After having their College Football Playoff quarterfinal matchup with Notre Dame at the Allstate Sugar Bowl postponed due to a deadly pickup truck attack in New Orleans that killed 15 people and injured dozens more, the Georgia Bulldogs will now take on the Fighting Irish today at 4 p.m. with the winner advancing to the January 9th Orange Bowl against Penn State.
Notre Dame comes into this game with a very good rushing attack that heavily includes quarterback Riley Leonard. For the Fighting Irish, running back Jeremiyah Love has 1,057 yards and 16 TDs on 142 rushing attempts and quarterback Riley Leonard has 751 yards and 15 TDs on 135 rushing attempts. Love and Leonard have run for touchdowns in the same game 10 times this season.
How can the Bulldogs slow down Notre Dame’s running game? Co-Owner and Publisher of Dawgs HQ Rusty Mansell told The Morning Shift earlier today what he thinks the Dawgs need to do to shut down Riley Leonard and Notre Dame’s offense.
“I think you’ve got to make him [Riley Leonard] challenge you down the field with his arm. You cannot let him beat you with his legs. I think Georgia, if they can get Riley Leonard into those third and sevens, third and sixes and make him beat you with his arm, I think that’s going to be Georgia’s best chance.” Rusty said.
To Rusty’s point Riley Leonard only had one pass over ten yards in Notre Dame’s 27-17 win over Indiana in the first round of the playoffs, and despite the Dawgs giving up a little over 128 rushing yards per game this season they have shown against teams like Texas that they have the defensive front to shutdown any teams running game, so if Georgia wants to stack the box and dare Leonard to throw the ball downfield that could be a gameplan that definitely works in Georgia’s favor.
