Notre Dame Football: Irish defense quiets Georgia in first half
Notre Dame football struggled to do much offensively against Georgia in the first half of Saturday night’s game, but the defense stepped up.
Notre Dame came into Saturday night’s game against Georgia looking for answers. Would the offense be as effective against a top-tier opponent? Would Brandon Wimbush continue to gain confidence? Would the defense stand up to Georgia’s potentially potent offense?
Early on, a couple of those questions were answered — for the time being. Wimbush didn’t do much in the first half, getting held to 114 passing yards on 9-of-16 completions. He also didn’t have a single rushing yard on six carries. For a dual-threat, that’s not a sign of success.
The offense wasn’t able to get going against a tough Georgia defense. While Temple had one of the best defenses in college football last season, they lost plenty on that side of the ball, including the Owls’ head coach. That led to Notre Dame putting up 49 points in the opener. Was it an overreaction to dub the offense fixed?
Josh Adams had a huge first game on the ground, but carried the ball 10 times for just 26 yards against the Bulldogs in the first 30 minutes. He was out-rushed early by both Nick Chubb and Sony Michel of Georgia.
As for the defense, it played well. It needs to key in on the run as Chubb and Michel have been effective on minimal carries. Other than that, the Fighting Irish have been tough on Jake Fromm. The freshman hasn’t looked all that comfortable early on.
Outside of this catch by Terry Godwin, the offense was quieted by Notre Dame.
https://twitter.com/DieHards/status/906683385426444288
Will that carry over into the second half?
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Notre Dame needs this win if it’s going to put last year’s 4-8 record in the past, but it needs to play more like it did defensively in the first half.