Notre Dame and Georgia Played An SEC Like Game, And The Irish Lost 20-19

The football game that the Notre Dame Fighting Irish and the Georgia Bulldogs just played, was very much like an SEC game. The back and forth... the penalties... the poor offense - everything. It was a battle to the finish with the Bulldogs taking the win over the Irish 20-19.

This was every bit the big game that we had all made it out to be. The problem is that it flowed in a way that none of us really saw coming. And yet, it was the battle in the trenches that ultimately decided the game.

We (and by “we” I mean me and people that agreed with me) thought the biggest key to the game would be the Irish offensive line going up against the Georgia front seven - and it was! Kudos to us, but we (okay maybe just me) thought that the Notre Dame line would be able to do some things. Some things - and I was completely wrong.

The Georgia defense, led by Lorenzo Carter, J.R. Reid, and Roquan Smith, shut the Notre Dame offense and Brandon Wimbush DOWN. Notre Dame gained just 265 yards on the day (55 on the ground) and if it wasn’t for the 127 yards of penalties against the Bulldogs, it would have been a little more brutal.

Notre Dame couldn’t get anything going on the ground, because there were no running lanes. Georgia filled gaps, had good run fits, and closed with tremendous speed to bottle up the Irish rushing attack before it could get past the line of scrimmage most times.

The official line for the Notre Dame running game: 37 attempts for 55 yards with 1 TD. This comes after a monster 400 yard performance last week.

That’s your ball game folks. The offensive line got WORKED, which obviously caused the entire offense to sputter.

Dexter Williams got zero carries, and even though that is incredibly ridiculous, I’m not sure how much it would have mattered. Maybe that doesn’t matter when Josh Adams had a very Armando Allen like game with 55 yards rushing and 60 yards receiving (his 6 receptions and those 60 yards led the team in both categories). And all that means is that the offense was so flustered up front, Adams became their only option for the most part.

It was pure torture to witness.

Notre Dame got whipped up front, and lost a one point game to a very good team. They stayed in the game on the strength of Justin Yoon’s leg, a defense that played really well for most of the game, and a few penalties. They lost by less than a field goal, against a really good defense, and a penalty that was pretty much crap.

Welcome to SEC football Notre Dame.