NEW ORLEANS — Thirty-six hours after a deadly attack shook the heart of one of America’s most vibrant cities, New Orleans is back to doing what it does as well as anyone where: host a major event.
It happened 19 1/2 hours later than expected, in front of a smaller-than-expected crowd at Caesars Superdome and in an environment that seemed neither normal nor abnormal. But it happened. And he delivered a performance Notre Dame the fans I waited three decades to watch.
Notre Dame used a swarming defense and a 54-second scoring spurt to earn a second seed Georgia 11 p.m.-10 a.m. Thursday Sugarthe last quarter-final of the first 12-team competition College Football Playoffs. The seventh-seeded Fighting Irish (13-1) won a school-record 13th game – and their first major bowl since the 1994 Cotton Bowl – to advance to the Orange Bowl semifinals on January 9 against Sixth-seeded Penn State.
The status of the game I was unsure the day before as authorities investigated an attack in which a man drove his truck down Bourbon Street, hitting New Year’s Eve revelers early Wednesday morning. The attack killed at least 14 people and injured dozens more. FBI officials said the man, a U.S. Army veteran described as an ISIS supporter, also placed two coolers filled with explosives in the area, in what they now believe was an act solitary and without accomplices.
The teams woke up to the news Wednesday morning. They began to understand the tragedy as the details came in. At lunchtime, they learned that the match had been postponed.
‘It was a lot,’ Georgia quarterback Gunner Stockton said.
For everyone.
Bulldogs coach Kirby Smart said it’s impossible to quantify the worry members of both programs feel about visiting friends and family members. Notre Dame gave its players three hours Wednesday night to be with their loved ones to try to ease those concerns.
“Being a parent myself, in times of tragedy you want to be with your kids,” Irish coach Marcus Freeman said. “I think it helped the parents as much as the players to be together and help them reset and get their minds in the place where they needed to be today.”
It is impossible to say how much the attack and uncertainty affected the outcome. Smart said no emotion led to his team’s loss.
Both teams focused on playing football when and how they could on Wednesday. They snuck in another guided tour. Notre Dame quarterback Riley Leonard said that after he finished praying for the victims, he asked the quarterbacks coach if they could watch film together. He was able to study for another four or five hours.
“That’s our superpower, that’s our preparation,” Leonard said, “and I think it definitely paid off today.”
By Thursday morning, the rest of New Orleans was also trying to keep going.
Bourbon Street reopened Thursday ahead of the Sugar Bowl. (Michael DeMocker/Getty Images)
The sticky tables at one of the city’s most beloved institutions, Café du Monde, were filled with fans sipping latte and powdered sugar dusted from hot donuts. A brass band blaring through idyllic Jackson Square. The doors remained open at Saint-Louis Cathedral.
Two men were selling white Sugar Bowl shirts on opposite corners of Canal Street, a busy thoroughfare teeming with tourists. Between their tables, two dozen cameras and tripods pointed toward Bourbon Street. The iconic road was still blocked at 10am, but a search and rescue truck replaced the coroner’s van which was at the same location 24 hours earlier.
“Half price,” barked a shirt seller. “Twenty dollars.”
Business, he said, was poor.
The situation was worse in the secondary ticket market, where admission prices were half those on New Year’s Eve. Late Thursday morning, a pair of Sugar Bowl tickets ($27 each) cost less as an entry for two to the Audubon Aquarium, located a mile and a half away.
As the day progressed, the big game craze grew in one of the best big game towns in the country. Georgia fans cheered the Bulldogs’ buses as they left the downtown Marriott. Fans filled the balconies. Taylor Swift and Katy Perry screamed.
“We’re going to have fun…” Gov. Jeff Landry said at a news conference before the game. “Right now, it’s one of the safest places in the world.”
Security was intense; an entry line for the club’s seats stretched to 200 fans. Once you get past the bomb-sniffing dogs and their wagging tails, the barricades and the sheriff’s mobile command center, the metal detectors, the jacketed Homeland Security agents and the guard perched in a booth if you see something, say something, it felt like a college football playoff game in one of America’s favorite destinations. Golden Dome helmets, Bulldog chains, and Mardi Gras-style beads all made it into the Superdome perfectly.
Inside the stadium, tragedy was an inevitable and unfortunate part of the scene. There was a minute of silence before the match. Although all 68,400 tickets were sold, the bowl reported an attendance of 57,267 people. Commemorative footballs on merchandise tables had the original date (January 1) instead of the actual date (January 2).
Yet: football.
Notre Dame’s defense dominated, as it has all season. The Irish held Georgia to 10 rushing yards in the first half and 2 of 15 on third and fourth downs. They recorded nine tackles for loss and never gave up.
The decisive sequence took place over 54 seconds of play straddling half-time. Notre Dame kicked a 48-yard field goal, forced and recovered a fumble on Georgia’s next offensive snap, scored on a 13-yard pass from Leonard to Fine Collins one play later and added another touchdown when Jayden Harrison returned the second half kickoff 98 yards to the end zone. A 3-3 draw turned into a 20-3 Irish lead.
Notre Dame advances to the Orange Bowl against Penn State. (Jonathan Bachman/Getty Images)
The Bulldogs (11-3) tried to rally. Stockton — starting in place of the injured Carson Beck — threw a 32-yard touchdown pass to Cash Jones six minutes into the third quarter to cut the deficit to 10. Georgia advanced into Notre Dame territory on its next two drives, but failed on both of its fourth-down attempts.
The Bulldogs’ quest for a third national championship in four years was over, a tough end to what Smart called the toughest season of his tenure. The Irish’s quest for their first title since 1988 continues.
After the blue and white confetti fell, Notre Dame fans spilled into the streets, in front of red and blue police lights that were still flashing. Forty hours after the terror and tragedy, they triumphantly sang “Sweet Caroline” as they returned to the still-beating heart of one of America’s most beloved cities.
After three decades of ignominy, they finally had something to celebrate. And Bourbon Street was open again.
Required reading
(Riley Leonard photo: Sean Gardner/Getty Images)