Georgia didn’t have much trouble against Clemson on Saturday.
The No. 1 Bulldogs defeated the No. 14 Tigers 34-3 in their first meeting since 2021. Georgia jumped out to a 6-0 lead at the half, but turned the game around with back-to-back 75-yard TD drives in the third quarter.
Georgia started the second half with a six-play drive that ended with a single-coverage pass from Carson Beck to Colby Young in the end zone.
After Clemson responded with a 12-play drive that ended in a field goal, Georgia ran 75 yards on eight plays, with freshman RB Nate Frazier scoring his first career touchdown to put the Bulldogs ahead 20-3 with 3:15 left in the third quarter.
It was clear that Clemson needed to react quickly after Frazier’s TD, but the Tigers played conservatively. After QB Cade Klubnik was blocked on a 3rd and short run, Clemson decided to punt the ball back to Georgia just before the end of the quarter. Clemson’s defense forced a 3rd and out, but the Tigers didn’t score the rest of the game.
Georgia is loaded
The Bulldogs entered the game with a 13.5-point lead, and the sluggish first half felt more like a byproduct of Clemson’s conservative offense than the Bulldogs’ way of playing. After Georgia opened up a bit in the second half, Beck really came rushing. The Heisman Award candidate finished the game completing 23 of 33 passes for 278 yards and two scores.
Georgia also relied on a creative run game in the absence of Trevor Etienne and Roderick Robinson. Etienne, a transfer from Florida, has been out since being arrested for DUI this spring, and Robinson has been out with a toe injury.
Frazier carried the ball the most among Georgia running backs. And he was amazing. The four-star 2024 recruit rushed 11 times for 83 yards.
Georgia’s defensive depth was also tested at several points throughout the game. Edge Mykel Williams suffered an ankle injury on a low block while rushing the passer, and defensive linemen Warren Brinson and Nazir Stackhouse also received treatment on the field during the game.
Clemson still has a lot of questions
Is Clemson now just a good program, not great?
It’s a fair question, considering how Georgia took control in the second half. The Tigers have lost at least three games in each of the last three seasons and didn’t look like a true title contender on Saturday.
Clemson hired former TCU offensive coordinator Garrett Riley after the Horned Frogs advanced to the 2022 national title game against Georgia. Just as Georgia had stifled and overwhelmed TCU in that title game, Riley’s offense couldn’t do anything against the Bulldogs on Saturday. Aside from a 36-yard completion, Klubnik’s passing regimen consisted almost entirely of short throws.
The lack of passes down the field did nothing to help the running game, leaving the Tigers in a completely neutral position.
This is a Clemson program that could qualify for the College Football Playoff via the ACC title. If Florida State’s Week 0 loss is any indication, the conference is very open. But simply qualifying for the expanded playoff isn’t the norm for Clemson.
Maybe now. While it was brilliant to see a transfer like London Humphries score a fourth-quarter touchdown to help the Bulldogs beat the Tigers, Dabo Swinney’s program has notoriously not explored the transfer portal at all.
As Georgia has outpaced Clemson in recent years, it has done so through a better high school recruiting class and key additions through the transfer portal. Now, Clemson is building its program solely on players coming out of high school. And the Tigers are falling behind in the playoff race.
