Notre Dame: The play that changed everything vs. Georgia

Notre Dame walked into Georgia as considerable underdogs. The Irish may not have come away with a victory, but rather a tough loss that earned them some national respect.

At the end of the day Notre Dame will deal with a loss on their record. Subsequently, the road to returning to the College Football Playoff has become that much harder.

The sole positive to come out of this game is the reality that Notre Dame can run with the best teams in the country — something that many didn’t really see as a possibility. Yet, the Irish had a chance to win the game with one final drive.

The cards didn’t quite fall the way Notre Dame needed them too at the end of the day. Even with the opportunity there, the breaking point of the game was traced back to the beginning of the fourth quarter.

Many wouldn’t have believed you if you were to have told them that Notre Dame would go into halftime with the lead. But those who saw it also wouldn’t have believed that the Irish would have settled for less than 20 offensive yards in the third quarter.

That’s when it felt like things might get out of hand.

Three straight three-and-outs for the Irish led to two field goals for the Bulldogs as they took their first lead of the night.

Even with that series of events, the game was still anyone’s to win.

The Bulldog faithful were there all night long, but never as much as they were to start the fourth quarter. It became a hostile environment right before Jake Fromm made the play that changed everything.

On the first play of the quarter, Fromm stayed patient as Lawrence Cager adjusted in the air to a pass thrown behind him and around his left shoulder. The energy at that point was electric. Georgia’s offense felt like they could do anything after the 36-yard catch.

That confidence led to a touchdown — also thrown to Cager — just four plays later.

The Irish eventually found a way to make it a game with only a few minutes left, but nothing was the same after Cager’s catch.