Georgia Football: Will it be blowout or game of the year vs. Notre Dame?

Georgia football hosts the Fighting Irish of Notre Dame on Saturday evening in Athens. Can it possibly live up to the hype and deliver?

In a world of bloviating gasbags, finger-pointing pearl-clutchers, and ostentatious objurgaters it can be difficult, sometimes, to separate hype from hyper-excitement. The former is the product and result of a 24-hour news cycle and billion dollar corporations looking to hold your attention, while the latter is a natural reflection of something awesome about to happen.

When the Georgia Bulldogs host Notre Dame this Saturday, which will it be? Is it an “instant classic” or is general beatdown consensus pointing the arrow to the truth?

The tone, here, isn’t to denigrate or diminish, in any way, the hype surrounding this game. It’s huge for a number of reasons.

One, for both teams, it is a season defining game, and both teams have extremely high expectations for the season. Two, these teams have only played twice, heretofore, in over a hundred years of playing this sport. As Brian Fellows would say, “That’s crazy!” Three, the vast majority of the sports world in these United States will have eyes on Athens, Georgia. Millions of people and billions of dollars.

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Kind of a big deal. Sanford Stadium seats approximately 93,000 folks. In fact, it has been reported, and people I know who are involved with the UGA program have confirmed to me, city and county officials are expecting that number of non-ticket holders to be outside of the stadium during the game. Just chillin’. Kind of a big deal.

But what about the game itself? There has been a general consensus that the Georgia Bulldogs roll Notre Dame. Vegas has the line, currently, at somewhere between -13.5 and -14.5. That’s a two touchdown line for a top-10 match up in prime time. Does that sound right?

Georgia Bulldog nation has been barking, and frankly, most Notre Dame fans acquiesce, when discussing the most likely outcomes. But, does that sound right?

This writer’s natural proclivity is to repulse, revoke, and reject any time there is a “general consensus” or “wave opinion” involving a game like this. The fact that everybody is so sure that the Dawgs make back-side butter of the Fighting Irish makes me want to go the other way.

Except, for one pesky little thing. And I can’t get away from it. Did you know that Ian Book, the prodigious and incredibly talented Quarterback for Notre Dame is currently leading the team in rushing yards and attempts? Well, tied for yards. That’s with just two more attempts on the year than the Notre Dame starting Running Back.

People can talk about matchups, personnel groupings, alignments, talent composites, and game experience all they want. But, if your Quarterback is also your leading rusher, and his name isn’t Mike Vick, you got problems.

I do want to buck conventional wisdom here and say that it will be a good game. I’d like to say that Notre Dame will show up and the hype leading into this game will be worth it. But nobody in their right mind would predict that knowing what I just wrote. Nobody.

So, here is my prediction. Crazy atmosphere. Pageantry will reign and, both, the Georgia Bulldogs and the Fighting Irish of Notre Dame will enhance their respective brands Saturday night (as if Notre Dame needed it).

Notre Dame needs to score 28 points to win this game. Plain and simple. If they can’t run the ball between the tackles, the Irish won’t score 20 on Georgia’s defense.

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So, against my better gut instincts regarding all of the public perception pumpers out there regurgitating talking points, I’m going to join the chorus. Notre Dame hasn’t looked like it can run the ball, and that is the one thing you have to do to beat the Bulldogs.

My prediction: Georgia 30, Notre Dame 17

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