3 things to look for during ‘Virtual G-Day’ Notre Dame replay

Georgia receiver Lawrence Cager made his presence felt in the win over Notre Dame last season.

Hyosub Shin / AJC

Posted 1 month ago

ATHENS — Georgia is staging a “Virtual G-Day” on Saturday that amounts to a replay of the Notre Dame game from last season.

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Tune in this Saturday to catch all the action on Virtual G-Day as we revisit the Georgia vs Notre Dame Matchup

🗓️Saturday, April 18
⏰2:00 p.m.
📺@SECNetwork pic.twitter.com/piA6o76VX1

— Georgia Football (@GeorgiaFootball) April 16, 2020

The game will be replayed at 2 p.m. on the SEC Network, and Bulldogs’ fans will once again have an opportunity to enjoy UGA’s historic 23-17 victory over the Irish.

WATCH: What Kirby Smart said after Georgia’s 23-17 win over Notre Dame

It was the first non-conference matchup of Top 10 ranked teams in Sanford Stadium since 1966, back when a No. 7-ranked UGA team beat a No. 5 Georgia Tech team 23-14.

ESPN GameDay was in Athens for the first time since 2013, and the town was buzzing, as UGA has trended toward playing its biggest non-conference games at neutral sites.

The Bulldogs still hope to open this season against Virginia in Mercedes-Benz Stadium on Sept. 7, but for now, the season appears on hold.

Georgia was on the verge of starting spring drills when the sports world came to a standstill. The NCAA announced on March 12 the cancellation of winter sports’ championships and the suspension of spring sports.

Rather than holding what would represent the 15th organized practice, in the form of the G-Day Game, UGA has put its efforts toward the Notre Dame replay.

The Georgia Bulldogs Radio Network will provide commentary during the replay, while Kirby Smart will add commentary during the game from his Twitter account.

Here are three things to note during the game:

The fans

Of course the stands were full, but the Georgia fans took it to the next level, producing such great volume that Notre Dame committed six motion penalties.

“They impacted those guys,” Smart said after the game. “They had 5-6-7 penalties and had to use their timeouts.

“Our fans caused their quarterback to have some issues … we need that out of our fans all the time.”

As the game is played, note when the six penalties and forced timeouts occurred. The fans do deserve an assist!

The debut of the red LED helped keep those fans pumped up, and hopefully the replay will show plenty of footage of the stadium lit up.

Cole Kmet

The big Notre Dame tight end enjoyed a dominant first half, catching seven passes for 68 yards and a touchdown as the Irish took a 10-7 lead into halftime.

Smart and UGA adjusted at halftime, keeping Kmet more under wraps as Smart pointed out after the game in his postgame press conference.

“They were running boots, waggles, (and) that guy is a phenomenal player,” Smart said. “You notice later in the game they tried to target him and we had two or three pass break-ups.”

Georgia adjusted well in the second half, holding Notre Dame without a first down in the third quarter, and intercepting two passes.

Newcomers ruled

Georgia was still learning what it had with Lawrence Cager at the time, but it didn’t take long for the Miami transfer to make an impact.

Cager had 5 catches for 82 yards and a touchdown in the win over Notre Dame. Based on how UGA fared later in the season without him, it wouldn’t be a stretch to say the Bulldogs don’t beat the Irish without him.

Indeed, George Pickens did not have a catch in the game against Notre Dame.

It took the defensive junior college newcomers to finish off the Irish in the fourth quarter after Notre Dame had driven to the Georgia 38-yard line.

On fourth-and-8, outside linebacker Jermaine Johnson was pressuring Notre Dame QB Ian Book when he lofted a deep pass that cornerback D.J. Daniel broke up.

Smart left the field saying his team “got tested,” and that may have been an understatement.