What time is the sugar bowl? How to watch the Georgia-Notre Dame game

On January 3, 2025By Littum

The College Football Playoff quarterfinals at the 2025 Sugar Bowl were postponed after at least 14 people were killed and about 30 people were injured early Wednesday morning in New Orleans when a gunman drove a pickup truck into a large crowd on Bourbon Street in a deadly attack.

Here’s what we know Thursday:

What time is the sugar bowl today?

The CFP game has been rescheduled to 3:00 PM CT Thursday, January 2nd.

Jeff Hundley, CEO of the Sugar Bowl Committee, announced that the game will now be played on Thursday after consultation with officials from all parties involved. “Everyone agrees that it is in everyone’s best interest and in the public safety that we postpone the game,” Hundley told reporters.

CFP no. 2 seed Georgia and no. 7 seed Notre Dame was originally scheduled to start at 7:45 PM CT Wednesday in the Sugar Bowl game. The two teams now play at 3 p.m. CT on Thursday, with the winner still advancing to face No. 6 seed Penn State in the Orange Bowl on Jan. 9 as part of the CFP semifinals.

“There’s just too many things we don’t know. It’s just not worth it,” Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., said during a news conference with state, city and law enforcement officials addressing the decision to postpone the fight .

Security will be increased for the game, less than a kilometer from where the attack took place in the city’s French Quarter. Authorities were working Thursday to determine whether the “act of terrorism” was it act of a lone wolf or if there are more suspects left on the whole.

Where is the sugar bowl?

This year’s CFP quarterfinal games will be held at Caesars Superdome in the central business district of New Orleans, Louisiana.

Who is playing in the Sugar Bowl this year?

Notre Dame (12-1) will face Georgia (11-2) in the 2025 Sugar Bowl.

Here’s how to watch Notre Dame and Georgia in the Sugar Bowl

The Sugar Bowl game between Notre Dame Fighting Irish and that Georgia Bulldogs will be televised nationally on ESPN.

Live streaming is available on Fubo, which has a free trial period. ESPN coverage can also be viewed via DirecTV and YouTube TV.

Why was the sugar bowl postponed?

The CFP game was originally scheduled for Wednesday night, but was postponed after a mass casualty attack in New Orleans left at least 14 victims dead. The fatal incident happened around 3:15 a.m. Wednesday morning, according to the city’s preparednessjust over 16 hours before Notre Dame and Georgia were previously scheduled to begin their quarterfinal matchup less than a mile away at Caesars Superdome.

The driver was speeding and within moments began shooting at police officers from inside the vehicle, according to New Orleans Police Department Superintendent Anne Kirkpatrick.

Who was the suspect in the New Orleans attack?

The FBI has identified the suspect as a 42-year-old Texas man named Shamsud Din Jabbar, who was fatally shot by police after he opened fire on officers. The New York Times confirmed it that Jabbar was a U.S. citizen from Beaumont and had served in the U.S. Army, also shown in public records.

The FBI is investigating the assault as “an act of terrorism .” The Ford pickup truck that Jabbar allegedly used had an ISIS flag on its towbar. The vehicle appeared to be rented, the FBI said, and the Houston Chronicle reported that vehicle was registered in Houston.

“An ISIS flag was located in the vehicle and the FBI is working to determine the subject’s potential associations and affiliations with terrorist organizations,” the FBI statement read.

The federal agency also said its bomb technicians are working to determine whether explosive devices found in the truck and elsewhere in the city’s French Quarter were viable.

Jabbar joined the Army in 2007, at the height of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, when more than 100,000 U.S. troops had deployed to war zones, according to the Army and a U.S. official who spoke on condition of anonymity.

His original specialty was human resources specialist, a job whose duties included payroll, mail delivery and medal processing. He became an information technology specialist, a common transition in the army. As an IT soldier, he would have been trained as a troubleshooter in computer systems.

Jabbar deployed to Afghanistan from February 2009 to January 2015. He was stationed at bases including Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Alaska and what was then Fort Bragg in North Carolina.

After his deployment, Jabbar joined the Army Reserve and continued to serve as an IT specialist until July 2020. He left the Army as a staff sergeant and received an honorable discharge, according to the official.

As of Thursday morning, Jabbar’s motive for the fatal assault remained unclear.

— USA TODAY contributed to this report.