By Alec Nederveld
The Clemson and Georgia game were among the most anticipated matchups in Week 1. It’s a historic, regional rivalry at the crossover of the ACC and SEC that hasn’t been played as often as it should be. Both teams are ranked in the top 15 and despite Georgia being a two-touchdown favorite, the expectation is it would be a defensive, close game for at least the first half.
And that was true. Georgia only had a 6-0 lead at halftime. But that’s not how the game ended. Instead, the Bulldogs scored a touchdown on four of their first five drives to start the second half. Clemson meanwhile could only muster three points as their offense was poor all-around. They had 188 total yards, 13 first downs, and only two drives made it past the Georgia 40-yard line.
Worse, it wasn’t Clemson beating Clemson with self-imposed mistakes. The Tigers were disciplined with three penalties for 15 yards, one turnover, and dropped limited passes. Georgia was just that much more talented and dominant. On offense, Carson Beck was calm and collected, completing nearly 70% of passes for 278 yards and two touchdowns to London Humphreys and Colbie Young. Beck was a distributor, throwing to nine different receivers, none more than five times.
What was more surprising was the undermanned Georgia RB room who answered the call against a very solid Clemson defense. Trevor Etienne ended up being suspended, but freshman Nate Frazier answered the call. He ran 11 times for 83 yards and a touchdown in the third quarter. Cash Jones had a smaller role but ran for a 15-yard touchdown.
Overall, it’s a major difference in feeling and result from Clemson and Georgia’s game in 2021.
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Three years ago, these two teams were in a similar yet opposite spot before the season opener in Charlotte. Clemson was coming off their sixth playoff appearance, but it was a relatively disappointing year. Trevor Lawrence and Travis Etienne’s final season included a regular season loss to Notre Dame (without Lawrence playing) and a blowout exit to Ohio State in the Semifinal after winning the previous two playoff matchups.
Georgia was four seasons removed from 2nd and 26 and had three New Year’s Six Bowl appearances, falling one game short of the playoff in each of the years. Led by JT Daniels (for now) with a stable of offensive and defensive weapons, Georgia once again had the roster to do something that hadn’t been done in 40 years and finally bring a title back to Athens.
In that game, the team of the past and the team of the future were locked in a 10-3 defensive stalemate. Clemson only had two rushing yards as a team and the difference was a pick-six thrown by DJ Uiagalelei.
Three years later, Clemson is doing the same thing. Gone is Uiagalelei, replaced by another five-star in Cade Klubnik who objectively has disappointed. Against the Dawgs, he completed 18 of 29 passes for 142 yards and an interception. His numbers looked very similar to Uiagalelei’s against Georgia when he went 19 of 37 with 178 yards and an interception.
Meanwhile, Georgia has established itself as a dynasty. With today’s win over Clemson, they’ve now won 40 straight regular-season games. In addition to that, Kirby Smart‘s team has won two national championships, an SEC title, three top-three recruiting classes, and produced too many NFL players to count. Teams fear Georgia like they feared playing Nick Saban’s Alabama teams and to a lesser extent, prime Clemson.
When discussing Clemson, everybody looks to the Transfer Portal as the reason for the downturn in success. And while using the portal would certainly help, it’s far from the only problem.
Whether it’s DJ Uiagalelei or Cade Klubnik, the Clemson quarterbacks have just not been good enough. Neither have been the receivers. Going back to 2022, the Tigers had three receivers with over 550 yards. Only one receiver has reached that number in the three seasons since. Productive transfer portal receivers are a dime a dozen and would immediately help Clemson.
Either way, the offense is just off. From 2014-2021, Tony Elliott was the Tiger offensive coordinator and he was fantastic to the point that Virginia hired him to be their head coach. But his replacement Brandon Streeter was not. The internal promotion was fired after one year. After that, TCU offensive coordinator Garrett Riley replaced him, seen as a slam-dunk hire after winning the Broyles Award as the best assistant coach in 2022. Riley, the brother of USC coach Lincoln Riley has been better than Streeter, but he’s not nearly as good as Elliott or his contract demands.
If it’s not Riley’s fault, then could Clemson’s offensive issues just be from a lack of development? They have had a small but notable dropoff on the recruiting trail and I don’t think that’s the root cause. Maybe Clemson’s commits have been overrated? I don’t know what the problem is, it may be a mix of everything I mentioned (which is worse), and the solution will have to be more drastic than what Clemson has previously attempted and take more time than anticipated.
In a three year span, Clemson went from roughly three-point favorites in Charlotte to 14-point underdogs in Atlanta. And more importantly, they went from losing a competitive seven-point game to getting embarrassed by 31 points against an opponent that just looks to be just as good on a neutral site. If Clemson wants to remain relevant on the national stage, something’s got to change. And fast.
