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After a New Year’s Eve marked with tragedy in New Orleans, the 91st playing of the Allstate Sugar Bowl was postponed until Thursday afternoon, the first delay in the game’s history. After a slow start to the game, Notre Dame scored 20 points in 54 seconds between the end of the first half and the start of the second as the Irish pulled away from Georgia in a 23-10 final score.
HOW IT HAPPENED:
Georgia and Notre Dame each traded early punts before a nice 13-play, 71-yard drive from the Bulldogs ended with a fumble from Jennings native Trveor Etienne, the first of his career. It was recovered by Jaiden Ausberry, a Baton Rouge native playing for the Irish.
On their next possession, Gunner Stockton found Arion Smith down the sideline for a big gain deep into Notre Dame territory, but Al Golden’s defense stood up and forced a 41-yard field goal by Youngsville native Peyton Woodring to put Georgia on the board 3-0 early in the second quarter.
Notre Dame had a strong offensive drive of their own thanks to the athleticism of quarterback Riley Leonard. The Irish were able to tie the game up with a 44-yard field goal from Mitch Jeter to make it even once again at 3-3 with 8:20 left in the first half.
Jeter added another field goal from 48 yards out eight minutes later to put Notre Dame ahead. On the ensuing Georgia possession, Stockton was sacked and fumbled, which was recovered by Notre Dame. Then, Riley Leonard found Beaux Collins for the 13-yard touchdown, putting the Irish ahead 13-3 right before the half.
On the opening kickoff of the second half, Jayden Harrison ran it back 98 yards for a touchdown to add to Notre Dame’s lead. The return was the longest in a College Football Playoff game and the second longest in a Sugar Bowl.
Five minutes later, Stockton found Cash Jones for a 32-yard touchdown pass to cap off a five-play, 61-yard touchdown drive that made it 20-10 with 9:36 left in the third quarter.
Notre Dame added a field goal to start the fourth quarter, capping a 29-yard scoring drive after the Irish defense forced a turnover on downs by the Georgia offense.
The Notre Dame special teams pulled trickery as they made a full 11-person substitution to put the offense back on, forcing Georgia to be confused and jumping offsides. From there, the Irish ran the clock down to the two minute warning before punting.
Gerogia had one final chance to make something happen, but Notre Dame’s defense would get a key sack to end it.
BIG NUMBER: 54
It took Notre Dame just 54 seconds of clock time to score 17 points to take a commanding 20-3 lead over Georgia just 15 seconds into the second half.
PLAYER OF THE GAME: Jayden Harrison
Harrison’s 98-yard kickoff return to open the second half capped off 20 unanswered points in 54 seconds of clock time for the Irish as Notre Dame jumped to a 20-3 lead.
UP NEXT: Notre Dame will head to Miami to take on Penn State in the Capital One Orange Bowl on Thursday, January 9.