It took a quarter longer than it should have, but Notre Dame finally has Georgia Tech on the ropes. Some quality play on both sides of the ball puts the Irish within striking distance of keeping their perfect record heading into Clemson. While the college football world was reacting to the news of Trevor Lawrence being out for that game, the Irish were building a 24-7 lead that last through the end of the third quarter.
The Yellow Jackets threatened to close the gap after a 39-yard completion from Jeff Sims to Jalen Camp put the ball on the Irish’s 22-yard line. That hope was snuffed out on the next play when Daelin Hayes IV strip-sacked Sims, and Myron Tagovailoa-Amosa recovered the ball. Though the subsequent drive was defined by the run once again, the big blow was Ian Book’s 31-yard completion to Javon McKinley that put the Irish in the red zone. Kyren Williams took the ball for the next two plays because that’s all he needed, scoring a touchdown from 4 yards out on the latter of those plays.
The Irish suffered a loss for this game and next week when Marist Liafau was disqualified was ejected for targeting. He will miss the first half of the Clemson game as a result. Jude Kelley badly missed a field goal for the Yellow Jackets on the same drive, so no harm was done, at least in the short-term.