History was indeed made when the Notre Dame Fighting Irish shocked heavy favorites Georgia Bulldogs with a stirring victory in the Sugar Bowl. Hushed were the fans and analysts alike that while staunchly contending it as one of the hardest-fought and most emotionally flavored games throughout recent bowl history, it also went into the records as the first real shell-shocking victory in the Caesars Superdome in New Orleans with a nail-biting finish of 35-31.
The Game** Notre Dame was down by 10 points with 7 minutes left in the fourth quarter, quarterbacked by Sam Hartman and wide receiver, Tobias Merriweather. Hartman, a graduate transfer playing in his final collegiate game, engineered the comeback of the year with 325 passing yards and three touchdowns, the last one was the game-winning TD pass with 17 seconds left in the game.
For much of the year following a devastating regular season and a statistically ranked defense that was considered one of the best in the country, Georgia was riding high. The Bulldogs were doing a good job in the first drive and Beck even found Bowers twice for touchdowns but the Notre Dame defense stepped up in the second half and created turnovers that changed the tide.
The last play of the game took place with slightly more than one and a half minutes on the clock, and Georgia had the ball while the score was 31. Ireland’s Benjamin Morrison intercepted Beck’s pass deep into Notre Dame territory and this paved the way for Hartman to bring out his last magic.
On the subsequent drive, Hartman orchestrated nearly a picture-perfect two-minute drill, the highlight of the possession being a perfectly thrown ball to Merriweather in the back corner of the end zone. This play left the Notre Dame fans electrified and wrapped a perfect cherry on the top of the Irish’s early annals of their first Sugar Bowl crown since the year 1992.
For Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman, the win was deeply personal. “This is for every player who believed in what we’re building and every fan who stuck with us,” Freeman said, his voice trembling with emotion.
Georgia head coach Kirby Smart, while gracious in defeat, acknowledged the sting of the loss. “Credit to Notre Dame—they outplayed us when it mattered most,” Smart said.
The win culminated a superb season for Notre Dame and a declaration that this program is finally ready to climb back to football’s pinnacle with college football’s elite. A loss for Georgia marked a rare misstep during an otherwise unparalleled period of power, raising question marks about the future of one of the great programs in American sports.
For the moment, the night belongs to the Irish, who reminded the college football world why they remain one of its most storied and resilient programs.
