No. 7 Notre Dame took advantage of a few key mistakes by No. 2 Georgia to capture a 23-10 victory in the Allstate Sugar Bowl on Jan. 2 at the Caesars Superdome in New Orleans.
The Bulldogs repeated the same mistakes against the Fighting Irish that they committed all season long, and it finally caught up with them.
Georgia head coach Kirby Smart said later he was confident his team could have won, but added he wasn’t surprised by the result of its mistakes.
“They got two turnovers, and we didn’t, and they returned a kickoff for a touchdown,” Smart said. “So, we spotted them probably 14 points off that and cost ourselves a possession in the red area when we fumbled down there.”
Georgia’s struggles started early on.
In the first quarter, the Bulldogs went on a long drive that lasted nearly eight minutes, but the possession resulted in a turnover. Junior running back Trevor Etienne fumbled the ball inside Notre Dame’s 20 as the Bulldogs tried to take the lead with a score, allowing Fighting Irish linebacker Jaiden Ausberry to scoop it up off the ground.
Next, Georgia took a 3-0 lead as kicker Peyton Woodring nailed a 41-yard field goal, but a penalty on the sideline might have negated a touchdown.
Quarterback Gunner Stockton completed a 67-yard pass to wide receiver Arian Smith down to the Notre Dame 11-yard line. Still, a sideline interference was called when Georgia walk-on Parker Jones accidentally collided with the referee. The Bulldogs were hit with a 15-yard penalty.
“It was very unfortunate. They said [it was] a coach, but I think it was a player, from what I’ve been told — in the white, and the white is reserved for the officials,” Smart said. “That’s a safety concern. Most of the time, they’ll grant you a warning on that, but it was a situation where it cost us 15 yards. We still had first-and-ten and didn’t take advantage of it. But, again, I call those things undisciplined, self-imposed wounds that you lose momentum on.”
Notre Dame tied the game 3-3 with a 44-yard field goal from Mitch Jeter on the next drive. Later in the second quarter, the Irish took a 6-3 lead with under a minute left in the half as Jeter nailed a 48-yard field goal.
On the next play from scrimmage, Stockton was hit from his blindside and fumbled the ball, with Notre Dame recovering it at the Bulldog 13. The Irish extended their lead to two scores on the next play as quarterback Riley Leonard fired a touchdown pass to wideout Beaux Collins with 27 seconds left in the half.
Things got much worse for Georgia, which trailed 13-3 at the half.
Notre Dame received the ball to start the second half and wide receiver Jayden Harrison returned the kickoff 98 yards for a touchdown. The Bulldogs missed a tackle on the kickoff, which led to the score.
“We had an unblocked player that missed a tackle,” Smart said. “Usually, when that happens, you give the other team credit, but it’s not a mistake.”
Georgia scored its lone touchdown when Stockton tossed a score to running back Cash Jones in the third quarter. The 32-yard reception by Jones came on the possession following Harrison’s kick return for six.
The Bulldogs cut the lead to 20-10, but the Irish scored once more on a long field goal by Jeter in the fourth quarter.
“When you have two turnovers and a kickoff return for a touchdown, that’s what happens. The turnovers are the difference in the game,” Smart said. “It’s not an exact science. You should know when you turn it over twice, and they return a kickoff for a touchdown, you won’t have a lot of success.”