SOUTH BEND – Increase Notre Dame football (12-1) earned a New Year’s Eve date in New Orleans with No. 2 Georgia (11-2) in the College Football Playoff. quarter final match.
The Irish, seeded seventh by third-year coach Marcus Freeman, winner of 11 straight games, stopped rival Indiana’s Cinderella season with a 27-17 victory Friday night at Notre Dame Stadium.
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Georgia, seeking its third CFP championship in four seasons, lost starting quarterback Carson Beck to an elbow injury in the SEC Championship overtime victory over Texas. The final score was 22-19.
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Coach Kirby Smart’s Bulldogs turned to untested backup quarterback Gunner Stockton, who held up fairly well in the second half in that Dec. 7 rematch against the Bulldogs. Longhorns. Stockton, a 6-foot-1, 215-pound redshirt sophomore, completed 12-of-16 passes for 71 yards in the SEC title game but averaged just 4.4 yards per attempt.
He also threw an interception and carried eight times for eight yards.
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Former University of Louisiana running back Emory Hunt CEO of Football Gameplan and college football analyst for CBS Sports, picked the Irish to eliminate the Bulldogs shortly after the game was set up.
“I don’t care if (Georgia) had Carson Beck; Notre Dame is going to beat Georgia,” Hunt said. “Notre Dame is great on both sides of the line of scrimmage. They can run the football. They can stop your passing game.”
Georgia’s two defeats took place on the road against Mississippi (28-10) and Alabama (41-34). The Bulldogs also needed eight overtimes to survive Georgia Tech at home on Thanksgiving weekend.
Notre Dame hasn’t trailed in 397 minutes of play, dating back to seven minutes of the second quarter on Oct. 19 in Atlanta against Georgia Tech. Notre Dame won 31-13.
Mike Berardino covers Notre Dame football for the South Bend Tribune and NDInsider.com. Follow him on social media @MikeBerardino.
This article was originally published on South Bend Tribune: Early predictions for Notre Dame vs. Georgia CFP quarterfinals
