Thursday’s first-half Sugar Bowl stalemate quickly spiraled out of control for Georgia.

As the clock ticked down at halftime, a largely defensive battle ended 3-3.

Then it took just 54 seconds — the last 39 ticks on the clock in the first half and the first 15 of the second half — to end the 2024 season Kirby Smarts Dawgs in a Sugar Bowl game postponed a day because of an apparent terrorist attack and played under tight security in front of an under-capacity crowd.

Late in the second quarter, after a quick three-and-out on three consecutive incomplete pass plays by the Georgia offense, Notre Dame got the ball back with 3:07 left. Thanks to quarterback Riley Leonards On the run, the Irish managed a 48-yard field goal with 39 seconds left to tie the game at 3-3.

Georgia got the ball back and quarterback Shooter Stockton dropped back to pass. Offensive lineman, though Monroe Freeling, who struggled in pass defense all game, allowed a blindside hit that resulted in a strip-sack fumble that the Irish recovered at the Georgia 13. Leonard quickly threw a TD pass, giving the Irish a 10-point halftime lead of just 3 points.

Then Notre Dame Jayden Harris took the kickoff in the second half and, with the help of a missed tackle (a recurring problem for Georgia this season), returned it 98 yards for another touchdown.

Still, it wasn’t just that short playing time that prevented the Dawgs from keeping up with Notre Dame 23:10 loss in the quarterfinals of the College Football Playoff.

Basically, in addition to all the crucial mistakes made by the Georgian players on Thursday, the same inconsistencies that have cropped up again and again throughout the 2024 season also emerged.

For the seventh time this season, Georgia didn’t score in the first quarter. And a big reason for that was the lack of a functioning rush.

Smart had said before the game that Dawgs really needed to be able to run the ball against the Irish, but they couldn’t, so a decent performance from former backup Stockton in his first game as UGA’s starting quarterback wasn’t enough.

Stockton – starts in place of the injured man Carson Beck, who is headed to the NFL – completed 20 of 32 passes for 234 yards and a touchdown and added 16 rushing yards on 6 attempts, but was sacked four times.

Notre Dame defensive lineman Junior Tuihalamaka sacks Georgia quarterback Gunner Stockton in Thursday’s Sugar Bowl game. (Jason Getz/AJC) (Jason Getz/Dawgnation)

As Smart noted after the game, any time you don’t have pass protection it’s difficult.

Another major factor was the Dawgs’ offense’s inability to finish drives. Again, much of it was due to the offensive line play. As my brother Tim pointed out, the Dawgs’ OL outweighed Notre Dame’s injury-depleted defensive line by about 40 pounds a man, and yet Georgia could only manage a net rushing total of 62 yards. That’s awful.

The OL, who underperformed all season as he battled multiple injuries, played a very poor game against the Irish. Georgia’s line was unable to open many holes for the running backs, exposing Stockton to constant defensive pressure.

At this level of competition, if you lose the sales margin, you usually lose the game.

Add in that particular team disaster early in the second half, and the Dawgs, known for their stubborn comebacks this season, simply dug themselves too deep a hole this time.

Defensively, as expected, Georgia had difficulty containing the dual-threat Leonard at times. He had a net rush of 80 yards. There was also a costly offside call on a tricky play in the fourth period that kept the Irish’s clock-making drive alive.

But overall, the Dawgs played well enough defensively to win, holding the Irish to 244 yards in 61 plays while Georgia’s offense finished with 296 yards. Leonard only had 90 yards passing.

The bottom line for Georgia was the mistakes. As Smart summarized the game: “If you turn it over twice and they return a kickoff for a touchdown, you’re not going to have much success.”

And so the Dawgs’ season comes to an end and Bulldog Nation has to take solace another SEC championship trophy at Butts-Mehre.

In my Sunday Blawg post, I’ll take a closer look at this high and low season – and how it ended in New Orleans.