Kirby Smart praises Georgia's 2nd half performance, defense's 'relentless effort' after opening win over Clemson
Kirby Smart and top-ranked Georgia are 1-0 after a dominant 34-3 win over No. 14 Clemson in the Aflac Kickoff Game at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
Thanks to a massive second-half performance, the Bulldogs turned a 6-0 halftime lead into a blowout. Carson Beck was 23-of-33 for 278 yards, finding a pair of transfer portal acquisitions — former Miami WR Colbie Young and ex-Vanderbilt wideout London Humphries — for touchdowns while throwing zero interceptions. True freshman Nate Frazier had 11 carries for 83 yards and a touchdown in his college debut.
And, as has been the case more often than not in the Smart era, the Dawgs’ defense was its calling card against the Tigers: it yielded just 188 yards of total offense, including just 46 rushing yards on 23 attempts.
“I think our coaching staff did a great job in the second half offensively. Defense played with relentless effort. We talk all the time about playing this team. You gotta out-physical ’em, you gotta out-hustle ’em, and you gotta out-discipline ’em, and I thought we did all three of those today,” Smart told ESPN’s Molly McGrath after the game.
Smart stopped short of heaping too much praise on Frazier, the No. 2 running back recruit in the class of 2024.
“He’s got a long way to go,” he said. “We’re not ready to anoint anybody or say anything great. He had some really good blocking in front of him. He did a tremendous job. He’s got to continue to work to get better so that we can trust him and put him in other things.”
The Dawgs have a much lighter challenge on tap for their home opener as they welcome FCS Tennessee Tech to Sanford Stadium in Week 2.
I’m glad to see UGA start the season by playing a ranked team. That’s better than Alabama, Texas, Oklahoma, Tenn, etc could come up with. Watch out for next week and those Tenn Tech ruffians, and then those UK people, and then you can shine in T Town.