No. 7 seed Notre Dame (12-1) and No. 2 seed Georgia (11-2) are set to square off in the quarterfinals of this year’s expanded College Football Playoff. The two programs will meet in the Allstate Sugar Bowl in New Orleans on New Year’s Day. Notre Dame (12-1) won its first CFP game with a first-round 27-17 victory over Indiana at Notre Dame Stadium. Georgia defeated Texas 22-19 in overtime to win the SEC Championship. The Irish and the Bulldogs are meeting for just the fourth time in history. Georgia owns a 3-0 record over Notre Dame heading into the Sugar Bowl clash. The Bulldogs defeated the Irish 17-10 for the national championship in the 1981 Sugar Bowl.
Notre Dame and Georgia Face Off in Quarterfinals
Irish head coach Marcus Freeman has earned 12 wins over teams ranked in the Associated Press Top 25 over his first three seasons at Notre Dame. It marks the most of any Notre Dame coach in his first three years at the helm.
“As I told the team last week, we have one guaranteed opportunity to earn one more,” Freeman said at his weekly press conference. “We’re looking forward to playing a good Georgia football team and the SEC champions. We know the challenge that lies ahead. Preparation will be as critical as it is every week.”
Quarterback Change for Georgia
Georgia’s starting quarterback Carson Beck will miss the Sugar Bowl. He has undergone elbow surgery since getting injured in the SEC Championship. On Saturday, Beck declared for the NFL Draft. With Beck under center, Georgia went 13-1 with a victory in the Orange Bowl in 2023. Georgia is 11-2 in Beck’s 2024 starts, including a win in the SEC Championship game.
Beck will be replaced by redshirt sophomore Gunner Stockton. He delivered when called on, starting the second half of the SEC Championship game. Stockton led the Bulldogs on scoring drives of 75, 61, and 72 yards in three of the first four possessions. And then led the game-winning drive in OT. He finished 12-of-16 for 71 yards against Texas, throwing one interception. Before the win over Texas, Stockton was 13-for-16 for 135 yards with two rushing touchdowns.
At his press conference, Freeman explained how the Irish defense is preparing for Georgia’s offense under Stockton.
“You evaluate them schematically, what they’ve done all season,” Freeman said. “Then you have a separate tape of what Stockton has done. I think we have 80-some plays of him playing quarterback. He can run their offense and can extend plays with his legs. He is a good athlete. The thing I notice more than anything in those 80 plays is that he is an ultra-competitive individual. I don’t see it (the offense) being tremendously different than what they’ve done all season.”
Rylie Mils to Miss the Sugar Bowl
Standout Irish defensive lineman Rylie Mills will miss the Sugar Bowl due to a right knee injury suffered in the first-round win over Indiana. The Irish have been hit with the injury bug all season long, but losing Mills is a big blow to Al Golden’s unit.
“You can’t replace Rylie Mills,” Freeman said. “He has the production, but it’s also the leadership—he’s a captain. You feel awful for him as a person. He is a guy who decided to come back and improve his draft stock. The value he provided this team is tremendous. He has done an excellent job as a football player and a leader. But you have to replace the production in different ways. We have capable guys that will step up. They have done it all year. We have guys we’re very confident in. Those guys will have a bigger role this week.”
Georgia Players to Watch
Georgia’s offense is battle-tested this season. Even without Beck, the Bulldogs have plenty of playmakers surrounding Stockton. Arian Smith is Georgia’s leading wide receiver. The senior has hauled in 47 receptions for 750 yards. He has four touchdowns. Senior Dominic Lovett has 56 catches for 571 yards and six touchdowns.
Junior running back Trevor Etienne has had injury woes this year. Despite being hampered, Etienne is a prolific runner. He has rushed for 571 yards on 11 carries and has scored nine touchdowns. Freshman Nate Frazier tops all Georgia runners with 634 yards on 129 carries. He has scored eight touchdowns this year.
In previewing the Sugar Bowl at his weekly press conference, Georgia head coach Kirby Smart offered the following assessment of the Irish.
“This is a really good, solid, fundamentally sound (team). “(They) don’t beat themselves, play good defense, great defense, and (they are) really physical on the lines of scrimmage. And they got a really athletic quarterback. There’s a reason why they’re at the point in the season that they’re at.”
Notre Dame, Georgia: What to Expect
With injuries expected to play a key role, the Sugar Bowl will come down to which team is able to replace the production with the remaining pieces they have. Notre Dame’s elite defense has stepped up all season long. It is one of the most complete defenses in the county. Through the first round of the CFP, Notre Dame is first in team passing efficiency defense (96.94), first in turnovers gained (29), first in defensive touchdowns (6), and third in scoring defense (13.8). The highly-ranked unit is sure to be tested by a talented Georgia offense. But the swarming Irish have frustrated opposing backfields all season long.
The Bulldogs allow more yards on the ground than through the air. That type of profile plays right into Notre Dame’s offensive strengths. Notre Dame’s vaunted three-headed monster of a rushing attack of Jeremiyah Love, Riley Leonard, and Jadarian Price should once again set the tone for the Irish offense. Leonard owns 34 rushing touchdowns in his career. He ranks second among all active quarterbacks in rushing touchdowns. His ability to extend plays and drives has been critical to the Irish’s offense this season. To his credit, Leonard continues to be a solid game manager and has improved and matured as the season has progressed. Love has scored a rushing touchdown in each game this season. He is the only FBS running back to have accomplished that feat this season. All told, Love has 1,057 rushing yards.
Final Thoughts on High-Stakes Sugar Bowl
In a season of high-stakes games for the Irish, none are bigger than the Sugar Bowl. Georgia’s two regular season losses came against conference foes Alabama and Ole Miss. The biggest wins for the Bulldogs were a 45-point win over Tennessee Tech, a 38-point win over UMass, and a 31-point drubbing of Clemson.
Since a gut-wrenching loss to Northern Illinois in Week 2, Notre Dame bounced back resoundingly. The Irish won out in punching their ticket to the postseason. All of Notre Dame’s wins to close out the regular season were by at least 10 points or more with the exception of a 31-24 win over Louisville.
Notre Dame must control the tempo and establish its powerful rushing attack to have success against Georgia in the Sugar Bowl. Georgia, the national champions in 2021 and 22, has been here before. Winning the trenches on both sides of the ball and wearing down the Bulldog defense with a relentless ground attack will be key for Notre Dame to leave New Orleans with a victory. As it has been all season long for Notre Dame: It’s win-or-else mode for the Fighting Irish in the Sugar Bowl. If nothing else, it is a familiar role.
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