It’s an old, familiar adage in sports: defense wins championships.

If No. 5 Georgia turns in more defensive performances like the one they showcased in a 10-3 win over No. 3 Clemson at Bank of America Stadium on Saturday night, they and their fans will be in for quite the season.

Christopher Smith’s pick-6 of DJ Uiagalelei late in the 2nd quarter and a Jack Podlesny chip-shot field goal in the 3rd quarter were the only points of the game for the Dawgs.

The way their defense was playing, though, it may as well had been a blowout. Uiagalelei was sacked 7 times, the most sacks a quarterback has suffered during the Dabo Swinney era at Clemson. The Tigers managed just 180 yards of total offense.

Georgia was only slightly better, topping 250 total yards. JT Daniels was 22-for-30 for 135 yards. He threw an interception.

Both teams exchanged punts on their opening 2 drives, which would be foreshadowing for what would be a defensive battle throughout the evening.

The Bulldogs appeared as if they’d mount a scoring drive on their third possession, but saw a Podlesny 35-yard field goal miss left.

Meanwhile, Clemson appeared to receive a massive break just before halftime as Kendall Milton mishandled a punt near midfield to give the Tigers excellent field position.

The Dawgs’ defense, though, turned the tables.

With the ball at the Bulldogs’ 30, Smith jumped Uiagalelei’s pass and raced 74 yards the other way as Georgia took a 7-0 lead with just under 3 minutes to go in the half.

It was far from an offensive barnburner in the opening half as the teams combined for 200 yards. Clemson ran the ball 10 times but managed a single yard against Georgia’s normally strong running defense while being held without a 1st-half point for the first time since 2010.

The Bulldogs continued to turn up the pressure on Uiagalelei in the 2nd half, recording 3 sacks on the Tigers’ first 2 possessions. That included back-to-back sacks by Jalen Carter and Adam Anderson to push Clemson out of field goal range after a JT Daniels interception put the Tigers in great field position.

Georgia’s offense appeared to awaken a bit as the Dawgs’ running backs began to gain leverage against the Tigers. But they would settle for a field goal as Podlesny nailed a 22-yarder from the right hash to take a 10-0 lead late in the 3rd quarter.

That was the longest drive for any team up until that point, as Georgia marched down the field on 11 plays that took up 81 yards and just under 5 minutes.

In the 4th quarter, Clemson found some life as Uiagalelei led a long drive of his own to put the Tigers on the Georgia 5 yard line, but the Bulldogs’ defense held as they forced 3 straight incompletions. The Tigers settled for a short 23-yard B.T. Potter field goal to cut it to 10-3 with 9 minutes to go in regulation.

This time, it was Clemson’s defense coming up with a stop as it took over with 7-and-a-half minutes to go. Facing a 4th-and-5 at the Georgia 45, Swinney elected to leave his offense on the field and go for it, but heavy Bulldogs pressure forced Uiagalelei into an incompletion and a turnover on downs with less than 5 minutes remaining.