In just two days, No. 3 Georgia hosts No. 7 Notre Dame in what's one of the most anticipated non-conference games at Sanford Stadium in years.

Thousands of people are expected in Athens, as two of the nation's more storied programs mix it up in Georgia for the first time.

To help us get a better feel for the Irish, we turned to Bryan Driskell, an analyst with our sister site BlueandGoldIllustrated

One can argue this is Georgia's biggest non-conference home game in 20 years—perhaps one of the biggest ever, simply because it's Notre Dame. Obviously, the Irish are "big games" for a lot of schools. But as far as this pertains to Brian Kelly, where does Saturday night's contest stack up? Also, explain the significance this contest has where fans of Notre Dame are concerned.

Driskell: "This is one of the four biggest regular season games of Brian Kelly’s tenure, of that there is no debate. In 2012, Notre Dame had to travel to then-No. 8 Oklahoma. If the Irish won that game, the schedule was set up nicely for an undefeated season, and that’s what happened.

"Two years later, the Irish had to travel to Tallahassee, to take on the defending champs and the reigning Heisman Trophy winner (Florida State and Jameis Winston). Notre Dame led throughout, and actually scored a touchdown with seconds left to give them the lead, but a much-debated offensive pass interference penalty took away the score and led to a 31-27 FSU victory. That was a No. 5 vs. No. 2 matchup at the time, and Notre Dame never recovered from that loss, losing four of its final five games.

"A season after that, Notre Dame had to travel to Clemson to take on Deshaun Watson and the Tigers, who went on to be the national runners-up that season. Clemson jumped all over Notre Dame, taking an early 14-0 lead. Notre Dame battled back, and a failed 2-point conversion with seconds left sealed their fate, and a 24-22 victory for the Tigers.

"So obviously, Notre Dame has been in this kind of game before, but it has only come out on top in one of those games, which brings me to the second part of your question. This game serves two greater purposes for Notre Dame fans. One is that, as with most of the country, there is some resentment toward the SEC, and this is an opportunity to show that Notre Dame can go toe-to-toe with the best from that league.

"I don’t include the Georgia game from 2017, because at the time, the Irish were just two games into a season in which they were trying to overcome a 4-8 campaign, and Georgia was coming off an 8-5 season and was ranked No. 15. It was a big game, but not nearly of the magnitude going into it that this one is.

"The other reason this is so big for Irish fans is this game is a program-defining opportunity for Kelly and Notre Dame. I like to call Notre Dame an “almost program.” They are almost good enough to be considered one of the elite programs, having had two undefeated seasons under Kelly, having been ranked in the Top 4 of the College Football Playoff rankings at one point in three of the five seasons. They’ve gone toe-to-toe with great teams (FSU in 2014, Clemson in 2015, Georgia in 2017) and come up just short, having lost those three games by a combined seven points. But the point is, 0-3 looks like 0-3 whether they are all close wins or blowouts. Until Notre Dame can go into one of these games and actually win it, they won’t get—and won’t deserve—the respect one affords to one of the nation’s premier on-field football programs.

On paper, one of, if not the story line, is Notre Dame's rush defense, ranked 120th (allowing 230.4 yards per game) against a Georgia team that ranks eighth in rushing offense (286.7 yards per game). Is this a fair assessment? In your eyes, what can the Irish do to stem the Bulldogs' ground attack, and how do you see this specific matchup breaking down?