The Georgia Bulldogs and Notre Dame Fighting Irish have both made the College Football Playoff since their last game in 2017. Who has grown more since then?
A little over two years, two college football blue-bloods met for the second time in their illustrious histories. The No. 15 Georgia Bulldogs ventured up to South Bend, Indiana to take on the No. 24 Notre Dame Fighting Irish.
Their only other meeting before that was the 1981 Sugar Bowl down in New Orleans. With a herculean effort by running back Herschel Walker, the Dawgs defeated the Irish 17-10 to win their second and most recent national championship.
So there was a ton of anticipation heading into the 2017 affair up in South Bend, the first of a home-and-home between these two massive college football brands. Georgia traveled well that early September weekend, painting the streets of Chicago red before turning Notre Dame Stadium into Sanford Stadium North.
In front of a strong Georgia crowd, true freshman quarterback Jake Fromm would win his first career start, as his Dawgs defeated the Irish 20-19 in South Bend, thanks to a 30-yard field goal from redshirt sophomore Rodrigo Blankenship. This was Georgia head coach Kirby Smart‘s first signature win leading his alma mater’s football program. The Dawgs then proceeded to catch fire.
Georgia would go on to play for the national championship that January, falling to Smart’s mentor Nick Saban and the Alabama Crimson Tide in double overtime down in Atlanta. It was a brutal loss for the Dawgs, but they had undeniably arrived under Coach Smart as a serious national championship contender. They finished as the No. 2 team in the nation.
Notre Dame would go 10-3 that season, losing to No. 15 Georgia at home, at the No. 7 Miami Hurricanes and at the No. 21 Stanford Cardinal before handling the No. 17 LSU Tigers at the Citrus Bowl. The Irish finished the season ranked No. 11 in the country.
Last year, both programs built off excellent 2017 campaigns. Georgia made it back to the SEC Championship but lost to Alabama for the second year in a row. After looking completely disinterested in playing in the Sugar Bowl, Georgia got pummeled by the No. 15 Texas Longhorns and finished 2018 at 11-3, ranked No. 7 in the country.
Notre Dame, however, put together its second 12-0 regular season under head coach Brian Kelly. The last time was in 2012 when linebacker Manti Te’o was their star. With Ian Book as their starting quarterback, Notre Dame became the first national independent program to make the College Football Playoff. Unfortunately, they ran into the buzz saw that is the Clemson Tigers.
In short, a lot of things have changed regarding Georgia and Notre Dame since their last meeting two years ago. Then again, a lot has stayed the same. Both teams have positioned themselves to contend for Playoff berths this year, but seemingly, only one of them will get there.
This time, this game will be played in Dawg Country. Notre Dame will have to play in the heat and humidity down south against a menacing offensive line and rushing attack, in front of the most rabid members of Dawg Nation. But even as a two-touchdown underdog, could the luck of the Irish be on Kelly’s side?
For Notre Dame, this is a Playoff game. With a 12-game national independent schedule, the chances of the Irish making it back to the Playoff with a blemish on their résumé when compared to a one-loss Power 5 conference champion is close to zero.
Georgia can technically afford a loss at home to Notre Dame, as long as the Dawgs win the rest of their regular-season games and defeat their SEC West counterpart to become SEC champions. Of course, a convincing win at home versus a top-10 Notre Dame team will only boost Georgia’s theoretical Playoff resume.
So the stage is set on Saturday night for these two college football behemoths to clash Between the Hedges for the first time. Kelly and Smart are still at the helm. Fromm is a true junior and Blakenship is a redshirt senior. All four are still here from last time, but what has changed since 2017?
For Georgia, the Dawgs have played in two conference championship games and two Playoff games. They have had two former five-star quarterbacks in Jacob Eason and Justin Fields transfer to other Power 5 institutions, as Fromm has emerged as a future first-round NFL Draft prospect.
Smart has lost two coordinators to other Power 5 gigs, three running backs to the NFL and four receiving threats to the league last year alone. To counterbalance that, he has promoted coaches from within on his staff and continues to bring five-star after five-star to the Classic City to play Between the Hedges for the Red and Black.
For Notre Dame, Book has become the best quarterback the Irish have had since all-time passing leader Brady Quinn. He’s not the thrower of Quinn, but nobody wins like Book. He will get drafted after his senior year but isn’t a first-round talent like his counterpart Fromm. Book feels like a solid mid-round pick at this point.
Kelly has lost plenty of talent to the NFL, especially in the trenches. Georgia might be recruiting out the wazoo along the offensive line, but full-grown men like Zack Martin, Quenton Nelson, Mike McGlinchey and Ronnie Stanley have made the Golden Domers a pro football factory too under Kelly’s watch.
On a Saturday that features gridiron battles between the No. 11 Michigan Wolverines and the No. 13 Wisconsin Badgers, as well as the No. 8 Auburn Tigers versus the No. 17 Texas A&M Aggies, this clash between No. 7 Notre Dame and No. 3 Georgia are why fall Saturdays are simply the best.
Neither head coach should face any real pressure here. Kelly took the Irish to the Playoff last year. Playing on the road in Athens on Saturday may be the toughest regular-season game of his Notre Dame coaching career. The Irish don’t have any margin for error here, but we shouldn’t rip Kelly and his team for a rough outing on the road versus Georgia; the Dawgs are just that good.
Smart will want to win at home. Georgia hasn’t had a home game like this in years. The last comparable game was back in 2015 when the Dawgs hosted Clemson in Week 1. Before that, it would have to be the dreaded Alabama Blackout Game of 2008. No self-respecting Dawg wants to talk about that.
At the end of the day, Georgia will likely win this game for three reasons. One, the Dawgs have the best offensive line in college football. Two, Notre Dame struggles defending the run and Georgia has the best rushing attack in the SEC. And three, it’ll be hot and humid in Athens playing in that sea of red for the Irish. It’ll probably be within a score before Georgia puts Notre Dame away in the fourth quarter.
But if the Irish have a chance, it will be because Book has the greatest game of his life. His toughness and ability to make all sorts of plays as a dual-threat passer gives the Irish a fighting chance in this one.
It would be an upset for sure if Notre Dame wins, but not one that would come as the most shocking thing ever. Georgia wasn’t supposed to win in South Bend two years ago. The Dawgs got it done in a low-scoring affair.
Could the Irish flip the script? Probably not, but we’ve seen crazier things in college football and the narrative is already out there. Will it be Book’s finest chapter or Fromm’s latest statement that he’s an elite college quarterback with a bright future ahead of him? Saturday night can’t get here fast enough.