Notre Dame physicality along lines of scrimmage impressive to Kirby Smart
When Kirby Smart thinks of Notre Dame, he thinks of physicality. Hard-nosed domination of the line of scrimmage has historically defined the Fighting Irish, and 2024 is no different.
“The physicality I see when I watch Notre Dame play is pretty incredible on both lines of scrimmage. The way they play, the style of play they have,” Smart said. “This is a really good, solid, fundamentally sound, don’t beat themselves, play good defense, great defense, and really physical on the lines of scrimmage (team) … There’s a reason why that they’re at the point the season they’re at.”
That physicality leads to a strong run game offensively. Jeremiyah Love has rushed for over 1,000 yards – fourth-most of any individual on Georgia’s schedule this season. He comes in behind only Dylan Sampson (Tennessee – 1,491 yards), Jarquez Hunter (Auburn – 1,201 yards) and Phil Mafah (Clemson – 1,115 yards) while the Irish rank higher than all opponents but Tennessee in rushing offense, averaging 222.38 yards per game on the ground.
“They have unbelievable backs first off. Who you hand it to does matter. Those guys are tremendously talented and do a great job,” Smart said. “I mean, (they) use all of them, too. And then when you throw the skill set of Riley (Leonard) in there, the quarterback, it just makes it that much tougher to defend because they have multiple weapons, multiple options, and they’re really physical. I mean, they’re committed to it. They’re very committed to the run.”
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Defensively, the toughness can be seen on every level of the unit. There’s no way around it, the Irish are really impressive with the nation’s No. 3 scoring defense (13.8 points per game) and No. 8 total defense (295.3 yards per game). Safety Xavier Watts won the Bronko Nagurski Award in 2023 while 11 different front-seven defenders have at least 3.0 tackles for loss on the season. Losing defensive lineman Rylie Mills and his 7.5 sacks and 8.5 TFLs to injury in Friday’s win over Indiana hurts, but the Irish have bodies to make up for it.
“They’re really physical up front. They play really hard. You see it on tape. You see them dominate the line of scrimmage. That’s why they win football games. That’s where the game is won and lost,” Smart said. “… They play great defense. They have a great pass rush. They’re physical up front. They affect the pass rush with how hard they play, and they got really good defensive backs. I mean, they play man-to-man. You know, they get up on you, put their hands on you. You can tell it’s a great brand of football between Coach (Al) Golden and Coach (Marcus) Freeman have done a great job. So, they play really good football.”
Smart understands that his team will have to bring its A-game to beat the Notre Dame in New Orleans. The two historic programs have matched up their once before – a win that helped Georgia bring home the 1980 national championship – and the Bulldogs hope the outcome is the same, not only as that meeting but also the two since then (2017 and 2019). Kickoff time on New Year’s Day is set for 8:45 p.m. ET on ESPN/ABC.
