Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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UNDER THE DOME led Bulldogs had zero turnovers while Notre Dame had four and also missed three field goals. Walker rushed for 150 yards while the rest of his team accounted for minus-23 yards. Part of the appeal to schedule Georgia was that next to "The Big Three" of California, Florida and Texas, the Peach State is becoming one of the top football recruiting hotbeds in the country. California is taken care of with the annual games against USC and Stanford; the aforemen- tioned four-game series with the Longhorns, plus visiting San Antonio in 2016 for the Shamrock Series game against Army, provides a pres- ence in Texas; and ACC members Florida State and Miami represent the Sunshine State on Notre Dame's future schedules. For Notre Dame head coach Brian Kelly, Geor- gia is another prime area to mine recruits. Games against new ACC rival Georgia Tech — who will visit Notre Dame on Sept. 19, 2015 — and now the 2017 and 2019 showdowns with the Bulldogs should aid those efforts. Bulldogs head coach Mark Richt is 126-45 (.734 winning percentage) since taking the reins in 2001. From 2001-04, current first-year Notre Dame defensive coordi- nator Brian VanGorder held the same title for Richt, earning the Frank Broyles Award in 2003 as the nation's top assistant. "These are two very attractive football games against a Georgia pro- gram that also has im- pressive history and tradition," Kelly said. "Mark Richt has done an excellent job keeping that program at the fore- front, both in the SEC and nationally." Georgia hasn't played in the North since 1965, when the No. 10 Bull- dogs defeated No. 7 Michigan 15-7 in Ann Arbor. Over the last 25 years, the only Notre Dame regular-season clashes with SEC teams were against Tennessee in 1990-91, 1999 and 2001 and 2004-05, Vanderbilt in 1995-96 and LSU in 1997-98. (Texas A&M was not a member of the SEC when the Irish played the Aggies in 2000-01.) Notre Dame's most re- cent SEC contest was a 42-14 loss to Alabama in the BCS National Cham- pionship Game follow- ing the 2012 campaign. Prior to that, the Irish lost 41-14 to LSU in the 2006 Sugar Bowl. In addition to Georgia, other SEC schools Notre Dame has never played in the regular season are Arkansas, Auburn, Flor- ida (defeated 39-28 in the 1992 Sugar Bowl), Ken- tucky and Mississippi State. ✦ NOTRE DAME FOOTBALL TICKETS 25 YEARS IN BUSINESS Call today for Special Discount 1-800-925-2500 www.NotreDameTickets.com