ATLANTA — Carson Beck completed 23 of 33 passes for 278 yards and a pair of touchdowns on Saturday as No. 1 Georgia steamrolled No. 14 Clemson 34-3 in the season opener for both teams.
Georgia outscored Clemson 28-3 in the second half, extending its regular-season winning streak to 40 games. Nate Frazier added 83 rushing yards and a score for the Bulldogs, who won their third straight in the series.
“I was proud of the way our team played both halves,” Georgia coach Kirby Smart said. “I really was. I think the narrative is out there you’re going to roll the ball out and Georgia is just going to win. They’re going to win because they have a ‘G,’ and they are going to roll over these teams.
“Football is not that way,” he continued. “That’s a really good football team we just played. The fact that we played and pushed through that is indicative of the things you’re talking about (that) we built into our program. We said we had to out-physical them. I thought we did. We had to out-hustle them. I think we did. We’ll watch the tape. You got to out-discipline them. Those are three areas that we thought we had to win to beat Clemson, and our guys proved true in that.”
The Tigers were outgained 447-188, as junior quarterback Cade Klubnik was 18-for-29 for 142 yards. He also threw an interception to Malaki Starks.
Following a scoreless first quarter, the Bulldogs offense ate up 6:26 with a 12-play, 68-yard drive. On third-and-4 from the Clemson 8-yard line, Peter Woods sacked Beck for a 4-yard loss, setting up Peyton Woodring’s 30-yard field goal for the game’s first score at the 8:49 mark of the second quarter.
Another Tigers three-and-out led to Georgia’s five-play, 31-yard drive that was capped with Woodring’s 55-yard field goal, giving the Bulldogs a 6-0 lead with 4:16 left.
Georgia outgained Clemson 160-76 in the first half, with the Bulldogs gaining 126 through the air and the Tigers 54. The Clemson offense managed just two first downs in the opening half to Georgia’s eight.
On the opening drive of the second half, Beck found Arian Smith for 32 yards, before Dillon Bell’s 27-yard run set the Bulldogs up on Clemson’s 9-yard line. Two plays later, Beck connected with Colbie Young for a 7-yard TD pass, extending Georgia’s lead to 13-0 at the 12:01 mark.
The Tigers’ offense finally threatened on the ensuing drive, as Klubnik’s 19-yard pass to Jake Briningstool and a roughing the passer penalty moved the ball to the Bulldogs’ 36. However, after reaching Georgia’s seven, the drive stalled and Clemson settled for Nolan Hauser’s 26-yard field goal with 6:34 left.
Beck and company then answered with an eight-play, 75-yard scoring drive, which included 24-yard and 23-yard passes to Frazier and London Humphreys, respectively. The drive was stamped with Frazier’s 1-yard rushing score.
The Bulldogs capped off the blowout with a pair of fourth-quarter touchdowns, first a 40-yard pass from Beck to Humphreys and then Cash Jones’ 15-yard rushing score.
The 31-point loss was the Tigers’ largest defeat since a 51-14 loss to Florida State in 2013. Georgia now leads the all-time series 44-18-4.
“They just freaking kicked our tails in the second half,” Clemson coach Dabo Swinney said. “Congrats to them. They’re a great team. They’ve been a great team. They showed in the third and fourth quarter what it looks like.
“Just really disappointed,” Swinney added. “Biggest thing is when you don’t finish – again, I’ve talked a lot about it — but I thought we did some good things in the first half. There will be some things on tape. But you got to play four quarters. We didn’t do that.”
Trevor Etienne, a transfer from Florida, didn’t play Saturday for Georgia, a punishment for his arrest on DUI and other driving charges in March, ESPN reported.
The Bulldogs also were limited by the absence of running back Roderick Robinson II, who is recovering from surgery for turf toe.
–Jack Batten, Field Level Media
