The No. 2 Georgia Bulldogs (11-2, 6-2) play the No. 7 Notre Dame Fighting Irish (12-1) in the Sugar Bowl. The winner will advance to the semifinals of the College Football Playoff. The Georgia-Notre Dame game will be played on Wednesday, Jan. 1 at 8:45 p.m. ET in New Orleans, Louisiana. The Sugar Bowl will be televised on ESPN.
Georgia is a 1 1/2-point favorite over Notre Dame even though the Bulldogs will be without starting quarterback Carson Beck. UGA will start Gunner Stockton, who is making his first career start, against Notre Dame’s talented defense.
Members of the media are picking Notre Dame to beat Georgia, but the media has been wrong many times this season.
National media predictions for Georgia vs. Notre Dame
“Everything points to a Notre Dame win, even with Kirby Smart’s knack in preparing his teams for playoff runs,” said Brandon Marcello of CBS Sports. Five of CBS’ seven college football experts picked Notre Dame to beat Georgia.
Prediction: Notre Dame wins (and covers)
“I am going to pick Georgia to win this game and cover,” said Josh Pate of 247Sports. “And I think Georgia is in a great position to shock a lot of people. … They’re either going to wilt and Gunner Stockton can’t get it done or they’re going to have the cattle prod to the side of the neck of college football.”
Prediction: Georgia wins, covers
“I’m siding with a physical, defense-driven Notre Dame squad over UGA and a backup QB.” said David Kenyon of Bleacher Report. “(Gunner) Stockton tallied just 4.4 yards per attempt on 16 passes in relief of Beck against Texas and otherwise has zero significant reps in college. He’s very talented and very unproven.”
Kenyon notes that he has Notre Dame winning partially because Georgia is without Carson Beck.
Prediction: Notre Dame 20, Georgia 17
“Georgia owns the all-time series between the two teams, 3-0, but this is a different Notre Dame team than they have faced. Their confidence is sky-high, and they believe that they can beat anyone. This will be a slug-it-out game, but the Irish barely prevail,” said Michael Chen of Fighting Irish Wire.
Prediction: Notre Dame 24, Georgia 20
Our prediction
If Georgia had Carson Beck, I’d be picking the Bulldogs with confidence. However, I don’t have a ton of trust in Stockton, so I’m back and forth on this pick. I am rolling with Georgia because they are more battle-tested and I think they’re going to win the line of scrimmage.
Prediction: Georgia 27, Notre Dame 20
Overall prediction tally
Three of the five writers have Notre Dame winning and covering. Two writers have Georgia winning the Sugar Bowl.
Georgia wins: 2
Notre Dame wins: 3