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Notre Dame

Betting lines, trends for Notre Dame vs. Georgia in the College Football Playoff Sugar Bowl

Singer headshotby: Mike Singer12/22/24MikeTSinger
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Notre Dame Fighting Irish tight end Cooper Flanagan (87) celebrates with teammates after scoring a touchdown Saturday, Sept. 14, 2024, during the NCAA football game against the Purdue Boilermakers at Ross-Ade Stadium in West Lafayette, Ind. Notre Dame Fighting Irish won 66-7.

By defeating Indiana 27-17 on Friday night, the Notre Dame Fighting Irish advanced to the quarterfinals of the College Football Playoff. Marcus Freeman‘s squad has a date with the Georgia Bulldogs in the Sugar Bowl, a game that will be be played Jan. 1 at 8:45 p.m. ET.

When the playoff bracket was announced, Notre Dame was a 1.5 point favorite in a “lookahead line” if the Irish were to advance past the Hoosiers. But after the Irish beat up on Indiana, the betting line — according to FanDuel — actually shifted towards Notre Dame being a 1.5 point underdog.

The over-under opened at 46.5 and currently sits at 44.5.

  • The Georgia Bulldogs are 6-3 SU (66.7%) in their last 9 games vs. top 25 scoring defenses
  • Notre Dame is 9-0 ATS in its last nine games, six of those spreads were of 14-points or more
  • The Georgia Bulldogs are 3-9 (25.0%) ATS in their last 12 games

Notre Dame has been excellent at covering the spread this season, especially when Freeman and Co. have more than a week to prepare for their opponents. And the Irish have plenty of time to get ready for the Carson Beck-less Bulldogs. Expect a low-scoring contest in New Orleans between the two blue blood programs.

Sugar Bowl bound: Notre Dame dominates Indiana in first-round College Football Playoff runaway

There’s something heart-stopping about when nearly 80,000 people, regardless of what color they’re wearing, know a player is going to score before he even gets across midfield. Heck, before he even gets to his own 25. A sold-out College Football Playoff crowd at Notre Dame Stadium shared that type of moment Friday night.

Jeremiyah Love began with his feet in his own end zone. Fewer than 15 seconds later, his feet were in Indian’s end zone.

Love’s 98-yard touchdown is the longest rushing play in all of college football this season. It’s tied for the longest rushing play in Notre Dame history. It’s the longest rushing touchdown in College Football Playoff history.

And it was the early-game moment that reaffirmed what most spectators watching in person or on ABC/ESPN thought about the monumental intrastate matchup going in; Notre Dame is the better team. Notre Dame should win. That’s exactly what happened.

Notre Dame 27, Indiana 17 in a game that wasn’t as close as the final score hints.

It’s on to No. 2 Georgia in the Sugar Bowl on New Year’s Day night for head coach Marcus Freeman and his Fighting Irish. First things first, though.

“I want them not to look past tonight,” Freeman said. “Celebrate tonight. Celebrate this victory that they worked tremendously hard to achieve and obtain.”

Love’s touchdown might not have even been his best run of the night. He had one late in the third quarter in which he ran to the sideline with no angle whatsoever and two Hoosiers in hot pursuit. He violently stiff-armed one, knocking him to the turf, and stepped through an attempted tackle from the other. First down on a play he had no business even gaining positive yardage.

Indiana being in position to take Love down was actually indicative of how the Hoosiers’ No. 1 FBS rushing defense fared for most of the night. Love only finished with 108 yards on 8 carries, most of the yards obviously coming on the long score. Junior tailback Jadarian Price was bottled up for 32 yards on 11 carries. Senior quarterback Riley Leonard went for 30 yards on 11 attempts. As a team, Notre Dame ran for just shy of 200. Again, so much of that coming on one play.

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