Notre Dame's Marcus Freeman can enjoy Georgia's victory by beating Penn State

Marcus Freeman enjoyed the moment, but he knows what lies ahead for Notre Dame: a Penn State team that would make Georgia look humble.
In the “heavyweight battle” of Notre Dame against Georgia, the Irish landed by knockout in the third quarter of the Sugar Bowl.
Notre Dame celebrates long-awaited postseason glory in the College Football Playoff before facing an Orange Bowl opponent that will be like looking in the mirror.

NEW ORLEANS – Marcus Freeman savored the moment.

Confetti doesn’t fall after regular-season victories, and Notre Dame hadn’t won a postseason game of this magnitude since Freeman was a little boy.

So, yes, bring the confetti, thank you very much, and make it Notre Dame navy blue and not Georgia red.

“Let’s celebrate,” Freeman said after Notre Dame beat Georgia 23-10 in the Sugar Bowl.

But be careful not to dwell on the embers for too long, because the next challenge will become increasingly difficult.

Penn State is in the Orange Bowl, and forget what Georgia has accomplished the last three seasons, because the Nittany Lions have consistently played better than Georgia this season, and the Big Ten has called on the SEC to hustle and at the same time becoming the preeminent conference in the country.

Notre Dame knocks off Georgia in Sugar Bowl “heavyweight battle.”

How can you top Notre Dame’s biggest postseason win in more than 30 years? By beating an even better team on an even bigger stage the following week.

Not long ago, you would have been right to be skeptical that Notre Dame, long under pressure in the postseason, could win a playoff game against an opponent of Penn State’s caliber. Against Georgia, the Irish proved that they are not plagued by the weaknesses of previous teams.

“This program is a success,” linebacker Jack Kiser said. “Things are looking up.”

Notre Dame didn’t just beat Georgia. It overwhelmed the Bulldogs and showed that Kirby Smart’s dynasty will go down in the history books. As in the past tense.

“Georgia is definitely very physical,” Notre Dame safety Adon Shuler said, “so we kind of had to keep up.”

Suitable for this? The Irish surpassed Georgia’s physicality.

“A heavyweight fight,” Freeman called it.

Maybe, but the Irish landed a knockout blow on the first play of the second half. When Jayden Harrison ran a kickoff 98 yards into the end zone, Notre Dame tallied its third score in less than a minute of play.

The Bulldogs turned heads for a quarter and a half. The Irish never relented and performed at their best for four quarters against a weakened, undisciplined, insanely inconsistent, error-prone and broken team that was once great.

Beating Penn State will be more difficult.

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Marcus Freeman is on the heater, but Penn State poses a challenge

Notre Dame has arrived under Freeman. He was 4-0 in his last four postseason games, but the first three were really small fry.

Given the repeated postseason disappointments before Freeman, Notre Dame couldn’t turn its nose up in its first three postseason wins, but no statues are built for coaches who beat South Carolina, Oregon State or Indiana.

This one, however, this demolition of Georgia, elevates Notre Dame to the big boys’ table.

It doesn’t matter that Georgia played most of the season like a shadow of what it was just two years ago.

The “G” on the helmet and the SEC logo on the jersey, as well as the College Football Playoff emblems in the end zones, mark this as a signature victory for a program that last won a Big Six bowl in 1994 under Lou Holtz had won cotton bowl.

Notre Dame beat Georgia for the first time, and in a sign of his youth, Freeman couldn’t even remember the last time these teams played each other in the Sugar Bowl on New Year’s Day 1981.

In the presence of former President Jimmy Carter, Herschel Walker ran over the Irish. With this victory, Georgia secured the national championship.

Old Notre Dame fans will remember this game. You’ll appreciate this one.

And the next test? Well, it’s more violent.

Playing Penn State will be like looking in a mirror. The Nittany Lions play tireless defense, creating runs and generally avoiding turnovers.

Does this sound familiar? Sounds like Notre Dame.

Except Penn State quarterback Drew Allar gives the Nittany Lions a passing game that the Irish don’t replicate. Riley Leonard’s speed on quarterback runs gives Notre Dame’s offense a touch of oomph, but Allar, at his best, attacks the defense from the air in a way the Irish don’t typically do.

Notre Dame beat Georgia by just 90 yards.

How?

“They did a good job with their scrimmage strategy,” said Georgia wide receiver Arian Smith, “stopping the run and making sure they disrupt the quarterback.”

The Irish had a plus two turnovers. True to the spirit of the scrimmage, the Irish bullied the SEC’s pride and made Georgia look very doughy.

“They just overwhelmed us,” Georgia defensive lineman Dan Jackson said. “The biggest thing they did was they took the ball away from the defense (twice), and we didn’t do that.”

Not once did Notre Dame hand it over.

Irish players say they’ve bounced back from their Week 2 loss to Northern Illinois thanks to their leadership and trust in the team, and while it’s hard to deny that, it’s also true that they’ve started passing the ball appreciate more.

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