Notre Dame stymies Georgia at Sugar Bowl, moves on to CFP semis

NEW ORLEANS -- Notre Dame passed for just 90 yards. It had fewer total yards than Georgia (296-244). But Jayden Harrison had a record kickoff return for a touchdown and the No. 7 seed Fighting Irish's defense dominated in a 23-10 victory over the No. 2 seed Bulldogs in a College Football Playoff quarterfinal game at the Allstate Sugar Bowl on Thursday. "We didn't believe that we could lose this game by passing yards," Notre Dame coach Marcus Freeman said, "but we could lose if we didn't stop the run, and the defense did an amazing job at stopping the run. That put them in some difficult third-down situations." Georgia rushed for 62 yards and was 2 of 12 on third downs and 0 of 3 on fourth downs. Notre Dame quarterback Riley Leonard threw a 13-yard touchdown pass to Beaux Collins and rushed for a game-high 80 yards in a contest that was postponed from Wednesday night because of the terrorist attack that took place in the French Quarter earlier that day. "I'm really proud of the way they handled the events of the last 24 hours," Freeman said of his team, which improved to 13-1 after winning its 12th consecutive game. Georgia finished 11-3. "You should know when you turn it over twice and they return a kickoff for a touchdown, you're not going to have a lot of success," Bulldogs coach Kirby Smart said. Sophomore Gunner Stockton made his first start at quarterback for Georgia in place of Carson Beck, who suffered a season-ending elbow injury in the SEC championship game. Stockton completed 20 of 32 passes for 234 yards with one touchdown. "Gunner did some good things," Smart said, "but obviously it wasn't enough with the two turnovers." The Fighting Irish scored the game's first touchdown on Collins' catch with 27 seconds left in the first half and extended its lead to 20-3 when Harrison returned the second-half kickoff a CFP-record 98 yards for a touchdown. "We just missed the tackle," Smart said, "and when you don't play for a while, sometimes you miss tackles." The Bulldogs hadn't played since Dec. 7, when they defeated Texas 22-19 in overtime in the Southeastern Conference Championship game. Notre Dame was coming off a 27-17 first-round home win over 10th-seeded Indiana on Dec. 20. Stockton threw a 32-yard touchdown pass to Cash Jones to trim the Notre Dame lead to 10 points at the end of the third quarter. Mitch Jeter kicked a 47-yard field goal on the third play of the fourth quarter to push the lead to 23-10. Georgia had a chance to make it a one-score game, but Stockton threw an incompletion on fourth-and-5 from the Fighting Irish 9. The game was scoreless through one quarter. Peyton Woodring kicked a 41-yard field goal for the Bulldogs and Jeter kicked a 44-yarder to tie the score with 39 seconds left in the first half. On the next play, RJ Oben forced Stockton to fumble while being sacked, Junior Tuihalamaka recovered for Notre Dame, and Leonard and Collins teamed on their touchdown to give the Fighting Irish a 13-3 halftime lead. "We don't play passive here," Smart said. "You can't give up possessions when you're trailing. We've got a really good pass protection team and certainly weren't counting on getting beat that quickly at left tackle, and they got a sack fumble, which gave them some momentum." Up next for Notre Dame: vs. No. 6 seed Penn State (13-2), Orange Bowl, Jan. 9, 7:30 p.m. (College Football Playoff semifinal) About Penn State: The Nittany Lions have won their first two playoff games decisively, defeating No. 11 seed SMU 38-10 in State College, Pa., and beating No. 3 seed Boise State 31-14 in the Fiesta Bowl on Dec. 31. The Penn State defense held Heisman Trophy runner-up Ashton Jeanty, the nation's leading rusher, to a season-low 104 yards on 30 carries and forced four turnovers in the quarterfinal victory. --Les East, Field Level Media