Georgia and Notre Dame are two members of a relatively exclusive club of recent College Football Playoff teams. With UGA in the SEC and Notre Dame an ACC-adjacent independent, they don’t have too many common opponents, especially in the same season. (Though Notre Dame plays ACC teams, the Fighting Irish haven’t faced Bulldogs rival Georgia Tech since 2015.)

Vanderbilt, however, has played both Notre Dame and Georgia recently, if you count last season as recently. Derek Mason’s squad actually came close to a road upset at Notre Dame in 2018. The Fighting Irish ultimately prevailed 22-17 en route to making the CFP.

On Wednesday’s SEC media teleconference, Mason was asked to break down the Dawgs and Fighting Irish.

“Two really good teams, what I will say about Georgia, athletically across the board, I think as they go along, they are just going to get better with the talented group they have,” Mason said. “Changed both coordinators, I think first games are really about seeing where you are. I think coming out of Game 1, Georgia, they know who they are. When you look at (Brian) Kelly at Notre Dame, I think those guys are playing good football. They are a football team that doesn’t beat themselves, they play smart, pretty good on defense, they have weapons and they find ways to win ball games. It’s going to be a good game in Athens, I think. Playing both teams, I think Georgia, to me, is probably a notch above but the reality is the game is going to be won between the lines. It will be a good game in Athens college football gets a treat.”

In Week 1, Georgia defeated Vanderbilt 30-6 in Nashville.