SEC Championship 2012: Mark Richt defends Aaron Murray following loss

Georgia head coach Mark Richt responded harshly to criticism about the performance of his quarterback in big games following the team's loss to Alabama, 32-28, in the SEC championship game, according to Jonathan Branch of Dogbytes Online.

Richt was asked to respond to potential conclusions that people may make regarding quarterback Aaron Murray's play in big games.

Richt said he didn't understand the question and asked the reporter: "why don't you just say it straight
up what you're trying to say?"

After a heated exchange with the reporter, Richt made the following statement:

"I want to say something else, if anybody thinks our guys didn’t play their tail off and Aaron Murray didn’t play his tail off, they are crazy. That’s unbelievable somebody would even bring that up."

Aaron Murray was 18-of-33 passing for 265 yards with one touchdown and one interception.

Georgia has now lost back-to-back SEC championship games to LSU and Alabama. Georgia also lost to Michigan State in overtime in the Capital One bowl last season.