SOUTH BEND, Ind. — Sept. 9, 2017, is a historic date for the Georgia Bulldogs. It represents the day they invaded Notre Dame Stadium with a red and black surge that they’re still talking about around here.
But while it was Georgia that came out on top in that game, 20-19, and the Bulldogs would go on to advance to the National Championship Game, the Fighting Irish also count that day as a sort of launching point for the program’s resurgence.
No. 24 Notre Dame (1-0) was coming off 4-8 record the previous season and there were calls for coach Brian Kelly’s job. The Bulldogs (1-0) at No. 15 were the higher-ranked team and offered more promise in Year 2 under Kirby Smart. But as only the second game of the year, nobody really knew yet what either team had. Both were carrying only lopsided, season-opening victories over over-matched opponents into the contest.
In the end, two incredible plays lifted Georgia to victory: A Houdini of a touchdown catch by sophomore receiver Terry Godwin and a fourth-quarter sack-and-strip by senior defensive end Davin Bellamy. A 30-yard field goal by Rodrigo Blankenship — placed on scholarship a day earlier — proved to be the difference.
“It was huge,” Georgia quarterback Jake Fromm said of getting that victory in what was his first career start. “Definitely up there as one of my special moments, being my first start, my first win, beating prestigious Notre Dame at their stadium. It’s incredible is what it was.”
Taking over for injured starter Jacob Eason in the first quarter of the opener the previous week, the true freshman Fromm completed 16 of 29 passes for 141 yards and the 5-yard TD to Godwin. But he also lost a fumble and threw an interception. Georgia got 73 yards rushing and a TD from Sony Michel and 185 yards rushing overall and out-gained the Fighting Irish 326 to 265.
Afterward, the teams went their respective directions, but each kept the other in their rear-view mirrors. And with every passing victory — Georgia and Notre Dame both would reel of seven straight wins after that contest — came validation that it was two exceptional teams that did battle that warm night in South Bend.
Georgia would drop a game to Auburn, come back and avenge that loss in the SEC Championship Game, defeat Oklahoma in the Rose Bowl and finally fall in close and dramatic fashion to Alabama in the National Championship Game.
The Irish dropped late-season road games to Top 10 opponents Miami and Stanford. But they vanquished LSU in the Citrus Bowl. With a final record of 10-3 and most of the team coming back, everybody knew Notre Dame had been rebuilt and would be a force to be reckoned with in 2018.
The Irish were indeed. They went 12-0 in the regular season before falling to eventual national champion Clemson in the Cotton Bowl in the semifinals of College Football Playoff. And while it wasn’t the ending they wanted, Notre Dame felt it was back where it belonged on college football’s grandest stage.
Now comes the return game. On Sept. 21 this fall, the Fighting Irish will make their first-ever visit to Athens and Sanford Stadium. Early projections have the Bulldogs as prohibitive favorites as Notre Dame lost seeks to replace a lot of production off its 2018 team. But thanks to that 2017 game that served as a launching-pad moment for both programs and the recruiting that has been going on ever since, the rematch Between the Hedges is already considered one of the top non-conference games in the nation in 2019.
DawgNation talked with several current Fighting Irish players who competed against Georgia in that 2017 game. We asked for them to recount what they remembered from that historic night, what it meant to their season and their thoughts on this year’s rematch on Sept. 21 at Sanford Stadium.
IAN BOOK, SR., QB, EL DORADO HILLS, CALIF.
Prominent recollection …
“Got my first snap ever in college football in that game. It was a quarterback draw; never will forget it. (Starting QB) Brandon (Wimbush) got some turf in his eye, so I had to go in.”
What it meant …
“We’re never going to forget that game. We felt like we should’ve won that game and, you know, we came up a little short. It still stings. That’s what we’ll remember and we’ll use that for fuel, definitely.”
Aftermath …
“You can always find a positive out of something. We came out knowing they were a good team and obviously we didn’t come out on top that night. But to see what they did the rest of the year showed us that we were a good matchup for them.”
Progression since named starter …
“Just getting through all my reads, trusting everybody, building chemistry with everyone, receivers, running backs, O-line, just knowing exactly where everyone’s going to be at the right time, defensive recognition. Just working on that and film study every day.”
Visiting UGA in September …
“I’m really trying to stay in the present this whole spring, but it’s hard not to notice the schedule. We’re extremely excited for all the challenges we have coming. Obviously, everyone knows about Georgia. It’s going to be a great game. We’re all excited for it and it will be here quicker than you know.”
JALEN ELLIOTT, SR., SAFETY, RICHMOND, VA.
Memories …
“I just remember it was a high-intensity, high-emotion game. It was big for us to come out and make a statement that we could play with anybody and Georgia was a great test for us. They were a team we knew had been very successful over the years and we wanted to come out and make a statement against them and play together and show that we were progressing as well.”
