We often hear about the SEC being the dominant conference in the world of College Football.
Based on what’s happened thus far in the bowl season, we may want to rethink that notion. Notre Dame soundly beat Georgia in the Sugar Bowl on Thursday afternoon — a day after the game was postponed due to a terrorist attack in the French Quarter.
For much of the game, the Fighting Irish controlled things on both sides of the ball. Notre Dame rushed for 154 yards on the day — including a team-high 80 rushing yards from signal-caller Riley Leonard. His ability to extend plays with his legs, and also gobble up yardage on run-designed calls hurt Georgia tremendously.
Up 13-3 at halftime, Notre Dame padded its lead right from the jump as the second half started. Jayden Harrison returned the opening kick 98 yards for a touchdown — thus giving Notre Dame a 17-point cushion. Kicker Mitch Jeter also aided in the special teams prowess by connecting on all three of his field goal attempts, as well as his two extra-point efforts.
Georgia’s offense was failing to create much in the way of a big play. Credit Gunner Stockton for playing admirably in the wake of Carson Beck’s injury. He played a clean game, connecting on 20-of-32 attempts for 234 yards, 1 TD, and 0 INTs.
However, the Bulldogs couldn’t get anything going on the ground. Notre Dame held Georgia to 62 yards on 29 attempts (2.1 YPC). The Fighting Irish notched 4.0 sacks and a whopping 9.0 TFL in the game.
With the win, Notre Dame now heads to the semifinals for a date versus Penn State in the Orange Bowl on Jan. 9. Early odds have Notre Dame as a -1.5 favorite.
As for Georgia, the Bulldogs will earnestly hit the transfer portal in order to positively augment the roster. It’ll be fascinating to see whether Stockton is indeed the team’s starting quarterback next season.
As for the SEC, Georgia’s bowing out of the College Football Playoff leaves recent addition Texas as the conference’s lone representative. The Big Ten has been beating up on the SEC during the bowl season. Ohio State thumped Tennessee in the opening round of the CFP. USC came from behind to clip Texas A&M in Las Vegas. South Carolina failed to beat Illinois. Lastly, Alabama was embarrassed by a short-handed Michigan team.
