Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1531388
BLUEGOLDONLINE.COM FEBRUARY 2025 41 the aggressiveness in terms of our prep- aration that I want our program to have out there when it matters most." It wasn't just the sneak attack, ei- ther. Notre Dame went for it twice more against Georgia, both on fourth-and-1. One was a creative sprint-out pass that worked, but it was negated by a flag for illegal shift. The other was a keeper to Leonard, which the Bulldogs stopped. Part of coaching aggressively, though, is not being afraid to fail. Freeman had no fear in that moment, which came in the third quarter with the Irish up by 10. "We didn't execute," Freeman said. "Okay, here we go defense, and they get a stop. That's how I want this group to attack our preparation and attack per- formance when we have the opportu- nity." His players do exactly that. It perme- ates to game situations, too, like the one Notre Dame was in throughout the sec- ond half. The Irish had a 17-point lead on the Bulldogs, and many teams in that situation start to play tentatively. They go away from what got them there. They play not to lose. Notre Dame played to win because Freeman and company coached to win. "I didn't want to [just] 'survive,'" Freeman said. "I think that's the natural tendency in a big game [when] you're up 10 versus a really good team, to say, 'Let's survive.' No, let's be aggressive." A little more than three hours east of South Bend, a head coach named Dan Campbell turned the Detroit Lions — the Detroit Lions — into a juggernaut by doing the same thing. Without fail, Campbell will put the ball in his players' hands and trust them to win the game. His decisions to do so created a culture that has given the Lions — the Lions — a 15-2 season. Notre Dame has the college version. ✦ 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 10:22 5:42 6:48 5:16 16:04 12:04 28:08 Third-Down Conversions 2-4 0-3 0-2 0-3 2-7 0-5 2-12 Fourth-Down Conversions 0-0 0-0 0-1 0-2 0-0 0-3 0-3 Average Field Position UGA-22 UGA-22 UGA-35 UGA-22 UGA-22 UGA-30 UGA-25 Notre Dame 1st Qtr. 2nd Qtr. 3rd Qtr. 4th Qtr. 1st Half 2nd Half Final Time of Possession 4:38 9:18 8:12 9:44 13:56 17:56 31:52 Third-Down Conversions 0-1 1-5 1-3 2-5 1-6 3-8 4-14 Fourth-Down Conversions 0-0 0-0 0-1 0-0 0-0 0-1 0-1 Average Field Position ND-23 ND-43 ND-30 ND-46 ND-36 ND-36 ND-36 PLAY CHART (NO. OF PLAYS) Yards UGA ND Nega ve 9 3 0-5 32 39 6-9 10 8 10-19 6 8 20-29 2 0 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 2 0 0 2 Notre Dame 2 1 0 1 BIG PLAYS (25 YARDS OR MORE) Notre Dame • 2-8 ND39 Leonard rush for 32 yards to UGA29 Georgia • 1-10 UGA22 Stockton pass to Smith for 67 yards to ND11 • 1-10 ND32 Stockton pass to Jones for 32 yards and a touchdown • 1-10 UGA36 Frazier rush for 28 yards to ND36 MISCELLANEOUS NOTES • Notre Dame played in its program-record 14th game of the season against Georgia. The Fighting Irish had played 13 games in a season 18 times prior to the 2024 campaign. • The Irish improved to 1-3 all-time against Georgia. They had lost the first three meet- ings with the Bulldogs: 17-10 in the Sugar Bowl on Jan. 1, 1981; 20-19 in South Bend on Sept. 9, 2017; and 23-17 at Athens, Ga., on Sept. 21, 2019. • Notre Dame now has a 2-2 all-time record in the College Football Playoff, and improved to 3-2 in its five Sugar Bowl appearances and 2-2 in contests played at the Superdome in New Orleans. • Prior to the 2024 season, 177 times a Notre Dame player started 13 games in a season. Against Georgia, senior quarterback Riley Leonard, sophomore running back Jer- emiyah Love, graduate student wide receiver Beaux Collins, freshman offensive tackle An- thonie Knapp, junior offensive tackle Aamil Wagner, graduate student linebacker Jack Kiser, sophomore linebacker Drayk Bowen, graduate student safety Xavier Watts and sophomore safety Adon Shuler became the first Irish football players to start 14 games in a season. • Senior defensive tackle Gabriel Rubio made his first career start — in place of graduate student Rylie Mills — and made 4 tackles against the Bulldogs. • Sophomore offensive tackle Charles Ja- gusah, who suffered what appeared to be a season-ending injury in fall camp, saw his first game action of the year against Georgia as part of the field goal protection team. Similar to the Detroit Lions in the NFL, Notre Dame plays to win, and not just to survive, because Freeman coaches the team with that mentality. PHOTO BY CHAD WEAVER