Effects of loss …
“I think that game propelled us and showed that we could play with anybody if we played together and if we stuck to the traits our coaches give us and talk about every day. It was early in the year, so you have to take everything that happens then with a grain of salt. It was important to remember that it was early in the year and that we made some good plays and some bad plays but, at the end of the day, it was 20-19. You win or lose by one (point), you understand there were plays in the game that could’ve made it go the other way. When you looked at it that way, we understood that we had the pieces, that we just had to put it all together. That was huge for us.”
Georgia’s true freshman quarterback …
“We saw that (starting quarterback Jacob Eason got hurt), but we knew that, ‘man, both of these are good quarterbacks.’ So we prepared like (Fromm) was a four-year starter. He came in and was kind of calm and cool under pressure. He had some running backs who kind of took the pressure off of him in (Nick) Chubb and Sony (Michel). That was huge for us, too, because we were young in the back end. It was important for us (safeties) to come out and make a statement in that game as well. We embraced the challenge.”
On the Terry Godwin TD catch …
“Oh, man, I was running to it! I saw it. That was J-Love who was on him, (cornerback) Julian Love. He’s an All-American, a big-time guy. So that was just an unbelievable catch.
On having to go to Georgia this time …
“We’re circled on everybody’s schedule, and we wouldn’t have it any other way. That’s how we talk about it. We know we’re going to get people’s best and we’re going to give them our best, too. So we take it a week at a time. We don’t want to overlook anybody because we play such a tough schedule. Every game on our schedule means so much since we don’t have a conference championship. We’re an independent, so we never try to look too far ahead. But we love playing the Michigans and the Georgias and the Big Tens, but we know we have to lock into all those other games before we get to those points.
On rebuilding the defense …
“I think we have all the pieces there. It’s about us coming together and just working through the kinks of being younger and making sure we all do our jobs. If we all play 11 as one and do our job we’ll be all right.
Connections to Georgia …
“I have some cousins down there. And I was recruited by them, by Coach (Mark) Richt. They were in my Top 3. So I liked Georgia a lot.”
The chance to play in Sanford Stadium …
“It’s definitely going to be unbelievable. You saw when they came to Notre Dame that they like playing in games like this. We’re just thankful for the opportunity to come down there to Georgia and we expect them to give us their best. We can’t wait. I haven’t been there since I was recruited and I’ve never seen it full, so I’m ready. It should be fun.”
CHRIS FINKE, SR., WR/KR, DAYTON, OH.
What he remembers …
“The first thing that pops into my mind about that game was a play on a third down on our second-to-last drive. It was thrown to me and I missed the ball and we had to punt. Yeah, that’s what I remember. We got the ball back and we ran the same play again and I caught it that time. But then we fumbled and turned the ball over and lost.
Score and situation …
“It was the fourth quarter, about three minutes left, we were down one. It was third-and-10. The ball came over the middle for me and I didn’t catch it.”
Attitude coming in and going out …
“We were coming off a bad year, but we’re never a team that thinks we don’t have what it takes. I think we were ranked 24th at the time and we were playing Georgia and we knew there was a lot to lose. But when you see them in the championship game, we thought back to our game and realized if we do a few different things we could have won the game. We felt pretty good about that but also kind of bad. We came up just short or that could’ve been us, things could have been different.”
This season …
“We’ve got some guys stepping into roles to fill the places of people who have left. We have a lot of guys coming back, too, but, particularly in the receiver room. We’ve got Miles (Boykin) leaving and Chase Claypool stepping into his role. We’ve got Mike Young stepping into a bigger role, too, and we have some younger guys kind of figuring out where there fit and making plays and trying to move into a role. We’re going to need more than a few guys to make some plays for us and the line’s looking good and Ian Book is looking good.”
On his quarterback …
“I think this spring has been really good for Ian. This has been the first spring he’s come in as the starter, even though he started playing last year. He’s the No. 1 guy now and knows he’s the number one guy and he’s been delivering balls with confidence and just playing really well all spring. I think having that weight lifted off his shoulders, when you’re No. 2 and have a two-quarterback situation going on, has helped him.”
Going ‘between the hedges’ first time …
“I’m sure it will be an exciting atmosphere. SEC games, especially when it’s a big opponent, you see their games on TV all the time and how everybody shows up and it’s a big stage and a big event all the time. So, it’s going to fun, I think. We’re trying not to look too far past anybody, but we know that will be a cool atmosphere to play in.”
DAELIN HAYES, SR., DL, BELLEVILLE, MICH.
2017 Georgia matchup …
“That was my sophomore year, second game starting. Theoretically, there’s no one game that’s bigger than the other. But that game had a particular buzz about it. It was a night game and it was like my first time starting against an SEC opponent. Obviously, growing up you know who Georgia is. Georgia, Bama, those types of teams you know. So it was an awesome opportunity to compete versus a team that historically is one of the best. So that was cool.”
