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Mark Schlabach, ESPN Senior Writer
ATLANTA — It was only three years ago when Clemson and Georgia slugged it out for four quarters in the 2021 season opener in Charlotte, North Carolina.
The teams were nearly equally 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.
Back then, Georgia was the program trying to get its footing under coach Kirby Smart and looking for its first national title since 1980. Clemson was the powerhouse, having captured two CFP championships in the previous five seasons under coach Dabo Swinney.
After No. 1 Georgia’s 34-3 demolition of No. 14 Clemson in Mercedes-Benz Stadium, it’s clear the programs couldn’t be any further apart in terms of talent and trajectory.
The victory in the 2021 opener propelled the Bulldogs to back-to-back national championships. Georgia has won 40 straight regular-season games — it is 47-2 in its last 49 contests overall.
“I think the narrative is out there 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 are going to roll over these teams. Football is not that way.
“That’s a really good football team we just played. The fact that we played and pushed through that is indicative of the things 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’ve got to out-discipline them.”
Meanwhile, Clemson is left picking up the pieces after another yet another ugly loss. After winning at least 10 games in 12 straight seasons from 2011 to 2022, the Tigers had to win their last five contests to finish 9-4 in 2023.
If Saturday’s result is a preview of what’s to come, it might get even worse this season.
“Biggest thing, when you get beat like that, that’s on the head coach,” Swinney said. “That’s on me, so… That’s just complete ownership of just an absolute crap second half. Really disappointed. But I’ve done it long enough. Sometimes you get your butt kicked, and we did today. That’s not what we came here to do.”
The Tigers’ punchless effort on offense will leave many Clemson fans once again questioning Swinney’s stubbornness to not add proven playmakers through the transfer portal. At a time when College Football Playoff contenders like Ohio State, Oregon, Texas, Ole Miss, Alabama and others added significant pieces, Swinney went through another offseason without adding anyone.
“People are going to say whatever they want to say,” Swinney said. “It doesn’t matter. Doesn’t matter what I say. People are going to say whatever they want to say. But we do what’s best for Clemson year in and year out. When you lose like this, they got every right to say whatever they want to say. So say whatever you want to say, write whatever you want to write. That comes with it. It’s just part of it.”
Saturday’s results were an alarming indictment of Swinney’s philosophy: Clemson had only 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 looked reluctant to throw the ball down the field and was sacked twice.
Clemson’s receivers, an obvious shortcoming the past few seasons, struggled to get separation against Georgia’s rebuilt secondary, which lost three starters to the NFL draft. The Bulldogs loaded up the box, moving star safety Malaki Starks closer to the line, and limited the Tigers to 46 yards on 23 rushing attempts.
Even Smart, who has piled up top-ranked recruiting classes like cordwood 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 dipped into the transfer portal and found more weapons for quarterback Carson Beck.
“It’s a forced situation,” Smart said. “You have to use it.”
It had to sting Clemson fans even more on Saturday when two of Georgia’s portal additions — Colbie Young (Miami) and Landon Humphrey (Vanderbilt) — caught touchdowns in their first games with the Bulldogs. Georgia also added tight end Ben Yurosek from Stanford to help replace Bowers.
“I want my team to stay my team,” Smart said. “I’ve always said that. If you could give me every team kid I sign, they stay at my program for four years and they can’t leave, I would take that every day of the week.
“But if we’re going to lose kids, we’ve got to replace them with high-quality kids that are character kids that are looking to have an opportunity to win a championship, that want to go somewhere and play, because otherwise you can’t survive in the SEC without the depth you need.”
Georgia’s offense started slowly, especially when running the football. The Bulldogs played without another transfer, former Florida running back Trevor Etienne, who sat out the game for reasons related to his March 24 arrest on charges of DUI, reckless driving and other misdemeanors. Prosecutors dropped the DUI charges in a plea deal in July.
Roderick Robinson II, the team’s top returning rusher, also wasn’t available after recently undergoing surgery for turf toe.
In their absence, Georgia’s running game struggled against Clemson’s formidable defensive front while taking a 6-0 lead at the half. Georgia went 0-for-3 on third down in the first 30 minutes.
Freshman Nate Frazier finally got the running game going in the second half. His 1-yard touchdown put the Bulldogs ahead 20-3 with 3:15 left in the third quarter. Frazier finished with 83 yards on 11 carries.
Georgia made plenty of mistakes, which could be expected in its opener. A third-down sack of Beck in the red zone led to a field goal in the first quarter. Offensive pass interference wiped out a 40-yard pass to Dillon Bell late in the first half. A roughing-the-passer penalty against linebacker Damon Wilson II helped give the Tigers their best scoring chance, which resulted in a 26-yard field goal.
Beck threw for 278 yards with two touchdowns on 22-for-33 passing.
Despite the mistakes, Georgia looked like a threat to 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 certainly have to earn a return trip to Mercedes-Benz Stadium for the Dec. 7 SEC Championship game.
Clemson hosts Appalachian State at Death Valley next week before starting 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 looks wide open.
“I feel great about our team and the leadership on this team,” Swinney said. “Again, some people may say, ‘He’s just crazy, just got his butt kicked.’ 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. This will be one I’ll never forget, that’s for sure.
“I remember every loss. Unfortunately sometimes you remember those more than some of the others. This is one. This is just a flat-out butt kicking. We just got our tails kicked in for two quarters. I mean, look at the score. You’re going, ‘Whoa.'”