Notre Dame vs Georgia Predictions | College Football Playoff Preview For 1/1/25

College Football Playoff Betting Preview

The College Football Playoff quarterfinals conclude with Notre Dame vs Georgia in the Sugar Bowl! Georgia’s last two games have gone to overtime with Notre Dame knocking off Indiana in the first round of the College Football Playoff! How will this game play out? Read below to Get a College Football Playoff betting preview!

GoldSheet – The country’s longest-running sports betting newsletter – shares its thoughts on the matchup between the Fighting Irish and Bulldogs.

College Football Playoff Details: Notre Dame vs Georgia

Date:	January 1, 2025
Time:	8:45 PM ET / 5:45 PM PT
Location:	Caesars Superdome in New Orleans, LA
TV:	ESPN
Spread & Total:	Georgia -1.5 | O/U 44.5

College Football Playoff odds above courtesy of DraftKings as of 10:00am ET on Monday, December 30

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Notre Dame vs Georgia Betting Trends

Notre Dame went 11-2 against the spread this season, including a current run of nine-straight point spread covers. Ironically, the only two games the Irish have not covered this season were both against MAC opponents – Miami (Oh) and Northern Illinois.

The over had been 6-2 in Notre Dame’s last eight regular season games before the Irish shut down Indiana in a low-scoring affair last week.

Notre Dame has won its last two bowl games, including a 40-8 win over Oregon State in last year’s Sun Bowl. Including last week’s playoff win over Indiana, Irish head coach Marcus Freeman is 3-1 straight-up in postseason games (the lone loss came as an interim head coach when Brian Kelly resigned in 2021). Georgia went 4-9 against the spread this season.

The Bulldogs were on a 1-4 ATS skid at the end of the regular season before earning an overtime win against Texas in the SEC Championship Game.

Georgia has won seven-straight bowl/playoff games. Kirby Smart is 9-2 straight-up in postseason contests, and has not lost since the 2018 Sugar Bowl.

Notre Dame vs Georgia Analysis

The name of the game in this one is “sample size.” The 2024 edition of the Bulldogs is nowhere near the level of recent Georgia teams.

From a power ratings perspective, we would have Georgia’s 2022 and 2023 teams favored by more than a touchdown over this year’s team, and that’s not even factoring in a potential downgrade at quarterback.

Georgia went 4-9 against the spread this season. The Bulldogs were out-gained by 112 yards in the SEC Championship Game against Texas but found a way to get the job done, despite getting out-gained by 1.2 yards per play. Georgia is outside the top-20 in both offensive and defensive success rate.

When you have produced a top-5 talent class for as long as we can remember and you are outside of the top-25 in most major advanced metrics, something needs to change. Kirby Smart and Co. may have accidentally stumbled into that change.

Notre Dame vs Georgia Prediction

Starting QB and preseason Heisman favorite Carson Beck was injured in that win over the Longhorns, and back-up QB Gunner Stockton will get his shot to provide the ‘Dawgs with a spark.

Stockton has only thrown 51 passes in his two-year career in Athens. Coach Smart says that Beck and Stockton have a similar skill set, and they will not need to change the offense for the inexperienced Stockton.

In a one-game sample size under the bright lights, can Coach Smart build upon the postseason success that he has built over several seasons? Absolutely.

But in terms of the total body of work this season, Notre Dame has out-performed Georgia in several areas this season. We’re hoping that the season-long results hold a little more weight in this one.

Notre Dame vs Georgia Prediction: Notre Dame +1.5

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