NEW ORLEANS — Kirby Smart offered the ultimate compliment to Notre Dame.
The Fighting Irish, he said at his Monday news conference before the Sugar Bowl, look like an SEC team.
To Smart, Notre Dame’s size along the offensive line, the depth on the roster and the physical style are reminiscent of the bullies from the land of It Just Means More.
“You see how they play,” Smart said. “You see the toughness they play with. The linebackers are downhill, thumping. The backs are elite. They’re built like an SEC team.”
Whether Freeman blushed upon hearing this or his heart fluttered or he wrote “SEC + ND” inside of a heart in his diary may forever be a mystery. But it was nevertheless Smart offering his respect to an opponent that has, one notable stumble aside, bludgeoned its opposition. Only one of Notre Dame’s 12 wins has been by single digits. Smart went further at the Tuesday news conference with Freeman at the New Orleans Sheraton.
“They play football the way that we like to play football, very physical brand of football, disciplined, tough,” he said.
His Notre Dame love didn’t stop there. He spoke about growing up in an era when the Fighting Irish were the most dominant team for many years. (This was something of a generous recollection. Notre Dame has won two national championships in Smart’s lifetime, one when he was 2 years old.) He spoke about watching Notre Dame play on television during his childhood, including star Raghib Ismail. When he was a grad assistant at Florida State, he was with the Seminoles for a 2003 road game in South Bend, Indiana.
“And to see Touchdown Jesus and see all that, it was really something that marked my young career,” Smart said.
Had the news conference gone longer, Smart might have invoked the Four Horsemen, revealed that his favorite cereal is Lucky Charms and requested that he be addressed as “Coach Kirby O’Smart.”
Regardless, how close the Fighting Irish can come to approximating a mighty SEC behemoth figures to prove consequential to the outcome of the Sugar Bowl on the evening of New Year’s Day.
A number worth noting: Georgia is 39-2 against nonconference competition during the reign of Smart. That includes wins in each of the past 26 games against non-SEC opponents.
That record does include a healthy dose of Tennessee-Martin, Austin Peay and lesser versions of Georgia Tech. And the Yellow Jackets came within a few micrometers of dealing UGA a loss in November at Sanford Stadium.
But, on the whole, if you don’t belong to the SEC, you haven’t stood much of a chance against Smart, in no small part because you probably lack the size, depth and talent that it has taken to unseat the Bulldogs.
That 26-game run includes wins over heavyweights Ohio State, Oregon, Clemson and Michigan. The Bulldogs are 6-0 in bowl games or College Football Playoff games against non-SEC opponents since falling to Texas (then in the Big 12) on Jan. 1, 2019, in the same Superdome where UGA and Notre Dame will play Thursday.
It’s not only that Georgia nonconference opponents have lacked that intrinsic SEC-ness. It’s also that they’re not used to playing teams that do.
The Fighting Irish have mauled opponents with a run game that has averaged 193 yards per game, including 215 against Indiana in their first-round CFP win and 269 in their final regular-season win game against USC.
As a matter of comparison, Indiana and USC played a total of two defensive linemen that weighed 300 pounds or more, neither a starter. Georgia will start two defensive linemen that clear 300 — Nazir Stackhouse and either Christen Miller or Warren Brinson — and rotate in more.
The Bulldogs will be a different animal than were the Hoosiers.
Certainly, this Georgia team is not the same as the one that has furnished the bulk of those 26 consecutive nonconference wins. Tech made that much clear in both teams’ regular-season finale, following unimpressive wins over the likes of Mississippi State and Auburn.
But it’s still difficult to pick against Georgia in this setting, in which the Bulldogs have had a month to rest, recover and prepare for a playoff game. That could in itself be a factor, given that Georgia hasn’t played for a month since the SEC title game and Notre Dame played less than two weeks ago.
Asked about a possible advantage one way or the other, Smart answered with logic.
“Depends on who wins,” he said.
The other obvious unknown is the play of sophomore quarterback Gunner Stockton, making his first career start. Given Georgia’s long layoff and Stockton’s lack of experience, the game could go sideways in a hurry. But Smart sang his praises in a meaningful way Monday, noting his decision-making ability, accuracy and athletic ability. He added in intangibles like toughness and character.
“He’s been raised around football,” Smart said. “He’s a coach’s son. All the players play harder for him. Do you make the players around you better is what you look for in a quarterback. I think he raises the skill level of everybody around him because of who he is.”
Stockton doesn’t have much experience, but it’s the guess here that Stockton won’t be overwhelmed by the CFP stage.
Being from the SEC doesn’t ensure that Georgia will win. This has been a down year for the league, and the Sugar Bowl will be another litmus test for it. But being the best from that conference should go a long way.
