Sugar Bowl takeaways: Notre Dame feasts on Georgia’s mistakes to advance 

The Notre Dame Fighting Irish are one step closer to a national championship following their 23-10 win over the Georgia Bulldogs on Thursday evening.

The win puts Notre Dame into the Orange Bowl next week against the Penn State Nittany Lions, with both teams playing for the right to go to the College Football National Championship Game. 

Here are some takeaways from Notre Dame’s win. 

Kneejerk reaction: Georgia lost this game around halftime

Honestly, it lost the game in 60 seconds. 

Literally. 

Only 60 seconds.

It was during the final 40 seconds of the first half, and the first 15 seconds of the second half, where Notre Dame scored 17 points to completely take control of the game.

The two truly game-changing plays were a Gunner Stockton fumble with just over 30 seconds to play in the first half, and the opening kickoff of the second half, which Notre Dame returned 98 yards for a touchdown.

The Stockton fumble was the real gut punch for Georgia, especially because it was the most avoidable. At that point, the score was 6-3, and the Bulldogs had a chance to go into halftime down by only a field goal.

It was one of two fumbles that Georgia lost in the first half, with the first coming deep in Notre Dame territory when the game was still scoreless in the first quarter. 

While it is understandable as to why head coach Kirby Smart wanted to be aggressive and get points, especially knowing he was not getting the ball to start the second half, he had to understand the context of the situation.

His defense was dominating. He was playing the game with an inexperienced quarterback who had struggled to consistently move the ball. The one thing he could not do was give Notre Dame easy points. That is exactly what he did in that spot as Notre Dame turned the fumble recovery into a touchdown to take a 10-point lead going into halftime. 

Game MVP: Notre Dame’s Junior Tuihalamaka

Tuihalamaka was not one of the more prominent players on Notre Dame’s defense this season, but he picked a great time to play the game of his life. 

He made two massive plays in the first half, recording a sack on Stockton early in the second quarter, and then later recovering the fumble that resulted in Notre Dame’s first touchdown going into halftime. 

Notre Dame kicker Mitch Jeter deserves an honorable mention for going 3-for-3 on field goals, while quarterback Riley Leonard also made some huge plays with his feet. But Tuihalamaka really swung the game in Notre Dame’s favor in the first half. 

Wild play: Georgia’s big play gets erased by somebody not even on the field

Another big play that is going to have Georgia asking “what if?” after Thursday’s game is the sideline penalty that negated a massive catch-and-run that would have set the Bulldogs up inside the 15-yard line.