Third Quarter Open Thread: Someone weathered the storm. But who?

Georgia gave up a costly turnover on special teams, did some fairly odd early offensive play calling, and staunchly refused to cover Notre Dame tight end Cole Kmet for most of the first half. Despite all that they find themselves down only 10-7 and getting the ball to start the second half.

In a way it’s a victory for a Georgia team that could actually find itself in a larger hole than it does. Notre Dame holds a 163 to 114 yard advantage in offensive yardage, with Kmet making up the difference plus some with 68 yards receiving on 7 catches. Notre Dame appears to have all but admitted defeat in the rushing game, attempting only 7 rushes for 17 yards. By way of contrast, Ian Book is a solid 16 of 24 passing for 146 yards.

Jake Fromm is a tidy 11 of 12 passing himself, but some really impressive open field tackling by the Fighting Irish have limited the damage to only 49 yards. D’Andre Swift has 33 yards rushing on 7 attempts, a decent 4.9 yard average.

Ideally, Georgia’s size up front and depth on both sides of the ball will start paying off in the second half. The ‘Dawgs could easily be down 14-0 and the fact that they’re about to come out and try to retake the lead means they’re not in a bad spot. Notre Dame on the other hand survived a raucous crowd in the first half and looks like they belong on the field with the Bulldogs. That’s a win for them. One of these teams will look back in a couple of hours and say they weathered a first half storm on the way to a big win.

I just don’t know which one. Until later...

Go ‘Dawgs!!!