The grass field at Arlington is as well kept as possible. Unless it rains it's still a fast track, or it seems to be for the Irish anyway.
I'm working from memory, but the one turning point happened at the beginning of the 3rd quarter. The Irish defense holds the Bulldogs to 3 and out, and on the first play Danny O'Neil runs for 8 yards. Instead of going for the first down, O'Neil throws two long passes that had very little chance of completion. It seemed like the 3rd quarter went downhill for the Irish after that. The Irish have two good running backs, Jalen Bonds and Desare Thomas, but they only had about 10 carries between 'em last night. And the game scheme was quite basic, not much misdirection, if any. I was surprised at that. And it seemed that O'Neil had time to throw all night, but just wasn't seeing the field well. He threw more into double, or even triple, coverage more than I've ever seen him.
After all that, I believe both teams will be a factor come playoff time.