No Georgia football fan wants to relive the end of UGA’s 2024 season. The Bulldogs ultimately came up short against Notre Dame in the College Football Playoff 23-10, but the game felt more out of reach than that.
There really weren’t any positives to take away from that loss, so it was always in Georgia’s best interest to just move on from that game and get ready for the 2025 season ahead. That is exactly what UGA has done, but Kirby Smart was asked about his feelings towards that loss on Tuesday, and he used one word to describe how he feels.
"Nightmare."
Smart then went into more detail about the “middle eight” of this game which refers to the final four minutes of the first half and the first four minutes of the second half. This arguably is the most important stretch of any football game, and it’s those eight minutes that still haunts Smart to this day.
"So middle eight, you could say it's just as critical as those," Smart shared via 247sports.com. "You're trying to double possession people. It's why a lot of people defer, and to get a double possession. It's a lot of strategy in it… But we look at it, we study it, we try to attack it the right way. We historically have been really good at that. And probably the worst we've ever been at it was the Notre Dame. We've never been outscored that much in that period without touching the ball."
The middle eight destroyed Georgia against Notre Dame
Looking back on the middle eight from this game, it’s easy to see just how dominant Notre Dame was. The Irish ran 16 plays during this eight minute stretch compared to just eight plays from Georgia. The Bulldogs did get the ball to start the second half, but a quick three and out gave the ball right back to Notre Dame when UGA could’ve kept this game close with a productive drive.
But the reason this eight minute stretch was so bad for Georgia was because Notre Dame outscored Georgia 10-0. The Irish nailed a field goal to make the game 6-3 late in the first half, but Georgia fumbled the ball on the very next play which was followed up with a Notre Dame touchdown one play later.
Sure Georgia had plenty of time to get back into this game after that, but this eight minute stretch gave the Irish all the momentum. And Notre Dame never looked back and cruised to victory.
If Georgia wants to have a better season this year they’re going to need to do much better during the middle eight of every game. Thankfully it’s apparent that Smart was reminded just how important this stretch is and he will be sure to make adjustments to dominate these eight minutes every game this season.