NEW ORLEANS — Riley Leonard had a touchdown pass, Jaden Harrison returned a kickoff 98 yards for a score and Notre Dame's defense held on, giving No. 2 Georgia a 23-yard lead in Thursday's Sugar Bowl. They won -10 and scored the third goal. – Guided the Fighting Irish to the semifinals of the College Football Playoff.
Notre Dame (13-1, 5th place in the CFP) made enough big plays in a game that was delayed a day due to a deadly terrorist attack in the host city, as well as some smart moves by coach Marcus Freeman. I was saved.
Georgia (11-2, No. 2 in the CFP) was in position to pull within one point when Notre Dame stopped it on fourth-and-5 from the Irish 9-yard line with 9:29 left.
Freeman then punted his team with a force-and-short deep in his own half, then ran all 11 players off the field to eject the offensive line. Georgia raced to catch up and jumped offside as the play clock ticked down, giving the Irish a first down that cost them time with 7 minutes, 17 seconds left.
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By the time the Bulldogs got the ball back, there was just 1:49 left on the clock, and Notre Dame was set to face No. 5 Penn State (13-2, CFP No. 6 seed) in the Orange Bowl semifinals. Things were progressing smoothly for the match. Miami on January 9th.
Georgia entered the game without starting quarterback Carson Beck, who suffered an elbow injury in the Southeastern Conference championship game. Gunner Stockton took his place, completing 20 of 32 for 234 yards and one touchdown.
Leonard had 90 yards passing and a team-high 80 yards rushing.
The game was tied at 3-all, but Notre Dame scored 17 points in 54 seconds.
The unusual sequence began with Mitch Jeter's 48-yard field goal with 39 seconds left in the first half.
Moments later, Georgia paid the price for its aggressive decision to attempt a dropback pass from its own 25. A blindside sack by R.J. Oben resulted in Stockton's fumble at the 13, which was recovered by Irish defensive lineman Junior Tuihalamaka. Leonard scored a touchdown on the next play when Beau Collins crossed the middle for a touchdown, giving them a 13-3 lead heading into halftime.
By the end of the third quarter, Notre Dame led 20-13.
Harrison took Georgia's second-half kickoff to the end zone, slipped through tackles near the middle of the field, and cut toward the right sideline past everyone.
Georgia closed the gap to 20-10 with a 32-yard score from Stockton to backup running back Cash Jones, then Jeter made his third field goal of the game to make it 23-10.
