Notre Dame’s debut in the twelve-team College Football Playoff went even better than expected, as the Fighting Irish dominated No. 8 Indiana . Now, in his third year in South Bend, head coach Marcus Freeman faces the ultimate litmus test: Georgia. This is the type of program former coach Brian Kelly used to struggle against in big games. Recently, when the Fighting Irish have faced elite SEC teams in playoff-caliber games, those contests were largely non-competitive.
Notre Dame is currently 0-3 all-time against Georgia. Two of those losses took place semi-recently in very competitive affairs. In 2017, Georgia escaped South Bend with a 20-19 victory. The Bulldogs additionally won 23-17 at home in 2019. Kirby Smart’s team is trying to win its third national championship in four years, cementing themselves as college football’s modern-day dynasty. The Bulldogs, however, will be starting backing quarterback Gunnar Stockton , with Carson Beck out for the season due to a UCL injury.
Notre Dame has a clear strength that can exploit Georgia’s weakness
A lot of the discussion for the 2025 Sugar Bowl is revolving around how Georgia will approach this contest offensively. Nick Saban has discussed how Gunnar Stockton has different qualities from Carson Beck, especially as a runner, that the Bulldogs could use to keep an aggressive Notre Dame defense on their toes. However, this contest will likely depend on what happens on the other side of the ball. Because it’s pretty clear that Georgia will be looking to keep this affair relatively low-scoring with a new quarterback.
Notre Dame’s explosive offense has been averaging 38.8 points per game. The fourth-highest-scoring offense in the country is very reliant on the ground game, led by quarterback Riley Leonard and star running back Jeremiyah Love. Leonard , a Duke graduate, has been heavily involved in this facet of the offense, rushing for 751 yards and 15 touchdowns. Dual-threat quarterbacks are exactly the kind of players Georgia’s defense has struggled with this year…