If Georgia playing Notre Dame in the Sugar Bowl has a classic ring to it, it should.
Fighting Irish linebacker Jack Kiser and Bulldogs tight end Oscar Delp know all about the first time their storied programs met in the Superdome at the end of the 1980 season — some two decades before they were born.
A national championship hung in the balance, and a freshman running back named Herschel Walker (150 yards, two touchdowns rushing) helped the Bulldogs capture it, 17-10.
The stakes won’t be quite as high on Wednesday night when No. 2 Georgia (11-2, CFP No. 2 seed) and No. 3 Notre Dame (11-1, CFP No. 5 seed) meet in the same storied bowl, but it’s still pretty big.
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The Sugar Bowl was designated a College Football Playoff quarterfinal in this first year of the CFP’s expansion to 12 teams. The winner moves on to a semifinal game at the Orange Bowl in Miami.
“When you get two big brands together in a stage like the Sugar Bowl, and to know it’s happened before, with some big names that played in the game, and to understand it has so much on the line this time, too, it’s exciting,” said Kiser, a 24-year-old defensive captain who has spent six years — or as he likes to say, “a quarter of my life,” at Notre Dame.