Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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28 SEPT. 30, 2019 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED fourth quarter and that's what it is all about." While Georgia ratcheted up its de- fensive intensity during that stretch, much of Notre Dame's struggles came from sloppy play. The intercep- tion actually came on a ball that hit fifth-year senior wide receiver Chris Finke in the chest before bouncing off him and into the arms of a Geor- gia defender. A few false starts also slowed the Irish down. "You saw what happened: pen- alties and dropped balls and mis- takes," head coach Brian Kelly said. "It was self-inflicted wounds. And Georgia is good. They're a good foot- ball team." Poor offensive possessions also re- sulted in the Notre Dame defense spending more than 11 minutes on the field during the quarter, which lead to noticeable fatigue and missed tackles later on. Ultimately, Notre Dame allowed Georgia to score 16 consecutive points. If the Irish were able to move the ball at all in the third quarter, the final score and outcome of this game might have been different. NO MORAL VICTORIES HERE When you're ranked No. 7 in the nation, there's no such thing as a moral victory. Notre Dame went into its matchup with No. 3 Georgia ex- pecting to win and anything short of that is a letdown. "It's a disappointed locker room," Kelly said. "You don't come down here to play these games and feel good after a physical game like that when you come up short." Still, an unsettling loss doesn't change the fact that the Irish far ex- ceeded the expectations of those out- side the Notre Dame locker room. All week, the national media harped on the narrative that Notre Dame would get run off the field. Oddsmakers agreed, with the line eclipsing 14 points at many sports- books. No one thought they'd have a 10-7 lead heading into halftime. Even after a poorly played third quarter, Notre Dame came back from a 23-10 deficit and had the ball at midfield at the end of the game with a chance to win. It's hard to say the Irish don't belong with college foot- ball's best after a tough road loss like that. But for now, that's meaningless to the players. To them, there's no dif- ference between a close loss to Geor- gia and a blow-out loss to Clemson. "Win or a loss, that's all I look for," senior safety Alohi Gilman said. "We didn't get the job done, so it's tough, but we'll be able to work on what we lacked and focus on next week." While the road to the College Foot- ball Playoff might be bumpy after a loss, it's not impossible. And from the sounds of it, the players are ready to move on from the game and come back even stronger. "This one stings a little bit, but it's only one loss," senior defensive end Khalid Kareem said. "It doesn't de- fine our season. "The next opponents we have com- ing up this season, best of luck to you because we're coming." ✦ GEORGIA VS. NOTRE DAME QUARTER-BY-QUARTER COMPARISON Georgia 1st Qtr. 2nd Qtr. 3rd Qtr. 4th Qtr. 1st Half 2nd Half Total Time of Possession 7:49 8:12 10:38 7:58 16:01 18:36 34:37 Third-Down Conversions 1-3 2-2 0-3 1-3 3-5 1-6 4-11 Fourth-Down Conversions 0-0 0-0 0-0 0-0 0-0 0-0 0-0 Average Field Position UGA-20 UGA-25 UGA-36 UGA-32 UGA-22 UGA-34 UGA-30 Notre Dame 1st Qtr. 2nd Qtr. 3rd Qtr. 4th Qtr. 1st Half 2nd Half Final Time of Possession 7:11 6:48 4:22 7:02 13:59 11:24 25:23 Third-Down Conversions 1-3 0-3 0-3 3-4 1-6 3-7 4-13 Fourth-Down Conversions 0-1 1-1 0-0 0-1 1-2 0-1 1-3 Average Field Position ND-33 UGA-42 ND-23 ND-32 ND-43 ND-28 ND-35 PLAY CHART (NO. OF PLAYS) Yards UGA ND Nega ve 9 4 0-5 23 38 6-9 12 9 10-19 14 5 20-29 0 4 30-39 1 1 40-49 0 0 50 or more 0 0 RED ZONE EFFICIENCY (INSIDE 20-YARD LINE) No Poss. TD FG Score Georgia 3 2 1 0 Notre Dame 3 2 1 0 BIG PLAYS (25 YARDS OR MORE) Georgia • 2-9 UGA46 Fromm pass complete to Cager for 36 yards to the ND18 Notre Dame • 2-5 ND30 Book pass complete to Kmet for 28 yards to the UGA42 • 2-8 UGA40 Book pass complete to Keys for 28 yards to the UGA12 • 1-10 UGA49 Book pass complete to Kmet for 31 yards to the UGA18 Head coach Brian Kelly said it was a disappointed Irish locker room after coming up just short against No. 3 Georgia. PHOTO BY KEN WARD/WPG