Georgia
College Football Playoff players to watch, key to the Sugar Bowl: No. 7 Notre Dame vs. No. 2 Georgia
The final College Football Playoff quarterfinal is the fourth postseason meeting between Notre Dame and Georgia. The Bulldogs have won all three of the previous matchups. Can they get a fourth?
[More CFP: Ohio State vs. Oregon | Boise State vs. Penn State | Texas vs. Arizona State]
Date: Jan. 1 | Time: 8:45 p.m. ET | TV: ESPN | Line: Georgia -1.5 | Total: 44.5
How these teams got here
Notre Dame: The Irish dominated Indiana in a 27-17 win that turned out to be the closest margin of victory of any of the four first-round CFP games. Notre Dame broke the game open on Jeremiyah Love’s 98-yard TD run and kept the Indiana offense in check until the game was out of reach.
Georgia: The SEC champions beat Texas twice to secure the league title. Georgia lost to Alabama and Ole Miss on the road but ended up in the SEC title game thanks to chaos within the conference and three league losses for both the Crimson Tide and the Rebels. Georgia beat Texas 30-15 in the regular season and then beat the Longhorns 22-19 in the SEC title game.
How the QBs stack up
We don’t have much college data to go on for Gunner Stockton. The No. 2 QB for the Bulldogs is now the starter after taking over during the SEC title game for Carson Beck after Beck suffered a UCL injury on a Hail Mary attempt at the end of the first half. For the season, Stockton was 25-of-32 passing for 206 yards and an interception over four games. In the second half against Texas, he was 12-of-16 for 71 yards and an interception. He’s the biggest unknown in the College Football Playoff.
Notre Dame’s Riley Leonard has gotten more and more comfortable as the season has gone on. Leonard was 23-of-32 for 201 yards and a TD and interception against Indiana and also rushed 11 times for 30 yards and a score. Leonard has just 17 passing TDs but has rushed for 15 TDs and averages 5.6 yards a carry. His 751 yards this season on the ground are a career high.
Players to watch
Notre Dame RB Jadarian Price: Love broke the big run in the first half but saw sporadic playing time as he’s been dealing with a knee injury. If he’s not fully healthy, the bulk of the rushing load could fall to Price, who has been a fantastic wingman in 2024. Price has rushed 100 times for 683 yards and seven scores this season. He had just 32 yards on 11 carries against Indiana but had 12 rushes for 111 yards against USC in the regular season finale and 10 carries for 53 yards and two scores against Army.
Georgia WR Arian Smith: Smith has the most yards of any Bulldogs receiver with 47 grabs for 750 yards and four TDs. But he’s been inconsistent and drops have been a serious issue. Smith has come up big in the College Football Playoff before, however, and this would be a great time for him to become a reliable target. He’s Georgia’s best downfield threat and can be a field-stretcher against the Notre Dame secondary if Georgia trusts Stockton to throw it down the field.
Key to the game
No one will question how well Georgia coach Kirby Smart can motivate his team, especially in a circumstance like this with his starting quarterback injured and off to the NFL. But just how well can Georgia move the ball with Stockton in the game? The Bulldogs’ offense hasn’t been great in big games with Beck, though weeks of practice with Stockton as the starter will be very beneficial. We’re not going to be surprised if Georgia runs the ball a lot. And neither will Vegas. Just look at how low the total is (44.5). It’s by far the lowest of the four quarterfinal games.
Georgia
Georgia House Special Runoff Election 2026 Live Results
The expected vote is the total number of votes that are expected in a given race once all votes are counted. This number is an estimate and is based on several different factors, including information on the number of votes cast early as well as information provided to our vote reporters on Election Day from county election officials. The figure can change as NBC News gathers new information.
Source: Vote data via the Associated Press. Projections by the NBC News Decision Desk.
Georgia
New Safe Haven Law: Georgia ‘baby box’ bill heads to Gov. Kemp
Georgia passes anonymous ‘baby box’ bill
Georgia lawmakers have approved House Bill 350, a life-saving measure allowing anonymous infant surrender through secure, monitored safety boxes at fire and police stations.
ATLANTA – A new bill headed to Gov. Brian Kemp’s desk aims to provide Georgians with a safe way to surrender an infant through the installation of “baby safe haven boxes.” The legislation, which passed both the House and Senate last week, serves as an extension of Georgia’s current Safe Haven law.
What we know:
Under existing state law, a mother can surrender a child up to 30 days after birth at a fire department, police station, or hospital without facing prosecution. The new bill would expand these options by allowing for the installation of medical-grade safety boxes at these locations.
The boxes are designed to be installed on the exterior of hospitals, fire stations, or police stations. According to the legislation, these units will be equipped with security cameras to record anyone accessing the box. Once a child is placed inside, an automated system will trigger a 911 call to alert emergency responders. The infant is then transported to a hospital before being placed into the custody of the Department of Family and Children Services.
Local governments will not be responsible for the cost of the units. Instead, individual communities must fundraise if they wish to install a safety box in their area.
What they’re saying:
Advocates like Brittany Almon, who worked with legislators to support the bill, say the mission is deeply personal. Almon became an adoptive mother in 2022 to a boy who was surrendered under the state’s current Safe Haven Law.
“In 2022, I became an adoptive mom to a little boy who was surrendered under our current safe haven law. His biological mother did a face-to-face surrender,” Almon said. “He was a healthy baby boy and whatever her circumstances were, she knew that she couldn’t give him the life he deserved, and she knew there was somebody out there that could.”
Almon explained that the boxes provide a specialized environment for the infant while offering support to the parent.
“Inside the box, there’s a medical-grade bassinet that she will place her baby in. There’s actually also some resources that will fall out to her in an orange bag,” Almon said. “Once that door is shut, there’s a 30-second delay let her, the person, walk away. And from there, an alarm goes off, and that alarm will alert fire station or hospital staff that a newborn is in the box.”
Once the alarm sounds and the child is recovered, Almon noted that “then from there that baby is placed into the Department of Family and Children Services’ custody.”
While the use of surrender boxes has sparked debate, Almon argued that increasing available options is the priority.
“The more resources offer someone, the better it can be to help someone navigate the situation they’re in,” Almon said. “We can always judge people for what they do, and why do it, because we don’t know their circumstances.”
You can read more about Almon’s efforts here.
The Source: The information in this story was gathered from the text of the Georgia legislation, an interview with advocate Brittany Almon, and official records from the Georgia General Assembly.
Georgia
Falcons address biggest hole with Georgia prospect in new mock draft
For a long time it seemed the Atlanta Falcons were purposefully avoiding drafting prospects from Georgia for some reason. There are signs that’s changing with the new front office regime, though. Last month Kirby Smart commented on how his program is developing a relationship with the Falcons.
That’s a good sign for Atlanta’s defensive front-seven, because that group needs all the help they can get and it’s where the Bulldogs have thrived the most in recent years. Jalon Walker is helping to reinvigorate their pass rush, and more help could be on the way soon.
In a new five-round mock draft from NFL.com, the Falcons hit up that local resource again and take Georgia defensive tackle Christen Miller at No. 48 overall.
At the combine Miller checked in at 6-foot-4, 321 pounds with 33″ arms and 10″ hands. Here’s the highlight reel.
Like most nose tackle prospects, Miller’s college production (four sacks, 11.5 TFL) doesn’t exactly jump off the page.
However, the scouting report on Miller mentions both upper and lower body power in addition to good balance. Those traits should make him a solid nose tackle at the next level.
If the Falcons do end up drafting Miller, he should project to be starting up front in Week 1.
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