By The Numbers: Notre Dame-Georgia
3-0 Georgia became the first team since Iowa in 1940 to have such a series advantage against Notre Dame, and the fourth overall since 1900.
The Bulldogs clinched their lone Associated Press national title with a Jan. 1, 1981 Sugar Bowl win against the Irish (17-10), and then won Sept. 9, 2017 at Notre Dame Stadium, 20-19. Each game came down to the final series for the Irish, which either resulted in a turnover or a missed “Hail Mary” pass.
7 Motion penalties called against Notre Dame in the raucous environment that helped stall drives or take away some momentum. Six were on offense while one was an off-side call on the defense.
8 Different Southeastern Conference venues Notre Dame has played in after debuting in Sanford Stadium. This refers only to when the opponent actually was in the SEC (i.e., Texas A&M in 2001 doesn’t count because it was in the Big 12).
Six others in chronological order were Georgia Tech (1938), Tulane (1945) — this duo dropped out in the mid-1960s — LSU (1971), Ole Miss (1977), Tennessee (1979), and Vanderbilt (1996).
Technically, Alabama in 1980 and 1986 might not be counted like the others because the games were in Birmingham instead of the on-campus site in Tuscaloosa, but we would still classify it as an SEC venue
9 Receptions for 108 yards and a score by junior tight end Cole Kmet. The catch total ties the single-game Notre Dame record by a tight end set by 1977 Walter Camp Award winner Ken MacAfee, who snared nine for 114 yards and a score in the 31-24 victory at Purdue in which third-team quarterback Joe Montana rescued the Irish from a 24-14 fourth-quarter deficit and began the march toward the national title.
This was Kmet's first game back since breaking his collarbone.
11 Straight losses Notre Dame has versus a top-5-ranked opponent at the time of the game, dating back to the Sept. 10, 2005 conquest at No. 3 Michigan (17-10). That 14-year span is the longest such drought for the Irish. It previously was eight years from 1958-65 while going 0-7. Five of them have been under current head coach Brian Kelly.
During the week, ESPN noted that since 2000 the worst winning percentages versus a top-5-ranked team at the time of the game are Wake Forest (0-16), Vanderbilt (0-15), Indiana (0-13), while Boston College and Notre Dame were both 1-17. With the loss to Georgia, the Fighting Irish are now 1-18 for a .053 winning percentage.
17 Consecutive games Notre Dame has held its opponent to 30 or fewer points. Among 130 Football Bowl Subdivision teams, only the Irish and Washington have achieved that feat in that span.
For the Irish it began with a 21-17 Citrus Bowl win versus LSU on Jan. 1, 2018, and included the 30-3 defeat last December to Clemson in the College Football Playoff. During the 2018 regular season, Notre Dame and Fresno State were the only two teams not to permit more than 27 points in a game.
93,246 The No. 1 attendance total ever at Sanford Stadium with the addition of temporary seats just for this game. This is an FBS-leading 10th different college football stadium the Fighting Irish would hold the attendance record in, and the second in as many trips this year (58,187 at Louisville on Sept. 2).
The other eight college home stadiums include Air Force, Brigham Young, Michigan, Michigan State, Northwestern, USC, plus Miami’s Hard Rock Stadium for the 2013 BCS Championship versus Alabama and the Sun Bowl (UTEP), where Notre Dame played Miami in December 2010.
Notre Dame also holds the attendance record for a college football game at six different pro stadiums: Soldier Field (Chicago), Fenway Park (Boston), Aviva Stadium (Ireland), Meadowlands Stadium (New Jersey), Lincoln Financial Field (Philadelphia) and Yankee Stadium (New York).
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