No. 1 Georgia showed why they’re the early favorite to win the 2024 college football national championship.
Clemson showed why the gap between the Tigers and the elite programs of the sport is only widening.
The Bulldogs used 28 second-half points to hand the 14th-ranked Tigers one of their worst season-opening losses in a dominant 34-3 beatdown Saturday at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta.
Despite just 76 yards of total offense — 54 passing, 22 rushing — and two first downs in the first half, Clemson (0-1) trailed only 6-0 going into intermission. In the third quarter, Georgia (1-0) put together two touchdown drives to take a commanding 20-3 lead.
The Bulldogs went up 13-0 on their first drive of the second half, getting a 9-yard touchdown pass from Carson Beck to Colbie Young, who beat Jeadyn Lukus in coverage to cap a seven-play drive that went 75 yards in 2:59.
Unfortunately for Clemson, Georgia was just getting started.
After the Tigers got on the board with a 26-yard field goal from freshman kicker Nolan Hauser to cut the lead to 13-3, Georgia went right back to work on its next series.
Beck hit Nate Frazier coming out of the backfield for 24 yards on the first play of the drive. Beck then converted a 3rd-and-10 when he hit Vanderbilt transfer London Humphreys for 23 yards. A few plays later, Frazier capped off an eight-play, 75-yard scoring drive with a 1-yard touchdown run to make it 20-3 with 3:06 left in the third.
In the fourth quarter, Humphreys caught a 40-yard touchdown catch-and-run to make it 27-3 with 9:57 to play in the game. The Bulldogs tacked on another score with 6:09 left when Cash Jones ran 15 yards for a touchdown to up the lead to 34-3 and cap the scoring.
Clemson’s offense was punchless against the Bulldogs’ top-rated defense. Their best drive was when Klubnik led the Tigers into the red zone on their first possession of the second half. Clemson got to the Georgia 6-yard line before settling for Hauser’s field goal. The drive went 66 yards on 12 plays.
Georgia finished with 447 yards of total offense to Clemson’s 188. Beck was 23 of 33 for 278 yards and two touchdowns. Frazier led the Bulldogs’ rushing attack with 83 yards and a touchdown on 11 carries. Humphries’ two catches went for 63 yards, and Arian Smith led Georgia in receptions with five for 56 yards.
Klubnik finished 18 of 29 for 142 yards (4.9 per completion) and an interception. Phil Mafah led the Tigers in rushing with 59 yards on 16 carries.
Antonio Williams had six catches for 76 yards as Clemson failed to get either highly touted true freshmen Bryant Wesco or T.J. Moore involved in the game. Wesco made one catch for five yards while Moore had one catch for seven yards. Tyler Brown, the Tigers’ most explosive receiver a year ago, had only three catches for 25 yards.
UP NEXT
Clemson will welcome Appalachian State to Death Valley for the Tigers’ home opener next Saturday. Kickoff is set for 8 p.m. ET. The game can be seen on ACC Network.