Georgia linebacker Nolan Smith describes his reaction to losing the SEC Championship Game: 'I cried'

Georgia linebacker Nolan Smith isn’t afraid to let everyone know he got extremely emotional after his team’s 41-24 defeat at the hands of the Alabama Crimson Tide in the SEC Championship Game.

“Want the honest to God truth?” Smith asked. “I cried. I’m 20 now. I’ve been playing football since I was 4 — 16 years, haven’t won anything. Haven’t won a championship. I won a couple of bowl games but anything big, any championship I never won yet,” the Georgia linebacker said.

“And that’s one thing that keeps me going. That’s just something in the back of my head that I know that keeps me driving and I just want to win. I could care less how it gets done, how pretty it looks; I just want to win and play ball,” he said.

Smith’s honesty about crying after the big game is refreshing on a number of levels. When a college football player makes it to the SEC Championship game, it isn’t the pinnacle of the sport but it’s pretty darn close. Simply put, it’s one of the most difficult accomplishments in college football just getting to the SEC Championship Game, let alone winning it.

For Georgia to get to that big of a game against Alabama and to get blown out like they did, there’s no question it had to sting and sting badly.

Because odds are in order to win the SEC Championship or the national championship, you’ll have to go through the mighty Alabama football machine.

The mighty Alabama Crimson Tide have been outrageously good for nearly all of Nick Saban’s tenure there.

The Bulldogs were blown out a few weeks ago, and now Smith and company get their shot at redemption.

In life, people don’t get too many second chances in a lot of things, but the Georgia Bulldogs get the rare second chance against Alabama in the same season.

This upcoming national championship game could very well be the biggest game in Georgia football history. There are tons of questions that college football fans will get the answers to.

Questions that Georgia will get the answer to in the national championship game

Can Alabama’s offensive line have another once in a decade performance like they did in the SEC Championship Game? Can the Crimson Tide block Georgia’s dominant front seven like that in back-to-back games? Those are two of the biggest questions Georgia fans want to know. There are others. Will Stetson Bennett play better? And if he doesn’t, will Kirby Smart remain loyal to Bennett and leave him in? Or will he turn to JT Daniels?

The motivation for Georgia to play well in the national championship game is at an all-time high. They’d better be motivated, because this national championship game has everything riding on it. Can the Bulldogs finally break the Alabama curse? Georgia fans sure hope so.

The 2022 College Football Playoff National Championship Game is on Jan. 10. The game will be played in Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, Indiana. Kickoff is set for 8:00 p.m. EST.