ATLANTA -- If earning high praise from the media or being an underdog by the oddsmakers is rat poison for the Alabama Crimson Tide, then playing the Crimson Tide must be strychnine for the Georgia Bulldogs.

After cruising to a 12-0 record and sitting atop the College Football Playoff selection committee's rankings since the beginning of November, the Bulldogs suddenly looked like the second-best team in their league after a 41-24 loss to the Crimson Tide in Saturday's SEC championship game.

It was an all-too-familiar outcome for Georgia fans against the Crimson Tide.

Their greatest thing is when [the Tide] lost their game against Texas A&M, they garnered some focus and some attention.

"That's not for us to determine that, you know what I mean?" Smart said.

After surrendering just 6.9 points per game in the first 12 games, the Bulldogs' vaunted defense was gashed for points on five straight possessions by the Tide.

Alabama had 536 yards of total offense; Georgia had been surrendering 231 per game before Saturday.

The Bulldogs hadn't surrendered more than 17 points to an opponent until playing the Tide.

The Bulldogs went just 3-for-12 on third downs.

Alabama's offensive success against Georgia was surprising because the Tide struggled to move the ball in their last game, a 24-22 victory in four overtimes at Auburn in the Iron Bowl.

"The narrative out there was, well, they just went to Auburn and they really struggled," Smart said.