(Photo courtesy of University of Georgia Athletics)

80 plays.

That’s what Notre Dame has to review of Gunner Stockton as the Georgia quarterback.

Stockton, a redshirt sophomore, will make his first career start against Notre Dame in the Sugar Bowl in the College Football Playoff Quarterfinals on New Year’s Night. Stockton replaced veteran Georgia quarterback Carson Beck in the SEC Championship Game against Texas after Beck injured his elbow. Beck recently had season ending surgery.

“You evaluate schematically what they’ve done all season and then you have a separate tape of what Stockton, the new quarterback, has done,” Irish head coach Marcus Freeman said this week. “He can run their offense. He does some things a little bit differently. He can extend plays with his legs. He’s a good athlete. The thing I probably notice more than anything, in watching those 80 plays, is he’s an ultra-competitive individual. You can just tell by the way he celebrates–by the way he goes and finishes plays–he’s a competitor. I don’t see it being tremendously different than what they’ve done all season, but we’ll prepare for anything.”

The Irish defensive players have respect for Stockton even if it he remains a bit of a mystery.

“He’s obviously a great quarterback to be the backup quarterback at Georgia and now he’s going to be the starting quarterback,” Irish linebacker Drayk Bowen says. “[Georgia head coach] Kirby Smart obviously knows he’s ready. The quarterbacks coach knows he’s ready. He looked good in the Texas game when we watched him. It’s hard to tell based on how little film there is on him but obviously maybe a little bit more of a runner but that’s kind of the hard part is figuring out what he’s going to do well in the game and making adjustments.”

Of course, Notre Dame also has a veteran defensive coordinator in Al Golden who can present Stockton with things the rookie quarterback has likely not seen before in a meaningful game.

Golden says they’ve also looked at some of Stockton’s recruiting film and have a pretty good idea of the style of quarterback he is but that they also expect him to rely on Georgia’s system more than anything. Golden was impressed with the way the Georgia players rallied around Stockton and the way Stockton rallied himself in the SEC Championship win.

“He’s got moxie,” Golden explains. “One of his first plays wasn’t a great play and then he just settled in. You could tell he knows how to run the system and that’s the most important thing. The system is a great system that they have–a lot of personnel matchups. They have tremendous backs. I’m sure they are telling him to be a great distributor. They have excellent wideouts, are three or four deep at tight end, three deep at running back and all three present a separate challenge. The offensive line is strong and probably the biggest we’ve seen. There is ample talent around him and I’m sure they are telling him he doesn’t have to do it all himself.”

Notre Dame will face that large offensive line without one of its biggest players as captain and defensive tackle Rylie Mills is out for the season himself. His fellow defensive tackle Howard Cross is excited for the challenge to face the Georgia offense.

“It’s an SEC team. Bigger dudes, strength, talent wise all up there,” Cross says. “From what I’ve seen, they have one of the best interiors in the nation. I’m excited for that personally. I’m sure the guys next to me are too—to test my skills and see how I measure against some of the top people in the country.”

Notre Dame and Georgia will kill kickoff New Year’s Night at 8:45pm in New Orleans with the winner advancing to the CFP Semifinals. Be sure to join us Monday at 7pm on Pulse FM as we preview the Sugar Bowl on the latest edition of Notre Dame Federal Credit Union’s Irish Football Fix.