out today seemingly passing the ball more. Was that out of respect for their defense and you just knew that you needed more passing yards if you were going to win this thing?
KIRBY SMART: Yeah, I think — I don’t know if they’re first in rush defense in the country, I don’t know. But they’ve got big guys up front. It’s hard to run the ball against Alabama. It’s really tough. That’s what makes them great. They’ve got depth in the front. Nick does a tremendous job of recruiting defensive linemen and they make it really hard to run the ball. So we wanted to be able to throw it and loosen them up. I thought Jake did a good job, and in the end we were able to run the ball some. But when it mattered most and counted most, we couldn’t close it out and run the ball for first downs and it probably hurt us.