The Georgia Bulldogs entered the Sugar Bowl seemingly refreshed after a bye. Despite the struggles against weaker competition many times over the year, Georgia earned a first round bye thanks to winning the SEC championship against Texas.
Notre Dame looked like a dominant team in the weeks after losing to Northern Illinois in Week 2. The domination continued in the postseason, with the Fighting Irish erasing Indiana 27-17. Several media outlets, such as Aaron Murray and Joel Klatt, were expecting an intense and chippy game with only a few big plays separating the winning team.
Those people were right. Unfortunately, Georgia didn’t get any of those big plays. The Bulldogs lost to the Fighting Irish 23-10.
Fourteen of those points came from a kickoff return touchdown to open the second half and a 13-yard pass touchdown off a strip sack fumble to end the first half. Georgia lost this game on the trenches. The Bulldogs running game mustered up only 62 yards on 29 carries, while the Fighting Irish ran for 154 yards on 37 carries.
The pass blocking for Georgia was also abhorrent. The Notre Dame pass rush sacked Gunner Stockton four times, stripping the ball from him twice. Georgia was ineffective on third and fourth down, going 2/12 on third and 0/3 on fourth.
All this resulted in Notre Dame ending their 31-year major bowl skid and reaching the College Football Playoff semifinals to play Penn State. Notre Dame won despite being outgained.
Here are four Takeaways from Georgia’s 23-10 Sugar Bowl loss to notre dame:
Georgia was bullied on the trenches
A lot of people predicted that the offensive and defensive lines for each team would swing the pendulum in this game. Unfortunately, Georgia’s offensive line didn’t really show up. The mammoth UGA offensive line lost to the speedy Notre Dame pass rush with stunts and great scheming.
Monroe Freeling let up two strip sacks, and Xavier Truss let up two more sacks. Dylan Fairchild and Tate Ratledge were called for false start penalties in key situations. Overall, Notre Dame had 18 pressures and those pressures and sacks turned the game to Notre Dame.
Notre Dame played a clean game
To some, the final score could be considered deceiving. There was a 54-second span where Notre Dame scored 17 of their 27 points, so Georgia had plenty of time to get back in the game.
However, Notre Dame won this game due to bending but not breaking defensively. The Fighting Irish stopped Georgia from scoring on three drives that went to Notre Dame territory in the second half.
On offense, Notre Dame played a ball-control gameplay. The Fighting Irish had three more minutes of possession than Georgia, and it mostly came from the fourth quarter, where Notre Dame went on a monster seven-and-a-half minute drive to ice it. Notre Dame avoided turnovers and did not allow many big plays.
Gunner Stockton showed promise
If there’s one thing Georgia fans can be positive about, it’s that Gunner Stockton showed legitimate promise in this game.
People were worried about Stockton’s inexperience, thinking the Notre Dame defense would take advantage of it. However, Stockton, when not under pressure, played composed and made some great throws. He had almost as many passing yards as Notre Dame’s total yardage (234 to 240).
Stockton didn’t do the best job navigating pressure, which was evident when he was strip-sacked twice. Still, he was far from the reason Georgia lost this game. With Carson Beck out of the picture in 2025, he’ll more than likely be the starter for Georgia next year.
Some uncomfortable questions need to be asked about Mike Bobo
This loss spoke to a troubling trend with Georgia’s offense: without Ladd McConkey and Brock Bowers this year, they were merely average, and that is on Mike Bobo.
Georgia’s running game ranked 99th out of 132 FBS teams coming into this game. That’s the second lowest in the entire SEC for a group that thrived off the run offense historically.
Passing wise, the offense was 11th in yards, but the Bulldog receiving core also leads the nation in drops. UGA had a few drops in the Notre Dame game, including Dillon Bell’s big drop on a touchdown drive.
Mike Bobo couldn’t take advantage of the blitz looks Notre Dame brought on the defense and the Bulldogs failed to convert several short yardage situations. It remains to be seen on whether he stays or not, but the three-year offensive coordinator could be on the hot seat.
