Georgia didn’t have much trouble with Clemson on Saturday.
The No. 1 Bulldogs took down the No. 14 Tigers, 34-3, in the teams’ first meeting since 2021. After Georgia led just 6-0 at halftime, they broke the game open in the third quarter with back-to-back 75-yard TD drives.
Georgia opened the second half with a six-play drive that ended with a pass from Carson Beck to Colbie Young in single coverage in the end zone.
The first TD of the season and the first in red and black for @ColbieYoung.
— Georgia Football (@GeorgiaFootball) August 31, 2024
????: Watch live on ABC#GoDawgspic.twitter.com/8Wztizzrco
After Clemson responded with a ponderous 12-play drive that ended with a field goal, Georgia went 75 yards in eight plays as true freshman RB Nate Frazier got his first career score to give the Bulldogs a 20-3 lead with 3:15 to go in the third.
It was obvious that Clemson needed to respond quickly after Frazier’s TD. But the Tigers played conservatively. After QB Cade Klubnik was stuffed on a third-and-short run, Clemson elected to punt the ball back to Georgia just before the end of the quarter. Clemson’s defense forced a three-and-out, but the Tigers couldn't muster any points the rest of the game.
The Bulldogs entered the game as 13.5-point favorites and a sluggish first half felt much more like the byproduct of a conservative offense than Clemson going toe-to-toe with the Bulldogs. After Georgia opened things up a bit in the second half, Beck really got rolling. The Heisman Trophy favorite finished the game 23-of-33 passing for 278 yards and two scores.
Georgia also relied on a creative run game in the absence of both Trevor Etienne and Roderick Robinson. Etienne, a transfer from Florida, didn’t see the field after a DUI arrest this spring and Robinson is out with a toe injury.
Frazier ended up carrying the ball the most of any Georgia running back. And he looked phenomenal. The four-star recruit in the class of 2024 rushed 11 times for 83 yards.
Georgia’s defensive depth was also tested at various points throughout the game. Edge Mykel Williams suffered an ankle injury on a low block while rushing the passer, while fellow defensive players Warren Brinson and Nazir Stackhouse were also tended to on the field during the game.
Is Clemson now simply a program that’s good and not great?
It’s a fair question to ask given how Georgia took control in the second half. The Tigers have lost at least three games in each of the past 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 made the national championship game against Georgia in 2022. And much like Georgia bottled up and overwhelmed TCU in that title game, Riley’s offense couldn’t do anything against the Bulldogs on Saturday. Outside of one 36-yard completion, Klubnik’s passing diet consisted almost entirely of short throws.
That lack of downfield passing didn’t open anything up for the run game and the Tigers were completely stuck in neutral.
This is a Clemson program that's still very capable of making the College Football Playoff via an ACC title. If Florida State's Week 0 loss is any indication, the conference is wide open. But simply making the expanded playoff isn't the standard at Clemson.
Maybe it is now. It was glaring to see a transfer like London Humphreys score a fourth-quarter touchdown for the Bulldogs to put the Tigers away while Dabo Swinney's program infamously doesn't explore the transfer portal at all.
As Georgia has surged past Clemson in recent years, it's done so with better high school recruiting classes and key additions through the transfer portal. Right now, Clemson is only relying on players out of high school to build its program. And the Tigers are getting left behind in the playoff race.
