Georgia will need a second-half comeback to win its Sugar Bowl semifinal against Notre Dame and advance in the College Football Playoff.
The Fighting Irish took a 13-3 lead into the second half against the Bulldogs on the strength of Riley Leonard’s 13-yard touchdown pass to Bo Collins with 27 seconds left in the second quarter.
The touchdown came one play after RJ Oben beat left tackle Monroe Freeling and delivered a blindside hit on Gunner Stockton, forcing a fumble that Tuihalamaka recovered at the UGA 13.
“We tried to be aggressive in two-minute (situations) and probably regret it,” Kirby Smart said during his halftime interview. “We wanted to show confidence in our quarterback, and we didn’t get the block we needed to get and they made a good play.”
The Irish had taken a 6-3 lead at Caesars Superdome in New Orleans just moments earlier when Mitch Jeter made a 48-yard field goal with 38 seconds left in the first half.
The Bulldogs opened the scoring on their third drive of the game when Peyton Woodring made a 41-yard field goal to make the score 3-0 with 12:14 left in the second quarter.
Stockton had connected with Arian Smith on a 67-yard pass to the Notre Dame 11, but the Bulldogs were backed up 10 yards before their next play because of sideline interference.
A referee trailing the play ran into a UGA player not dressed out on the white part of the sideline, leading to the Bulldogs having to start with a first-and-10 from the Notre Dame 26, leading to the field goal.
The Irish answered with a field goal of their own on the ensuing drive, with quarterback Riley Leonard doing most of the damage on the ground.
Leonard had runs of 5 and 32 yards to help Notre Dame get to the Georgia 26, from which Jeter made a 44-yard field goal to tie the score at 3-3.
“Everybody’s just got to do their job,” Smart said of Leonard’s runs. “We held them to a field goal, that was the best we could do right there.”
Georgia had threatened to score in the first quarter, driving to the Notre Dame 16 on its second possession of the first quarter.
The drive ended when Adon Shuler hit Trevor Etienne and jarred the ball loose, leading to the Irish recovering at their own 10-yard line.
“We turned the ball over twice, one time going in we would have had a lead but they brought an extra guy and the receiver didn’t block him, and the next time we just missed a guy at left tackle,” Smart said. “If you don’t block people on the edges you’re gonna struggle.
“We run the ball better than they run the ball.”
Notre Dame received the second-half kickoff after winning the coin toss and deferring. The Irish returned the kick 98 yards for a touchdown and a 20-3 lead.
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