Somehow, it just seems fitting.

Georgia-Notre Dame are meeting in the quarterfinals of the College Football Playoffs in the Sugar Bowl on New Year’s night (8:45 p.m., ABC).

For traditionalist junkies, this will be fun.

Georgia is 3-0 all-time against Notre Dame (12-1), but this time the two will meet in New Orleans at the Superdome, where the Bulldogs won the 1980 national title by beating the Fighting Irish, 17-10.

The game will mark the fourth meeting between the two programs, with Georgia (10-2) winning all three, including a 23-17 win in Athens back in 2019.

Two years earlier, the Bulldogs beat the Irish 20-19 in South Bend.

In that game, the starting quarterback for Georgia was Jake Fromm, who was making his first start. When the two teams meet in 11 days, Gunner Stockton will make his first career start following Carson Beck’s elbow injury against Texas in the SEC Championship.

Notre Dame advanced to the Sugar Bowl by routing Indiana, 27-17.

The two teams have one common opponent.

Notre Dame rolled past Georgia Tech at Mercedes-Benz Stadium 31-13, although the Yellow Jackets played that game without quarterback Haynes King.

Georgia, of course, beat the Yellow Jackets in eight overtimes, 44-42.

Notre Dame is 1-0 against the SEC this season, beating Texas A&M in the opener at College Station, 23-13.

Statistically, this figures to be a more dangerous Notre Dame than Georgia faced in its last two meetings.

The Irish offense entered play Friday averaging the second-most points in team history (39.8), while averaging the third-most yards per play at 6.7.

Defensively, Notre Dame held opponents to less than 300 yards per game for just the third time since 1989. The only two Irish teams to accomplish that over the last 35 years were last year's team (276.3 yards allowed) and 1996 (270 yards allowed).

Individually, Notre Dame is led by quarterback Riley Leonard, who finished the regular season completing 217 of 325 passes for 2,293 yards and 17 touchdowns. He’s also rushed for 751 yards and 15 scores.

Running back Jeremiyah Love leads the Irish with 1,057 yards rushing, and 16 touchdowns, including scores in all 13 of the team’s games.

Although the kicking game has struggled (9 of 18 on field goals), the Irish special teams has blocked three punts on the year.