What they’re saying about Notre Dame’s 23-10 victory against Georgia in the CFP quarterfinals
The monkey is off Notre Dame’s back. The Fighting Irish have their first major postseason bowl win since 1993 (Cotton Bowl vs. Texas A&M), and it came in the form of the Sugar Bowl and College Football Playoff quarterfinal triumph. And the Irish beat up on the SEC Champions — the Georgia Bulldogs — 23-10.
In this article, we’ll take a look around at what the media is saying about the Fighting Irish’s triumph against the Bulldogs, including Blue & Gold’s Mike Singer and Tim Hyde giving their instant reaction to the game in a YouTube live show. You can watch the replay of the show in the video player below.
Tyler Horka, Blue & Gold: How Notre Dame portal players proved it’s quality over quantity in Sugar Bowl
NEW ORLEANS — If you’re a Notre Dame fan who had a chance to come down from what occurred in the final minute of the first half of the Sugar Bowl during the game’s 22-minute halftime, then you probably got even more excited realizing the Fighting Irish were getting the ball to start the second half after quickly turning a 3-3 game into a 13-3 lead.
Yeah, Notre Dame got the ball all right. For all of 15 seconds.
Jayden Harrison returned the opening kickoff of the second half 98 yards for a touchdown. It was the Marshall transfer’s first return TD in 14 games with the Irish after having 3 in as many seasons with the Thundering Herd, including 2 last year alone when he earned All-America honors as a special teamer.
He picked the perfect time for his fourth kickoff return score of his career. He didn’t transfer to Notre Dame to return kickoffs for touchdowns against Purdue in September. He transferred to Notre Dame to return kickoffs for touchdowns against Georgia in December.
“It’s a blessing to be here,” Harrison said. “The whole journey has been a blessing.”
Harrison was not alone in feeling that way after Notre Dame’s win.
Jack Soble, Blue & Gold: Five thoughts: Marcus Freeman out-coached Kirby Smart in monumental Notre Dame win
Georgia had to burn a timeout with 13:24 left in the third quarter of the Sugar Bowl. At that moment, Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman was as visibly fired up as he had been all night.
He was screaming — the kind of screaming where it’s a bunch of words we can’t write in this magazine with some “Yeah!” mixed in. He was pumping his fist. He drifted out toward the hash marks to pump up his defenders on the field. All for a timeout.
Georgia head coach Kirby Smart had to spend that timeout because his offense, facing third-and-8 from its own 34-yard line, was out of sorts. Maybe the Bulldogs let the crecendoing Irish fans get to them, or maybe they were too stunned by the 17 points Notre Dame had scored in the previous two-plus minutes of game time.
Either way, Smart’s team was folding. And Freeman knew it.
In a game that certainly looked like Georgia had the talent advantage early — Notre Dame’s offense clearly had a difficult time with the Bulldogs’ size and athleticism on defense — Freeman gave the Irish an edge in ways Smart did not. He was the one dictating the flow of the game, and the two-time national champion on the other sideline was the one who constantly had to react.
Here are four more thoughts on Notre Dame’s monumental 23-10 win.
Andy Staples, On3: Notre Dame’s Marcus Freeman showed his evolution as a head coach in win against Georgia
Once again, Notre Dame had its back to the goal line in the fourth quarter. Once again, chaos reigned on a sideline.
Only this time, Marcus Freeman had orchestrated the chaos. The Notre Dame coach would have looked perfect waving a conductor’s baton Thursday as his punt team sprinted off the field and his offense sprinted on the field on fourth-and-one from the Notre Dame 18-yard line. Meanwhile, Georgia’s sideline was in disarray as the defense tried to replace the punt return team, and coaches tried to ensure the Bulldogs had 11 men on the field.
Ah, yes. The count. Remember that? Remember Sept. 23, 2023? Notre Dame with its back to the goal line. Ohio State down 14-10 and lining up on third-and-goal from the 1 with the clock ticking below three seconds.
Freeman stood on the sideline knowing his team only had 10 players on the field and knowing there was nothing he could do because he had no timeouts and no signal prepared that would cause one of his DBs to touch a receiver before the snap and draw a flag that would stop the play. Freeman could only watch as Chip Trayanum scored the game-winning touchdown with a second remaining.
This time, with a trip to the College Football Playoff semifinals on the line, Freeman had placed Georgia coach Kirby Smart in a similar blender. The Fighting Irish led by 13. Smart had two timeouts, but did he need to save both in case the Bulldogs needed them on offense? Plus, Notre Dame wouldn’t really snap the ball there, would it?
Jake Rowe, Dawgs HQ: Georgia rose to the occasion many times in 2024 — it never got better
NEW ORLEANS — Georgia scored three points in its first two quarters of the season. It scored three points in the first two quarters of its final game on Saturday. The Bulldogs lost to Notre Dame 23-10 on Thursday and it was the same inconsistent but resilient, fundamentally unsound but physical team that won 11 of its first 13, including an SEC Championship. “Find a way” just wasn’t enough this time.
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I saw Georgia click for stretches this season. When it grabbed a little momentum and got its blood hot, this was a tough team to stop. The defense showed it could be relentless at times with its ability to generate havoc plays. The offense, for shorter spurts, would go on runs where it bit off chunk after chunk in the pass game.
Usually it was to try and come back from an early deficit, a hole the Bulldogs dug themselves with turnovers, three and outs, and chunk-plays allowed defensively (less often). But we all saw it. The comeback against Georgia Tech, the final three quarters against Tennessee, the second half against Clemson, and the gotta-have-it drives against Texas and Florida.
Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman
Opening statement from postgame press conference:
“I think I said this after the game, but I’m so proud of this program, the team, for the work they put into obtaining the result that we got tonight.
“I’ve been reminding them the last 10 days as we prepared, this will be a 60-plus-minute fight. Georgia’s been down in nine games this year, and they find a way to come back and win. And so, they had that mentality.
“Our coaches called the game aggressive. Our players executed, put everything on the line for this university and this football team. I’m really proud of them. Proud of the way they handled the events of the last 24 hours.
“I want to make sure I, again, send our condolences on behalf of our university and our football program to everyone that was affected by the tragedy. They had to be able to still get ready for this game with the natural emotions that come into each individual that happened after the tragedy.
“So, I’m proud of the way they prepared. They stayed steady, and they went out, and they did a great job.”
Georgia head coach Kirby Smart
Opening statement from postgame press conference:
“I want to open with a lot of credit to Notre Dame and their staff and their team. They played exactly like we expected them to play: Physical, tough, don’t beat yourself. And they did that. They did those exact things. They got two turnovers, and we didn’t. And they returned a kickoff for a touchdown. So, we basically spotted them probably 14 points off of that, and costed ourselves a possession in the red area when we fumbled down there. But they did a really good job. They played really hard, physical brand of football. So do we. Those two mirror each other. I think both defenses played well, and we turned the ball over and they didn’t. And they gave us problems in the pass game with the sack and the sack fumble. So give them a lot of credit.
That takes nothing away from these men on the stage and the seniors that are a part of this class. I mean, absolutely incredible. I just told them, what they went through this year and what they played and how they played, the resiliency, the injuries that we’ve had, and to win an SEC championship — which I have so much respect for our conference — and to win some of the comeback games they won and never quit, even in this game, never quit, that’s the attitude you’ve got to have to get better as a football program.
So, we’ve got a lot of guys moving on. A lot of guys are hurt in that locker room because we didn’t get the outcome that we wanted, but that’s part of life. I give Notre Dame credit for how they played and give our seniors and our leaders credit for what they’ve done for this program.”
