Georgia kicker Blankenship has two reasons to celebrate

SOUTH BEND, Ind. — Kicking the winning field goal against the Fighting Irish made for a bookend of highlights for Georgia placekicker Rodrigo Blankenship.

He’d already gotten some great news from coach Kirby Smart the day before.

After No. 15 Georgia notched a tight 20-19 win over No. 24 Notre Dame on the road, Smart turned to Blankenship, whose kick had put the Dawgs up for good, and asked, “Do you want to tell them what I told you on Friday?”

Blankenship responded, “I’m on scholarship!”

The team roared in celebration.

The final couple of minutes of the game were nailbiters as UGA hung on to the slim advantage. Notre Dame got the ball back with just under two minutes left and tried to put together a game-winning drive. That fell apart when Irish quarterback Brandon Wimbush, on a first-down play on the Notre Dame 36, fumbled when he was sacked by outside linebacker Davin Bellamy. Lorenzo Carter recovered the ball, and Georgia ran out the clock.

UGA’s defense played well, holding the Irish to 266 yards of total offense — 55 on the ground and 211 in the air — and allowed Notre Dame only three third-down conversions in 17 tries.

Smart credited his defensive coach for directing the Bulldogs’ stingy defense.

“I didn’t say nothing to them (defense), Coach Tucker handled that,” Smart said after the game. “He had those guys playing hard. They played hard for him. They love him, and they played relentless.”

This was only the second time the two football programs have met. Georgia won the first meeting — and the national championship — 17-10 in the 1981 Sugar Bowl. The last time Georgia won a game against a ranked team on its home field was in the 2014 season when the No. 13 Bulldogs blanked No. 23 Missouri in Columbia 34-0.

While the road win was satisfying — especially with a large contingent of Bulldog faithful making the trip to Indiana — Smart said the Dawgs have to “clean things up.”

“We’ve got a good football team, but you talk about sloppy,” he said. “Penalties, penalties, turnovers, turnovers. Can’t do that. I’m just so happy for these fans. We brought 40,000-some fans down here, and these guys are awesome.”

Georgia returns to Athens for a 7:30 p.m. kickoff Saturday against Samford at Sanford Stadium.