Notre Dame football looks for season-defining win over Georgia

It’s been a long time coming since Notre Dame football has had a win over a top five team. Will their matchup vs. Georgia be their first under Brian Kelly?

Even if you didn’t know the exact stats when it comes to the Irish against top five programs, you probably had at least a sense of how bad things have been. This is nothing new of course, as the Irish have struggled mightily against top five opponents for nearly two decades.

ESPN’s Chris Fallica made note of the Irish’s ineptitude vs. such programs in this tweet:

As Fallica points out, the Irish are above only Wake Forest, Vanderbilt, Indiana, and Boston College in terms of winning percentage vs. top five competition. Not exactly college football’s elite. Brian Kelly believes that this team has the potential to break the drought, but we’ve seen better Notre Dame squads try and fail.

All things considered, the Irish will have to play nearly perfect football for the first time this season. Will even that be enough?

Here’s how to watch them try in what is shaping up to be college football’s game of the week:

Date: Saturday, Sept. 21
Time: 8:00 p.m. ET
Location: Athens, Ga.
Venue: Sanford Stadium
TV: CBS
Live Stream: CBS Live Stream

Keys to Victory

As previously mentioned, the Irish will have to play their best football if they want to remain close in this one. That will start with the offensive line living up to their full potential, paving the way in the run game while giving quarterback Ian Book the time he needs to complete passes downfield.

The Irish will likely be playing without running backs Jafar Armstrong and Jahmir Smith, so they’ll need the likes of Kyren Williams and C’Bo Flemister to step up behind starter Tony Jones Jr. The Irish will be getting tight end Cole Kmet back after missing the first two games due to a broken collarbone, so it’s been a bit of give and take in the injury department this week.

On the defensive side of the ball, pass-rushing standouts Julian Okwara and Khalid Kareem should get more opportunities to get to the quarterback after two weeks of almost exclusively defending the run. We still don’t know what we have in this linebacker corps, so it’ll be up to the pass-rushers to deal the majority of damage on defense.

Betting Odds

Odds provided by Bovada

Point Spread: Georgia -15
Over/Under: 57.5

Prediction

If the Irish are within a score at the end of this game it would likely be enough to keep their playoff chances alive as long as Georgia finishes off the season strong. Barring a sudden rise in all-around play, it’s tough to see the Irish pulling this one off, especially in such a hostile environment. Such a surprise would be more than welcomed, but we’re going with a more reasonable prediction for the time being.

Final Score: Notre Dame 20, Georgia 28