Coming up short …
“We got to 9-1 that year, or 8-1, or whatever, and I remember that loss served as a blemish for us at the time. But it motivated a lot of us, too. Because, at the time, we were coming off a 4-8 season and that was a loss in our second game of the year. So we had a lot of doubters. But I remember being (8-1) and still kind of being overshadowed by that loss.
“I remember seeing a clip of Coach Kelly and somebody asked him if this had the same vibes as last year. I saw that bothered him, because we knew the work that we’d put in and we knew what kind of team we were going to be before that. So I remember from the outward perspective there being a sense of panic, but for us it really served as a motivation point and somewhat of crossroads. It was, like, ‘do we dwell on this or do we move on?’ We decided to impose our will. I think Drue (Tranquill) said it after the game, ‘our defense and our team is going to impose our will on opponents moving forward,’ and we did.”
Momentum from last season …
“These last two years, we’ve proven that what we do in the offseason, the attention to detail and the work ethic that our team developed and the culture that we established that year, that it works. So our guys take solace in that and they believe in that. It’s not so much who we’re playing – we often say that they’re faceless opponents – but we have to go out and do what we have to do and take care of ourselves. So we’re just staying true to our process. We’ve hit more this spring than we ever have, in my opinion. Scrimmages, half-lines, live periods, all that stuff, we’ve done a lot of it. It’s been a physical offseason, to say the least.”
Recollections of Fromm …
“I remember Chubb and Michel. That was more of the focal point for us. You stop Georgia’s run game then they’d have to put the ball in the freshman’s hands. That was a chance we were willing to take at that time. Like anything, you always have to stop the run. We know they’re going to come out, be physical, try to impose their will through their run game. That’s something we know we have to do. Once we establish that our defense isn’t going to get ran through, then we’re going to unleash our pass-rushers and get to the quarterback. We want to keep him from being comfortable and that’s something we pride ourselves on being able to do. We’re always the tip of the spear for our defense.”
Playing at Sanford …
“I’m excited. I’ve never been down there. I don’t think I’ve been to the state of Georgia since I was, like, 8. So it’ll be cool to go back. I know it’ll be hot. I know we’re going to have our work cut out for us.”
TOMMY KRAEMER, SR., GUARD, CINCINNATI, OH.
Build-up for 2017 game …
“That was my second season and my first year starting. We were coming off a 4-8 year and everyone was pretty disappointed. It was kind of sad all around, really. That winter, Coach (Matt) Baylis came in (as strength coach). Coach Kelly kind of cleared a little house on his staff and we were all juiced up. The entire season, Georgia was circled. I mean, we played Temple first and obviously you can’t overlook opponents, but Georgia was going to be the game, a big-time SEC school in Notre Dame Stadium. It was a first time we had a team coming in from that far South. It was just a big deal, so we were really focused on that, watching Georgia film all year.”
Atmosphere in South Bend …
“That game, it was weird how it worked out. I don’t know if there was a hurricane down there or what, but it brought up a ton of Georgia fans. The stadium was half full of them. Notre Dame Stadium is never like that. Usually you might see a little bit of red in the top-left corner or something. But it was maybe half-and-half that night. That was pretty neat actually. …
“I think one of the coolest things when they came here was the lights thing in the third quarter or whenever it was. That was one of the most memorable experiences I’ve had playing football, and it wasn’t even our tradition! It was cool to see, and our fans picked up on it, too. No one really knew what was going on.”
The aftermath …
“It was a one-point loss, which was pretty frustrating for us being the second game. But as the season went on, we started to pick up a lot of momentum and win games and we saw Georgia picking up momentum and becoming one of the top teams in the country. So you started to realize, based off that game, a one-point game that could have gone either way, that gave us a little bit of fire to finish the year strong.”
On the rematch ….
“Every year we play some of the top teams in the country. It’s always cool whenever we can play a big-time SEC team on the road like Georgia. We know it’s a great program. We missed (the playoffs in 2017) and last year we made it and they didn’t. So this year could be deciding who gets in and who doesn’t, like every game does every year, really. I know it’s going to be a really exciting game in a really exciting atmosphere.”
His Georgia connections …
“I have a couple of buddies on the team, Isaac Nauta and Ben Cleveland and Jacob Eason. I know them from the Army game. We’ve kind of kept contact over the years. Really, Ben and I are pretty close. He’s one of the biggest human beings I’ve ever met.
On playing in Sanford Stadium …
“We’re all just really ready to get the season started. Our first game is against Louisville, so we’re really getting ready for that. But we know Georgia will be a special one. I’ve heard some cool things about Sanford Stadium, that it’s a really cool atmosphere. It’s two really great programs, so it should be a fun game.”
What Dawgs should expect …
“I think we’re going to be a very explosive offense this year. We know the whole line is coming back. We have one new starter in there, but he’s probably doing better than any of us. Ian’s throwing the ball around well, our receivers are making awesome plays, our running backs are running hard and I think it’s got the makings to be a really special offense this year. So I’m excited about what we can do and hopefully we can roll with it through the season.”