No. 1 Georgia dominates No. 14 Clemson 34-3

Georgia had little trouble with Clemson on Saturday.

The No. 1 Bulldogs defeated the 14th-ranked Tigers 34-3 in the teams’ first meeting since 2021. After leading just 6-0 at halftime, Georgia broke the game open in the third quarter with two touchdowns of 75 yards.

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.

After Clemson responded with a tough 12-play drive that ended with a field goal, Georgia covered 75 yards in eight plays as true freshman RB Nate Frazier scored his first career score to give the Bulldogs a 20-3 lead with 3:15 left in the third period.

It was clear that Clemson had to respond quickly after Frazier’s TD. But the Tigers played conservatively. After QB Cade Klubnik was stopped on a third-and-short run, Clemson elected to punt the ball back to Georgia near the end of the quarter. Clemson’s defense forced a 3-and-out, but the Tigers were unable to muster up any more points for the rest of the game.

Georgia is loaded

The Bulldogs entered the game as 13.5-point favorites, and a sluggish first half felt more like the byproduct of a conservative offense than Clemson taking on the Bulldogs. After Georgia opened up a bit in the second half, Beck really hit his stride. The Heisman favorite 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 both Trevor Etienne and Roderick Robinson. Etienne, a transfer from Florida, did not see the field after a DUI arrest this spring and Robinson is out with a toe injury.

Frazier ended up carrying the ball more times of any Georgia running back. And he looked phenomenal. The four-star recruit in the class of 2024 ran 11 times for 83 yards.

Georgia’s defensive depth was also tested at several points in the game. Edge Mykel Williams suffered an ankle injury on a low block while pressuring the passer, while fellow defenders Warren Brinson and Nazir Stackhouse also received treatment on the field during the game.

Clemson still has many questions

Is Clemson just a good program 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 the past three seasons and didn’t look like much of a title contender on Saturday.

Clemson hired former TCU offensive coordinator Garrett Riley after the Horned Frogs reached the 2022 national title game against Georgia. And just as Georgia contained and overwhelmed TCU in that title game, Riley’s offense was powerless against the Bulldogs on Saturday. Outside of one completion of 36 yards, Klubnik’s passing diet consisted almost entirely of short throws.

That lack of passing forward did nothing to improve the run game and the Tigers were stuck in neutral.

This is a Clemson program that is still very much capable of reaching 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 norm at Clemson.

Maybe now it is. It was notable to see a transfer like London Humphreys score a fourth-quarter touchdown for the Bulldogs to blow away the Tigers, while Dabo Swinney’s program infamously doesn’t explore the transfer portal at all.

As Georgia has surpassed Clemson in recent years, it has done so with improved high school recruiting classes and key additions through the transfer portal. At this point, Clemson is relying solely on high school players to build its program. And the Tigers are falling behind in the playoff race.