Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/296331
UNDER THE DOME REPORT: NOTRE DAME HAS GEORGIA ON ITS MIND Last December when Notre Dame released its future football schedules for 2014‑16, one piece of the geographic puzzle was still missing for Fighting Irish athletics director Jack Swarbrick: The lack of an SEC opponent. That might be fulfilled, possibly in 2018‑19, with the University of Geor‑ gia. The Fighting Irish and Bulldogs are working on finalizing a home‑ and‑home series those two years. Swarbrick indicated last winter that it was a priority to find an SEC foe to schedule before the end of this decade. "If there's one sort of big thing we still have the flexibility to do, it's [playing an SEC school]," Swarbrick said. "We tried very hard to preserve that when we were moving all these chess pieces [of conference realign‑ ment]." Georgia athletics director Greg McGarity confirmed to CBS Sports that verbal communication with Notre Dame has occurred, but nothing is in writing. The Bulldogs had a 2015‑16 series with Oregon cancelled, and Ohio State nulled a 2020‑21 series with the Bulldogs, with realignment and league commitments a major reason. Notre Dame senior associate athletics John Heisler confirmed to Bluean‑ dGold.com that discussions with Georgia have taken place, and Irish head coach Brian Kelly said such a game would be valuable to maintain a recruit‑ ing presence in that fertile region, as it did in Texas last year with the Sham‑ rock Series game versus Arizona State in Arlington, Texas. "We're looking for matchups down the road that geographically make sense to us," Kelly said. "That Atlantic area, that SEC area, Atlanta is a big area for us." Georgia hasn't played in the North since 1965, when the No. 10 Bulldogs defeated No. 7 Michigan 15‑7 in Ann Arbor. Notre Dame and Georgia have played only once, a Jan. 1, 1981, Sugar In the only meeting between Georgia and Notre Dame, Herschel Walker rushed for 150 yards and two touchdowns to lead the Bulldogs to a 17-10, national-title clinching victory in January 1981. PHOTO COURTESY NOTRE DAME MEDIA RELATIONS