ATLANTA—This was unfamiliar territory with Georgia football for 67 players.

The sophomores, redshirt freshmen, and true freshmen had only known winning for a program that won back-to-back national titles and entered Saturday on an SEC-record 29-game winning streak.

Names most Georgia fans recognize — are Mykel Williams, Malaki Starks, Dillon Bell, Brett Thorson, Oscar Delp, and Peyton Woodring.

Others that those that follow the program closely also knew such as Earnest Greene III and Christen Miller.

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They headed to the locker room while players from No. 8 Alabama celebrated on the field as confetti fell and the Crimson Tide were handed the SEC Championship trophy after a 27-24 victory over the No. 1 Bulldogs.

“It was sad, there were some really upset guys,” Georgia coach Kirby Smart said of the locker room scene. “A lot of guys really care about this team. The culture is really good on this team. They’re hurt in there. Rightfully so.”

Georgia players have slammed things against lockers in the past after a loss to Alabama in Mercedes-Benz Stadium. That space had been open to reporters in the past for postgame interviews but hasn’t been in recent years.

Nickel back Tykee Smith said there was no property destroyed on this night even though Georgia’s loss may have shut the door on a three-peat national championship.

The CFP committee will have the final say on that Sunday when it announces the four playoff teams.

“No, guys ain’t throwing things or anything like that,” Smith said. “Definitely, emotional in there.”

Smart put his arm around freshman linebacker Raylen Wilson after the game and shared some words with him.

Starks, a sophomore safety and finalist for the Thorpe Award for nation’s top defensive back. hadn’t lost since a first-round upset to Hapeville Charter in the first round of the GHSA 2021 playoffs.

“You know as a competitor, it sucks to lose,” Starks, who tied for the team lead in tackles Saturday with 8, said in a hallway outside the locker room. “I hate it, more than anything in the world. I hate losing more than I love winning. I’ve got to learn from it and grow from it and get better.”

Smart was asked what his message was the first time he addressed the team after a loss since losing to Alabama in the 2021 SEC championship game.

“I love ‘em,” Smart said. “I mean I love ‘em. There’s guys in there, I told them there’s two classes of guys in that room, that have not lost a game, you know? You’re looking at 10 or 15 NFL players you lose, it feels like every other week and there’s two classes of our kids that have not lost a game. Just that they’re resilient, they’re fighters. In life, you can’t really get better until you lose sometimes because you have to find out what you can do better.”

Smart said the message doesn’t change — it’s to look inwards.

Starks said Smart told the team he was proud of them and “it’s hard to do what we do.”

Center Sedrick Van Pran-Granger, who may have played his last game in a Georgia uniform if the Bulldogs don’t make the College Football Playoff, said the loss would be a “culture-builder for some of those younger guys. Some of the older guys have experienced things like this.”

Those older guys lost on this very same field to Alabama 41-24 in the 2021 SEC championship game but had a chance to make amends in the playoff where it trounced Michigan and pulled out a win against Alabama for the program’s first national title in 41 years.

“You can’t win every game, it doesn’t work like that,” Van Pran-Granger said. “Of course you would love to, but at the end of the day, you’ve got to roll with the punches, you’ve got to figure out what you did wrong and get better and move forward.”

The 2023 senior class won 49 of 53 games now.

“It’s just something that has come not often, but it’s something that we have experienced,” he said. “I think the biggest guys have to learn from this, they have to feel this, they have to embrace this and just continue to work and grow from it.”