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Georgia will be heading to a familiar place to face a very unfamiliar opponent.
The 2nd-seeded Bulldogs now know who they’ll be preparing for in the College Football Playoff quarterfinal on New Year’s Day night in New Orleans. It’ll be 7th seed Notre Dame, which easily brushed aside 10th-seeded Indiana, 27-17, on Friday night in a first-round demolition in frigid South Bend.
Kirby Smart‘s program, which is 3 wins away from winning its 3rd national title in 4 seasons, will be playing with its backup quarterback when it faces the Fighting Irish in an 8:45 p.m. ET kickoff on ESPN from the Superdome. Carson Beck has a really bad elbow injury that will reportedly keep him out of the quarterfinal game, and so Gunner Stockton will be at the helm in less than 2 weeks to make his first career start.
Notre Dame (12-1) has won 11 in a row since a shocking early season loss to Northern Illinois behind dual-threat quarterback Riley Leonard, a strong running game and a stout defense. All of those were on display in a total domination on Friday night at Notre Dame Stadium, as the Fighting Irish outgained the upstart Hoosiers, 394-278, and had the ball for almost 36 minutes.
Indiana didn’t reach the end zone until 1:27 was left in the game, and the final score didn’t come close to indicating how much better Notre Dame was than Indiana.
One issue going forward for Notre Dame will be the health of defensive lineman Rylie Mills, who suffered an apparent leg injury against Indiana and had to be helped off the field in the 3rd quarter. That will bear watching as the Georgia game moves closer.
But there’s Indiana and then there’s Georgia, even if the Bulldogs are playing with their backup quarterback who has little experience. For 2 programs with a ton of history, there isn’t a lot of history between the 2 programs. Georgia is 3-0 all-time against Notre Dame.
While Georgia isn’t familiar with Notre Dame, the Bulldogs have played in New Orleans a few times in their history while playing in Sugar Bowls there. On Jan. 1, this particular Sugar Bowl will also be a mammoth Playoff game with everything on the line.
Cory Nightingale, a former sportswriter and sports editor at the Miami Herald and Palm Beach Post, is a South Florida-based freelance writer who covers Alabama for SaturdayDownSouth.com.
