Know Your Notre Dame Football Enemy: Georgia Preview
Notre Dame football will face the Georgia Bulldogs for the second time in three seasons.
Notre Dame football and Georgia have played twice. The Irish lost both times. Once, and most recently, was a regular season game in South Bend. Before that, the two programs met decades ago, in the 1981 Sugar Bowl. Georgia won, and became the 1980-81 National Champions on the back of an undefeated season. Since then, Georgia has been desperately trying to get back to that level.
It was the year they beat Notre Dame in the regular season that they blew a lead against Alabama in the College Football Playoff Championship Game.
Then, last year, they blew another lead to Alabama, this time in the SEC title game. That kept them from making the College Football Playoff, which Clemson would go on to win. Georgia found themselves as the favorite in another Sugar Bowl. Texas proceeded to beat the Dawgs down. After the game, Georgia pretended not to care, because it was not the CFP. That was the same thing Auburn fans claimed after losing to UCF the season prior.
In many ways, for top SEC teams, it has become College Football Playoff or bust, and there are claims the team didn’t care about non-Playoff bowl games. Still, if you can’t get excited and motivated to win a game like the Sugar Bowl, the team has some issues.
Georgia will be motivated for their fourth game of the season against Notre Dame. They’ll want to prove that the Irish don’t belong with the college football elites. Not only that, but the game gives Georgia a chance to add a marquee win in the event that they stumble to someone else on their schedule. It would help their College Football Playoff argument.
Georgia is one of the popular picks to win the SEC and make the Playoff. The Bulldogs are also one of the top picks, outside of Clemson, to win the National Championship this season. They haven’t gotten over the hump yet, but the level their coach Kirby Smart recruits at is undeniable. The Dawgs have more than enough talent.
In the past four seasons, ESPN credits Georgia for bringing in ten 5-star recruits. Basically every other recruit they’ve had in that time has been a four star recruit. In that same time frame, Notre Dame doesn’t have any five star players. The Irish do have multiple three star players. Of course, Ian Book and Julian Love were both three stars according to ESPN, which shows you that star ratings are often misleading.
Still, there’s a ton of size and athleticism in Athens, Georgia.
On offense, there’s no longer a quarterback competition. Justin Fields transferred to Ohio State, and Jake Fromm will start for his third season at Georgia. Last season, Fromm threw thirty touchdowns against six interceptions. His big linemen did their part, only allowing 20 sacks on the 2018 season.
Most of Georgia’s receiving talent left early for the NFL. Most notably in the form of Riley Ridley, who is now a Chicago Bear.
Notre Dame’s defensive ends will need to step up. Last season Notre Dame average 2.62 sacks a game. They’ll need at least two sacks to keep Fromm from finding his rhythm, because Notre Dame will still be dealing with replacing Love in the secondary. This will be the first real test for that secondary, and making Fromm work faster than normal would help out a lot.
Even though Fromm is a legitimate NFL prospect, they want to run the ball first and foremost. Georgia needs to replace their bruiser, Elijah Holyfield, the son of Evander Holyfield, who left for the NFL. They still have D’Andre Swift, though.
Swift is an electric running back. Last season he ran for over 1000 yards, and 10 touchdowns. That’s as part of a committee of running backs. Look for either Zamir White, a redshirt freshman, or sophomore James Cook to earn the touches that Holyfield is leaving behind. The top incoming freshman at running back, Kenny McIntosh, will likely redshirt, unless he stands out in summer practices.
If the running backs get going for Georgia, Fromm won’t need to throw. Georgia will be happy to run it down Notre Dame’s throats.
It’ll be on the Irish front-seven to stop this from happening. It would be nice if Drue Tranquill was going to be on the field in Athens, but he won’t be. His leadership and ability to line-up his teammates will need to be replaced. Te’Von Coney and Jerry Tillery are gone too. In other words, the Irish front seven has a handful of unknowns, and probable downgrades, against a team they would have needed everyone from last year’s team playing their best to beat. That’s not great.
Georgia, like most of the SEC, prides itself on their defense. Georgia only allowed 19.2 points per game last season. That’ll probably remain similar, if only because of their coaching and raw talent.
The Dawgs will likely be playing with a four-man defensive front. This makes it easier for linebackers to fill gaps against the run, but gives a defense fewer pass-rushing options. Regardless, Georgia feels they can rely on their defensive line to pressure quarterbacks.
Georgia lost a lot to graduation, but they still retain tons of natural athleticism. Athletes being put in the right spots to make plays is often all a team needs to be good defensively. Georgia will have that in spades. Mix in questions for Notre Dame at the skill positions — Myles Boykin and Dexter Williams are gone — and Chip Long will need to out-scheme the Georgia coaches, because the Bulldogs have the better athletes.
If Jafar Armstrong can’t get going the way Williams could in big games, it will force Book and the offense to become one dimensional. Book should be able to move the ball through the air, but not if there’s no balance.
Book’s experience from the Cotton Bowl should help him out and make him more comfortable in a situation where the game is thrust on his shoulders. However, it’s still a lot to put on one player.
Prediction: Notre Dame 21, Georgia 31
Brian Kelly has been beaten and out-schemed by other high level coaches throughout his career. I don’t see why this will be any different.
Both teams have a lot to replace, and a bunch of questions because of that. However, Georgia simply has a ton more athleticism to replace their gaps with than Notre Dame does. It also seems that there are more questions on Notre Dame’s roster than on Georgia’s. Mix that in with this being a true road game, in Athens, and it’s going to be tough for Notre Dame to get out with a win.