ATLANTA – It was only three years ago that Clemson and Georgia fought a tough battle through four quarters in the 2021 season opener in Charlotte, North Carolina.
The teams were nearly evenly matched, and the game's only touchdown came on Georgia safety Christopher Smith's 74-yard return of an interception in the Bulldogs' 10-3 win.
At the time, Georgia was trying to gain a foothold under coach Kirby Smart and pursue its first national title since 1980. Clemson was the driving force, having won two CFP championships in the previous five seasons under coach Dabo Swinney.
After No. 1 Georgia's 34-3 victory over No. 14 Clemson at Mercedes-Benz Stadium, it's clear that the two programs couldn't be more different in terms of talent and development.
The win in the 2021 opener helped the Bulldogs to back-to-back national championships. Georgia has won 40 straight regular-season games — its record in its last 49 games is 47-2.
“I think the story is you're going to roll the ball out and Georgia is just going to win,” Smart said. “They're going to win because they have a G and they're going to roll over these teams. That's not how football works.”
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“We just played against a really good football team. The fact that we played and prevailed is an indication of the things we've built into our program. We said we had to be physically stronger than them, and I thought we did. We had to push them, and I think we did. We'll watch the tape. You have to out-discipline them.”
Meanwhile, Clemson must pick up the pieces after another ugly loss. After winning at least 10 games in 12 consecutive seasons from 2011-2022, the Tigers needed to win their final five games to finish 9-4 in 2023.
If Saturday's result is a taste of what's to come, things could get even worse this season.
“The worst part is when you get beat like that, it's the head coach,” Swinney said. “That's my fault, so… That's just total responsibility for an absolutely crappy second half. Really disappointing. But I've done it long enough. Sometimes you get a kick in the ass, and that's what happened to us today. That's not what we came here for.”
The Tigers' anemic performance on offense will once again cause many Clemson fans to question Swinney's persistence in not signing proven playmakers through the transfer portal. At a time when College Football Playoff contenders like Ohio State, Oregon, Texas, Ole Miss, Alabama and others were adding key players, Swinney went through another offseason without signing anyone.
“People are going to say what they want to say,” Swinney said. “It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter what I say. People are going to say what they want to say. But we do what's best for Clemson year in and year out. When you lose like that, they have every right to say what they want to say. So say what you want to say, write what you want to write. That's part of it. It's just part of it.”
Saturday's results were an alarming indictment of Swinney's philosophy: Clemson managed just 188 yards of offense and failed to score a touchdown for only the fourth time in his 214 games as the Tigers' coach. Quarterback Cade Klubnik completed 18 of 29 passes for 142 yards with one interception. He seemed reluctant to throw the ball down the field and was sacked twice.
Georgia's defense dominated Clemson from start to finish in a 34-3 win in Week 1. Brett Davis/USA TODAY Sports
Clemson's receivers, an obvious shortcoming of recent seasons, struggled to break away from Georgia's revamped secondary, which lost three starters in the NFL Draft. The Bulldogs manned the box, moved star safety Malaki Starks closer to the line and limited the Tigers to 46 yards on 23 rushing attempts.
Even Smart, who has amassed a slew of high-level recruiting classes since returning to coach his alma mater, has used the transfer portal to his program's advantage.
When the Bulldogs lost All-America tight end Brock Bowers and receiver Ladd McConkey to the NFL, Smart rummaged through the transfer portal and found more weapons for quarterback Carson Beck.
“It's a forced situation,” said Smart. “You have to take advantage of it.”
It must have hurt Clemson fans even more on Saturday when two of Georgia's new recruits — Colbie Young (Miami) and Landon Humphrey (Vanderbilt) — caught touchdowns in their first games with the Bulldogs. Georgia also signed tight end Ben Yurosek from Stanford to replace Bowers.
“I want my team to be my team,” Smart said. “I've always said that. If you could give me every team kid that I sign that would stay in my program for four years and not be able to leave, I would take that any day of the week.”
“But when we lose kids, we have to replace them with quality kids with character who hope to win a championship, who want to go somewhere and play, because otherwise you can't survive in the SEC if you don't have the depth.”
Georgia's offense was slow to get going, especially in the running game. The Bulldogs played without another transfer, former Florida running back Trevor Etienne, who sat out the game after being arrested on March 24 for drunken driving, reckless driving and other offenses. Prosecutors dropped the drunken driving charge in July as part of a settlement.
Roderick Robinson II, the team's top returning runner, was also unavailable after recently undergoing surgery on his turf toe.
In their absence, Georgia's running game struggled against Clemson's impressive defensive line while they took a 6-0 halftime lead. Georgia made 0 of 3 third down attempts in the first 30 minutes.
Freshman Nate Frazier finally got the running game going in the second half. His 1-yard touchdown gave the Bulldogs a 20-3 lead with 3:15 left in the third quarter. Frazier finished the game with 83 yards on 11 carries.
Georgia made a lot of mistakes, as was to be expected in its opener. A sack of Beck in the red zone on third down led to a field goal in the first quarter. Offensive pass interference negated a 40-yard pass to Dillon Bell late in the first half. A roughing the passer penalty on linebacker Damon Wilson II gave the Tigers their best scoring opportunity, which resulted in a 26-yard field goal.
Beck threw 22 of 33 passes for 278 yards and scored two touchdowns.
Despite the mistakes, Georgia looked like it could win its third national championship in four seasons. With road games at No. 5 Alabama, No. 4 Texas and No. 6 Ole Miss, the Bulldogs will have to earn a return to Mercedes-Benz Stadium for the SEC Championship Game on Dec. 7.
Clemson hosts Appalachian State in Death Valley next week before beginning ACC play against NC State on Sept. 21. With No. 10 Florida State also flopping in its opener, a 24-21 loss to Georgia Tech in Dublin, Ireland, on Aug. 24, the league appears to be wide open.
“I'm very happy with our team and the leadership on this team,” Swinney said. “Some people might say, 'He's just crazy, he just took a good beating.' A loss is a loss. I hate to lose, period, to anybody, anytime, anywhere. I hate to lose. We work too hard, so it hurts. It's going to leave a mark. I'll never forget that, that's for sure.
“I remember every loss. Unfortunately, sometimes you remember those more than others. This is one of them. It's just a real thrashing. We got beat up for two quarters. I mean, when you look at the score, you think, 'Wow!'”
