Things tighten up for the Notre Dame Fighting Irish, who grapple with the Georgia Bulldogs on New Year’s Day in a College Football Playoff quarterfinal matchup at the Sugar Bowl. The game is scheduled to kick at 8:45 p.m. ET and will determine the final team advancing to the semifinal round. The Irish had an easy time against a team some thought shouldn’t have been in the CFP, routing Indiana, 27-17, in the first round to cover the 6.5-point closing line at the Bitcoin Sportsbook for their ninth straight payout. Georgia has been off since beating Texas in the SEC Championship and will be without Carson Beck, who was injured in the Dawgs’ 22-19 overtime win.
College Football Betting Lines
Sugar Bowl: Georgia vs. Notre Dame Betting Lines
Notre Dame Fighting Irish +2.5 / ML +116
Georgia Bulldogs -2.5 / ML -132
Over / Under 44.5
The biggest concern for the Bulldogs as they begin their quest for a third national championship in four years is at quarterback. Carson Beck played all but a handful of snaps during the regular season with UGA putting together another impressive offensive campaign. Beck sustained an elbow injury late in the first half of the SEC title game and has since been ruled out for the remainder of the CFP. Beck threw for nearly 3,500 yards and 28 touchdowns this season before being shelved and the Dawgs averaged 33.2 points.
Gunner Stockton saw little action during the regular season throwing only 16 passes with 12 of those coming in an early season romp over Tennessee Tech. He helped UGA rally from a 6-3 halftime deficit against Texas by completing 12 of 16 passes for 71 yards. The redshirt sophomore will be making his first career start and although he’s more of a running threat than Beck, Kirby Smart isn’t saying how much the game plan changes. “Gunner is a good athlete. I think Carson’s a good athlete. So, it’s one of those deals that I don’t know how much it changes things,” the coach said.
Georgia will have to rely more on its defense with Stockton now at the helm. He did lead a pair of scoring drives that eventually got the win over Texas, but the offense had trouble moving the football. The Dawgs managed just 277 total yards while allowing almost 400 to the Horns. And Georgia was aided by 11 Texas penalties and three turnovers. I’m not sure the Irish are going to be as philanthropic. This has been a different season for UGA. The numbers defensively are still good, but not nearly where they’ve been in the past when the Dawgs were near the top of the national rankings in most defensive stat categories.
Playing the first playoff game on a campus site the Irish started fast and held on to beat Indiana, 27-17. Two late IU touchdowns made the score closer than the game actually was. The Irish won their 11th straight game since an inexplicable home loss to Northern Illinois in Week 2. The team used that as a rallying cry and the players have bought in. Of those 11 straight wins only one was decided by less than 10 points and the Irish are 10-1 ATS in those contests.
Though they will face a quarterback who has played in only six games during his two-year career at Georgia, the Irish hit the board as a 2.5-point underdog. It’ll be the first time since the season-opener against Texas AM that the Irish will be catching points on the line. Notre Dame won that game, 23-13, behind a running game that produced 198 yards and two touchdowns and controlled the football for much of the contest.
Running the ball has been a staple of Notre Dame’s offense all season led by Jeremiyah Love. The Irish average nearly 200 yards on the ground with Love, Riley Leonard and Jadarian Price all going for more than 680 yards with 38 touchdowns between them.
’m not a ND fan, but the Irish have a lot working in their favor so backing the points and the UNDER are my college football same game parlay picks.
Sugar Bowl: Georgia vs. Notre Dame Same Game Parlay Picks
Notre Dame +2.5
Notre Dame / Georgia UNDER 44.5
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