We rewatched No. 3 Georgia’s 23-17 win over Notre Dame, and perhaps there’s no better way to summarize the game than the perplexed facial expression that CBS analyst Gary Danielson made early in the second quarter when his broadcast partner Brad Nessler asked, “What’s the best thing [Notre Dame has] done so far?”

It was a game billed by some as a defensive battle. But when was the last great defensive battle that didn’t feature a single sack for either team? Asking for a friend.

By the way, Danielson, after sighing, then pausing for almost three seconds as he racked his brain for answers, settled on, “I would say, make tackles. They haven’t missed anything.”

 

For the record, Danielson wasn’t wrong. But Notre Dame’s early-game, sure-handed tackling was made easier by Georgia’s fairly conservative play-calling to open the game. Georgia quarterback Jake Fromm’s pass attempts in the first quarter were thrown the following distances (in yards) in relation to the line of scrimmage: 5, 5, -7, -4, 3, -3 and 5.

All six of Fromm’s pass attempts that were behind the line of scrimmage were in the first half.

Fromm started 6-for-7 for 16 yards. He was 11-for-12 passing for 59 yards in the first half and at one point the junior quarterback had completed 14-of-17 attempts for 85 yards.

In the second quarter, CBS showed a graphic indicating an 11-yard run by running back D’Andre Swift on 1st & 10 was Georgia’s longest play so far in the game.

Stadium’s research found that the average depth of Fromm’s targets in the first half was 1.08 yards past the line of scrimmage while the average depth of his second-half targets was 15.36 yards past the line of scrimmage.

Here’s a breakdown of Fromm’s targets by distance from the line of scrimmage.

Distance From Line of Scrimmage	Number of Throws	Percent of Total Attempts	Number of Completions	Completion %	Passing Yards	Yards After Catch*
At or behind L.O.S.	6	23.1%	6	100%	14	38
1-5 Yards	8	30.8%	7	87.5%	56	29
6-10 Yards	2	7.7%	2	100%	18	5
10+ Yards	10	38.5%	5	50%	99	0

*The goal of measuring yards after catch is to evaluate how much “work” the skill players had to do to gain yards rather than simply measuring how far the ball was thrown through the air. Yards after catch can be more than passing yards because if a running back, for example, catches a pass six yards behind the line of scrimmage and then gets tackled two yards behind the line of scrimmage, he ran for four yards after the catch, even if the play was still a net loss of two yards.

Georgia grad transfer wide receiver Lawrence Cager, who previously played for Miami (FL), showed his big-play potential when the run-first Bulldogs wanted to stretch the field.

He had a breakout game in Athens, catching all five of his targets for 82 yards and what proved to be the game-winning touchdown, which is shown below.

 

Another impressive contested catch by Cager in the red zone was nullified by an illegal touching penalty. Cager’s average depth of target downfield was 15.4 yards past the line of scrimmage.

Fromm completed five of his 10 passes that were intended to a target that was at least 10 yards past the line of scrimmage. Cager was on the receiving end of three of those balls and Demetris Robertson caught two.

Cager also reeled in an impressive catch along the sideline on a back-shoulder throw from Fromm.

 

Cager led Georgia in receptions, receiving yards and caught Fromm’s only touchdown pass on Saturday after catching five passes for 57 yards and a touchdown in the team’s first two games.

For a Georgia team that had to replace its top five receivers from last season, Cager, along with highly touted freshmen Dominick Blaylock and George Pickens, have been quality additions.

Georgia’s offense found its rhythm in the second half when the ‘Dawgs scored on four consecutive possessions, turning a 10-7 deficit into a 23-10 lead with the help of their defense forcing three straight Notre Dame 3-and-outs, followed by an impressive interception by safety J.R. Reed, who sprinted across the field to pick off a flea flicker.

 

Notre Dame had difficulty slowing down Georgia, especially running backs Swift and Brian Herrien, who combined for seven rushes of at least 10 yards. When Swift wasn’t running through arm tackles, he was jumping over defenders with inches of clearance between the bottom of his cleats and the opponent’s helmet.

 

That’s why Notre Dame was caught – by Georgia fans in Sanford Stadium, the CBS broadcast and Internet sleuths on Twitter but not the refs – faking an injury not just once, but twice, to try to slow down Georgia.

 

 

Georgia won the game being extremely balanced on offense – 31 rushing plays compared to 26 pass attempts, when ignoring its final two kneel downs – as the Bulldogs averaged 4.97 yards per carry and 7.19 yards per pass attempt.

Here’s a breakdown of Georgia’s rushing attack.

Player	Att.	Yards	YPC	Runs For 0/- Yards	%	Runs of 10+ Yards	%
RB D’Andre Swift	18	98	5.44	2	11.1%	5	27.8%
RB Brian Herrien	8	42	5.25	2	25.0%	2	25.0%
QB Jake Fromm	2	15	7.50	0	0%	0	0%
WR Tyler Simmons	1	9	9.00	0	0%	0	0%
RB James Cook	1	-4	-4.00	1	100%	0	0%
WR Matt Landers	1	-6	-6.00	1	100%	0	0%

 

While Georgia and Notre Dame had similar first down/touchdown rates on their rushing attempts – 25.8% of Georgia’s carries resulted in a first down or touchdown, while 21.4% of Notre Dame’s carries did – that was a product of the Fighting Irish’s limited number of carries more than anything else.

There was a big difference in the two teams’ success through the air.

Georgia moved the chains or found the end zone of 42.3 percent of its 26 pass attempts while Notre Dame had a first down/touchdown rate of just 26.1 percent through the air.

Despite Notre Dame attempting 20 more passes than Georgia, the Fighting Irish had just two more completions that resulted in a gain of at least 10 yards.

It wasn’t always a pretty game with six total fumbles, 18 combined penalties and a combined 8-of-24 mark on third down conversions but Georgia was able to add a resume-building win thanks to its ability to run the ball, passing efficiently but exploiting one-on-one matchups on the outside when available, and clogging the opponent’s rushing lanes – a recipe the Bulldogs will hope can carry them back to the playoff.

MORE: Pat Narduzzi’s Pittsburgh Has Done It Again As Panthers End UCF’s Streak