Game Notes: Sugar Bowl

Game notes: two lost fumbles. Kickoff return for a touchdown. Notre Dame scores 17 quick points. UGA gets in a 3rd and long and has to burn a valuable time out. Not winning football. Early in the game it was the Irish committing penalty after penalty. Then Riley Leonard started running the ball like GT QB Haynes King. If Riley was so good, why did he have to transfer? At least he's a Christian.

Then after the Irish scored on the kickoff return, the Dawgs try to run the kickoff out of the end zone. It didn't turn out well. 

Cash Jones missed most of the first half, then came back to score a TD. WR Bell also missed time. Dawgs weren't able to capitalize on two long drives. First lost fumble all year by Etienne. Wide open receiver drops another pass, making for a second and long. The poor play carries over to the second half. Offsides on a 4th down play. Dawgs not tackling well, or taking good angles to the ball. 

Pretty sure I saw a couple of Notre Dame players in the white border during the kickoff return TD. Later announcer Greg McElroy got into an on air argument with the rules official - weird. Sean McDonough had to break it up. 

For the most part Gunner Stockton played well. Really zipping passes to his receivers. Didn't get much help from the running backs, wide receivers, and offensive line. Tight ends did good.

Huge gamble by UGA on 4th and 13 pays off with the obvious pass interference. But the Dawgs can't cash in. Replace two missed 4th down conversions with two field goals, and it's a 7 point game.

Give credit to the Irish kicker for nailing all his field goals. 

Guess all the experts were right: Dawgs can't beat the Irish with an inexperienced backup QB. First time Notre Dame ever beat Georgia. First Irish team to win the Sugar, Rose, or Orange since 1974. Can the Irish beat Penn State...on two days less rest? 

Announcer Matt Stinchcomb said earlier this week that most of the Irish players he'd met were nice gentlemen, most probably future corporate executives. So they have that going for them.

Walkons: Cash Jones. That UGA LB #17. That Arizona State do everything RB. Clemson WR Hunter Renfroe drafted by the Raiders. Was Ladd McConkey a walkon? What do they all have in common?

That poor #39 on the sidelines. I'm probably wrong, but it didn't look like he was on the white border to me. Maybe the official just hit the kid's arms.

Maybe the official was too close to the Georgia team. A tough penalty. After that the border was clear on both sidelines. 

Did Kirby actually write his tweet? A nice sentiment but it seemed uncharacteristic for him, as uber focused as he is on football. Also kind of wordy. Maybe Kirby spoke those words. 

Irish defender loses a shoe and sprints toward the sideline - then drops to the ground faking an injury. Nice.

Never realized both Notre Dame and Auburn have the same fight song.

I liked Notre Dame better when they wore black shoes and didn't have the names on the backs of the jerseys. 

Glad they moved the Sugar Bowl playoff semifinal to 4 pm so the Duke vs Ole Miss Gator Bowl could stay in prime time. At least either the SEC or the ACC will finally get a bowl win.

Guess I shouldn't have left work early to watch the game at home. 

All four top teams given a playoff bye lost. Guess UGA should've been treated like FSU and been left out of the playoff, since their starting QB was out. Not!

Tomorrow: more bowl observations.

Got a lot done at work today because it was so quiet. Still tons to do. Brad gets all his flu shots but keeps getting Covid and the flu. But he keeps running every day. I'm going to be sure to take my vitamins. 

Young dad Marty took a job with a competitor. Probably closer to home, higher paying, and easier than what he was doing. Can't blame him. Poor Sherryl is going crazy. It's not SAP but all the extra work she's having to do with the new slitter being broke. She was already overworked. 

Lots of craziness going on in the US and the world. Seemed like the FBI knew in advance there was a bomb in the cooler. Vegas bomber was burned beyond recognition with a gunshot wound to the head but his two ID's were intact? A supposed bomb making expert who loved his country and Trump. Could he have been killed and placed in the cybertruck before it was exploded? Two suspects both from Ft Bragg. Lots of double talk from the government. Plus all this fog business. I don't want to go outside, and I don't want to look up. The year isn't starting off well.

Appropriately my library reservation for George Orwell's  "1984" just became available for me to check out.