The Georgia football team is now preparing for the Sugar Bowl on New Year's Day against Notre Dame. After Notre Dame defeated Indiana in the first round of the College Football Playoff, Georgia officially knows its next opponent. However, Georgia starting quarterback Carson Beck will miss the Sugar Bowl due to an injury, and his further status remains to be seen. As a result, Gunner Stockton will be Georgia's QB1 for the clash against Notre Dame.

Ahead of the game, Georgia head coach Kirby Smart discussed the challenges for Stockton, per Jordan Hill of Dawgs247.

“I think the biggest thing is just the competition at practice,” Smart said. “The situations we put him in, all those things allow him to get better as a quarterback.”

Stockton has been taking first-team reps for Georgia for quite some time, although the Bulldogs didn't know their opponent until late Friday night.

“He got lots of reps prior to these practices, but he's getting much more now,” Smart said. “I do think knowing that when you get ready for an opponent like Notre Dame you need time…There's certainly a lot of time in prep you can do to prepare for that. We prepared for some of that prior to that because we knew it would be within two opponents.”

Georgia got a small glimpse at Gunner Stockton in the SEC title game

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In the SEC title game vs. Texas, Stockton came in once Beck left with the injury. However, he went just 12-of-16 for 71 yards with interceptions despite Georgia sneaking out a 22-19 victory.

Prior to that, Stockton had only thrown passes in two games all year: One on November 23 against UMass and the other on September 7 against Tennessee Tech. Now, the Georgia backup will have to take charge in a massive Sugar Bowl clash against a red-hot Notre Dame team.

Notre Dame's defense ranks No. 6 in the country with just 13.85 points allowed per game, so it will be a very difficult task for Stockton in his first-ever start. The winner of the Georgia-Notre Dame clash moves on to the College Football Playoff Semifinals to face the winner of Penn State-Boise State.