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The 2025 Allstate Sugar Bowl did not go to plan for the Georgia Bulldogs. The SEC champions lost to Notre Dame, 23-10, making a series of major blunders that ultimately ended their season.
The biggest blunder may have been Georgia being drawn offside after Notre Dame ran the punt team off the field and put the offense back on the field in a trick play to try to draw the Bulldogs to jump in the neutral zone in the 4th quarter. After the game, Georgia Bulldogs head coach Kirby Smart complained about how the play was officiated.
Georgia, who was without two-year starter Carson Beck at quarterback due to an elbow injury suffered in the SEC Championship Game, struggled on offense throughout the game. But, they had played themselves back in the game after a 20-3 second-half deficit to 23-10. And, they were about to force an Irish punt to get the ball back with good field position.
Then, this happened.
— dubs408 (@dubsvidstouse) January 3, 2025
First off, that’s a great design by Notre Dame and Marcus Freeman to try to get Georgia confused and lead to a penalty. That’s exactly what happened and it went a long way towards them winning the football game.
After the game, instead of having his team prepared for something that Notre Dame has already done this season, Kirby Smart complained that what Notre Dame did just wasn’t fair.
"It's really unfortunate because I've been told by our head officials in the SEC you can't do that… you can't run 11 on and 11 off."
Kirby Smart addresses the substitutions made that caused the offside penalty against Georgia late in the game ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/gGivrKbPTM
— FOX College Football (@CFBONFOX) January 3, 2025
Unfortunately, Kirby, what Notre Dame did was completely legal. The referees also gave Georgia time to sub, so it’s not like he can complain about. Georgia was outplayed and out-coached on Thursday.
Notre Dame advances to play Penn State in next Thursday’s Capital One Orange Bowl, with a College Football Playoff National Championship Game berth on the line.