Somehow it just seems fitting.

Georgia and Notre Dame meet in the College Football Playoff quarterfinals in the Sugar Bowl on New Year’s Eve (8:45 p.m., ABC).

For traditionalist junkies, this will be fun.

Georgia is 3-0 all-time against Notre Dame (12-1), but this time the two meet in New Orleans at the Superdome, where the Bulldogs won the 1980 national title by defeating the Fighting Irish 17-10.

The game marks the fourth meeting between the two programs, with Georgia (10-2) winning all three games, including a 23-17 win in Athens in 2019.

Two years earlier, the Bulldogs defeated the Irish 20-19 in South Bend.

In this game, the starting quarterback for Georgia was Jake Fromm, making his first start. When the two teams meet in 11 days, Gunner Stockton will make his first career start since Carson Beck’s elbow injury against Texas in the SEC Championship.

Notre Dame advanced to the Sugar Bowl by defeating Indiana 27-17.

The two teams have a common opponent.

Notre Dame topped Georgia Tech 31-13 at Mercedes-Benz Stadium, even though the Yellow Jackets played that game without quarterback Haynes King.

Georgia, of course, defeated the Yellow Jackets 44-42 in eight overtimes.

Notre Dame is 1-0 against the SEC this season, defeating Texas A&M 23-13 in its opener in College Station.

Statistically, this is a more dangerous Notre Dame than Georgia in its last two meetings.

The Irish offense came into Friday’s game averaging the second-most points in team history (39.8) while averaging the third-most yards per play with an average of 6.7.

Defensively, Notre Dame held opponents to fewer than 300 yards per game for the third time since 1989. The only two Irish teams to do this in the last 35 years were last year’s team (276.3 yards allowed) and the 1996 team (270 yards allowed). .

Individually, Notre Dame is led by quarterback Riley Leonard, who finished the regular season completing 217 of 325 passes for 2,293 yards and 17 touchdowns. He also rushed for 751 yards and 15 scores.

Running back Jeremiyah Love leads the Irish with 1,057 yards rushing and 16 touchdowns, including scores in all 13 of the team’s games.

Although the kicking game was difficult (9 of 18 on field goals), the Irish special teams blocked three punts this year.