Notre Dame football's quarterfinal showdown with the Georgia Bulldogs is just days away and Irish fans are anxiously awaiting the game. Notre Dame has gone over three decades without a New Years Six bowl win, but this year's matchup feels different and could be the year ND defeats the curse.
The Fighting Irish are emerging as a dark horse championship contender and are led by Head Coach Marcus Freeman. Notre Dame has an impressive 12-1 record this year and a win over Georgia would give them 13 wins on the season which would be the most in program history.
However, to break all these records they have to go through the powerhouse program in Georgia. Led by Kirby Smart as their head coach, Georgia went on to win the SEC, but this year the Bulldogs have shown some flaws. A key piece to this matchup is the Bulldogs are without their quarterback, Carson Beck, but when taking a deeper dive into the Bulldog's losses and tight games, you will find a glaring weakness that this Notre Dame football team should be able to expose.
The golden opportunity for Notre Dame football's secret weapon
While Georgia has one of the best defenses in the country, cracks began to appear and expose one of their glaring weaknesses. Georgia has two losses on the season, one against Alabama and the other against Ole Miss. In these two losses Kirby Smart defense struggled immensely to cover the dual-threat quarterbacks and allowed the quarterbacks to scramble and run effectively.
Alabama’s Jalen Milroe torched Georgia as he ran on 16 attempts for 117 rushing yards and led Alabama to a thrilling 41-34 victory in week 4. Milroe was able to extend plays and drives and used his legs to get in the end zone on two occasions. Similarly, Ole Miss’s Jaxson Dart ran for 50 yards, causing havoc with his ability to escape the pocket. Dart is not necessarily known to use his legs as much but did against this Bulldog defense for 50 yards on just 8 attempts.
The big eye opener was against a similar opponent for Notre Dame and that was when the Bulldogs were at home and defeated Georgia Tech in 8 Overtimes. Haynes King rushed for 110 yards and had three rushing touchdowns and caused discomfort for Kirby Smart and his defense all game. The Bulldogs gave up 260 yards rushing that game and 563 total.
Notre Dame secret weapon will have to be Riley Leornard and his legs. Leonard is one of the most dangerous dual-threat quarterbacks in the FBS and the Irish call his name many times in a game. Leonard’s ability to make plays with his legs has a chance to be the deciding factor in this Sugar Bowl showdown and be a key factor for the Fighting Irish if they want to make history.
Leonard has had consistent production rushing the ball all year as he averages 57.8 rushing yards per game on just 10 attempts, totaling 751 yards for the season. Among quarterbacks, he ranks 10th in the FBS and 2nd in Power Four conferences.
Notre Dame loves to Leonard in the red zone as the quarterback is a touchdown machine. He has rushed for 15 touchdowns this season, which is the most in a single season by a Notre Dame quarterback in program history. Leonard 15 rushing touchdowns ranks 17th in all positions, and 3rd among quarterbacks.
A key factor for Note Dame football against Georgia will have to be Leonard and his ability to not only run but to scramble and extend plays. His dual-threat ability not only makes him a scoring threat, but he can also deliver big runs as he had two games with 100 rushing yards or more and had eight games where he rushed for 50 yards or more.
Notre Dame has a golden opportunity in this quarterfinals matchup to exploit Georgia's notable weakness and to put the ball in their experienced quarterback hands. Leonard being able to run and extend plays should open up the passing game and Jeremiyah Love and allow this Irish offense to control the game.
With Leonard’s rushing ability in their playbook, Notre Dame football holds an edge that could make their road to the semifinals much easier and should help pave their path to a historic victory over the Bulldogs on Jan.1.