College Football Playoff

Allstate Sugar Bowl

No. 2 Georgia (11-2) vs. No. 5 Notre Dame (12-1)

7:45 p.m. CST Wednesday (ABC, ESPN)

Caesars Superdome in New Orleans

1 Team in the nation has not allowed its opponents to complete at least half their passes this season – Notre Dame. The Fighting Irish’s opponents have completed 186-of-375 passes – 49.6 percent – for 2,110 yards with 11 TDs and 18 interceptions. Passers have combined for a 96.65 efficiency rating against Notre Dame, the worst in the nation in 2024. Georgia has completed 65.7 percent of its 418 passes this season.

1 Team in the nation has not made at least half its field-goal attempts this season. Notre Dame is 10-of-21 on field-goal attempts in 2024. Georgia’s opponents have made 24-of-29 field-goal attempts against the Bulldogs this season.

2 Consensus All-American defensive backs are playing in the Sugar Bowl. Georgia’s Malaki Starks and Notre Dame’s Xavier Watts were consensus All-American DBs in the 2023 season. In 2024, Watts repeated as a consensus All-American, but Starks did not. Starks was a first-team All-American selection for the American Football Coaches Association and Football Writers Association of America in 2024. But he needed one more first-team selection to earn consensus recognition again, and The Associated Press, Walter Camp Football Foundation and The Sporting News did not include Starks among their first-team selections.

2 Teams in the nation have two players who have run for at least 15 TDs this season – Notre Dame and Jacksonville State. For the Fighting Irish, RB Jeremiyah Love has 1,057 yards and 16 TDs on 142 rushing attempts and QB Riley Leonard has 751 yards and 15 TDs on 135 rushing attempts. Love and Leonard have run for touchdowns in the same game 10 times this season. Love has a rushing TD in every game this season for a school-record 13 games in a row.

3 Previous games between Georgia and Notre Dame, all won by the Bulldogs. Georgia defeated the Fighting Irish 17-10 in the Sugar Bowl on Jan. 1, 1981, 20-19 on Sept. 9, 2017, and 23-17 on Sept. 21, 2019. Georgia is one of two opponents that Notre Dame has played more than once and has not beaten. The other is Chicago. The Maroons have a 4-0 record against the Irish, but the most recent Chicago-Notre Dame game was played in 1899.

3 Georgia players have won the Butkus Award, including Jalon Walker this season. The Butkus Award is awarded annually to the nation’s best linebacker. Walker joined Roquan Smith in 2017 and Nakobe Dean in 2021 as Georgia’s winners of the award.

7 Consecutive bowl victories for Georgia, one short of Georgia Tech’s SEC record for consecutive bowl victories. The Yellow Jackets defeated St. Mary’s 41-19 in the Oil Bowl on Jan. 1, 1947, Kansas 20-14 in the Orange Bowl on Jan. 1, 1948, Baylor 17-14 in the Orange Bowl on Jan. 1, 1952, Ole Miss 24-7 in the Sugar Bowl on Jan. 1, 1953, West Virginia 41-19 in the Sugar Bowl on Jan. 1, 1954, Arkansas 14-6 in the Cotton Bowl on Jan. 1, 1955, Pittsburgh 7-0 in the Sugar Bowl on Jan. 2, 1956, and Pittsburgh 21-14 in the Gator Bowl on Dec. 29, 1956, before a 14-7 setback against Arkansas in the Gator Bowl on Jan. 2, 1960, ended the eight-game winning streak. Since losing to Texas 28-21 in the Sugar Bowl on Jan. 1, 2019, Georgia has beaten Baylor 26-14 in the Sugar Bowl on Jan. 1, 2020, Cincinnati 24-21 in the Peach Bowl on Jan. 1, 2021, Michigan 34-11 in the Orange Bowl on Dec. 31, 2021, Alabama 33-18 in the CFP national-championship game on Jan. 10, 2022, Ohio State 42-41 in the Peach Bowl on Dec. 31, 2022, TCU 65-7 in the CFP national-championship game on Jan. 9, 2023, and Florida State 63-3 in the Orange Bowl on Dec. 30, 2023. The Bulldogs have a 38-21-3 bowl record.

11 Consecutive victories for Notre Dame since the Fighting Irish sustained their only loss of the season. Northern Illinois defeated Notre Dame 16-14 on Sept. 7 on its way to an 8-5 season that concluded with a 28-20 double-overtime victory against Fresno State in the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl on Dec. 23. Georgia lost in a pair of SEC road games this season, falling to Alabama 41-34 on Sept. 28 and Ole Miss 28-10 on Nov. 9.

11 Previous Sugar Bowl appearances for Georgia and four previous Sugar Bowl appearances for Notre Dame. The Bulldogs have a 5-6 record in the Sugar Bowl. The Fighting Irish are 2-2. Georgia defeated Baylor 26-14 on Jan. 1, 2020, in its most recent Sugar Bowl appearance. Notre Dame lost to LSU 41-14 on Jan. 3, 2007, in its most recent Sugar Bowl appearance. Georgia and Notre Dame squared off in the Sugar Bowl on Jan. 1, 1981, with the Bulldogs posting a 17-10 victory.

12 Victories are the most in one season for Notre Dame. The Fighting Irish are playing in a 14th game in a season for the first time in their history on Wednesday night. Notre Dame also had 12 victories in a season in 1988, 1989, 2012 and 2018.

22 Victories and 21 losses in bowl play for Notre Dame. The Fighting Irish got their record above .500 by beating Indiana 27-17 in a CFP first-round game on Dec. 20.

28 Consecutive seasons with a bowl for Georgia, the longest active streak in the nation and the longest streak in SEC history. The Bulldogs’ most recent season without a bowl came in 1996, when Georgia posted a 5-6 record. Georgia’s streak is the fourth-longest in bowl history.

29 Takeaways for Notre Dame this season, tied for the most in the nation. The Fighting Irish have recovered 11 of their opponents’ fumbles and intercepted 18 passes, with S Xavier Watts responsible for six of the interceptions. Georgia has lost 18 turnovers this season – five fumbles and 13 interceptions.

36 Victories and 18 losses for Notre Dame against SEC opponents. The Fighting Irish started their 2024 season with a 23-13 victory over Texas A&M. Notre Dame has a 6-5 bowl record against SEC opponents.

78 Previous Sugar Bowls have featured at least one SEC team. Three games matched SEC members (and each included Ole Miss). SEC representatives have a 39-35-1 record in the Sugar Bowl against teams from other conferences.

206 Passing yards and 10 rushing yards for Georgia QB Gunner Stockton in four games this season. Georgia QB Carson Beck threw for 3,485 yards and 28 TDs this season, but he sustained an elbow injury in the SEC Championship Game and will not be able to play against Notre Dame, putting Stockton at quarterback for the Bulldogs in the Sugar Bowl. Stockton has completed 25-of-32 passes for 206 yards with no TDs and one interception and run 11 times for 10 yards.

385 Games have been played by Georgia since it was most recently shut out, the second-longest scoring streak in SEC history and the third-longest in major-college football history. The Bulldogs haven’t been blanked since losing to Alabama 31-0 on Sept. 30, 1995.

454 Interception-return yards for Notre Dame, the most in the nation. The Fighting Irish have returned five of their 18 interceptions for TDs in 2024.

505 Points have been scored by Notre Dame in 2024, four short of the school single-season record of 509 established in 2023.

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Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on X at @AMarkG1.