The Georgia Bulldogs played solid football on Saturday, and while it wasn’t perfect, it was significantly better than what the Clemson Tigers had to offer.
Kirby Smart’s team did just enough to stay ahead and stay out of trouble in the first half before the offense found its footing, proceeding to efficiently and effectively punish the Tiger defense on the way to a 34-3 victory.
The game was Clemson’s first 30+ point loss since 2013. And it wasn’t a fluky big loss. It was a quarter-by-quarter domination. Georgia racked up 447 yards of total offense, 278 of them coming from the arm of Carson Beck.
The Jacksonvillain ™ completed 23 of 33 passes for a pair of touchdown passes. It will likely be noteworthy to Clemson fans that the receivers who caught those Carson Beck touchdown passes, Colbie Young and London Humphrey, were each transfer portal additions. For fans who feel Dabo Swinney’s resistance to the transfer portal is a liability, this probably didn’t help.
Much of the first half felt as if Mike Bobo was playing with his food a bit, mixing up formations and motions to probe the Tiger defense. But in the second half he went for the kill early and often. While the running game was pedestrian in the first half it found another gear in the second, thanks in part to freshman Nate Frazier. The freshman earned praise during camp and backed up the whispers this afternoon, going for 83 yards on 11 carries to lead all Bulldog rushers. As Coach Smart told Molly McGrath after the game in regard to Frazier, “we’re not crowning anybody yet.” But Frazier looks like he’ll be a fixture in the rotation even after Trevor Etienne returns.
We knew coming into the season that Carson Beck would have a lot of weapons to choose from. Who knew he’d use just about all of them in week one? Beck completed passes to nine different receivers on the day. Vandy transfer London Humphrey led all receivers with 65 yards on two catches, including that electric 40 yard touchdown pass. Arian Smith wasn’t far behind, picking up 56 yards on 5 receptions.
Colbie Young did exactly what Kirby Smart brought him to Athens to do, make a contested catch in the red zone for a touchdown. Kirby Smart’s judicious approach to the transfer portal has always been about finding guys with specific skills that make his team better. Young is already looking like he’s up to the assignment.
If there was a surprise it might be that Oscar Delp was only targeted twice and had no receptions. I don’t expect that to continue, and the Bulldog offense will be even more dangerous with him involved.
The Bulldog defense deserves its own plaudits. Even when the offense was a bit glitchy in the first half it never appeared than Clemson was a serious threat to get going offensively. The Tigers finished with a disappointing 188 yards of total offense, including an anemic 46 yards on 23 carries on the ground. While Georgia didn’t push the Tigers around up front early, over the course of the game it began to feel like the Dawgs were slowly taking over the line of scrimmage. Against a Clemson from that may be the best we see outside of Alabama and Texas’s, that’s a good sign.
In many ways this game was exactly what you want to see from a season opener against a top 15 opponent. Clemson gave the Dawgs a challenge and exposed some things that need to improve. But if you’re Kirby Smart you have to feel like the pieces are there for this team to come together and be very good. Until later…
Go ‘Dawgs!!!