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Rapid Reaction: Georgia takes control in season-opening blowout win against Clemson
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Another year, another Georgia Week 1 statement.
For the third time in the last 4 years, UGA opened with a neutral-site victory against a top-15 team. The Dawgs poured it on in the second half to cruise to a 34-3 victory.
It was a dominant showing from the Georgia defense, which didn’t blink after it fueled a 6-0 lead at the break. That was more than enough for the Dawgs to avoid becoming the first preseason AP No. 1 team to lose its season opener since 1990. Instead, UGA earned its 40th consecutive regular-season win.
Here were 3 takeaways:
1. It felt like 2021 … until it didn’t
It was a slow offensive start, to say the least. Neither team could muster an end zone trip in the first half, which had the feel of the 2021 Clemson-Georgia opener when a Christopher Smith pick-6 was the lone touchdown in a 10-3 Georgia victory. Clemson had more penalties (3) than first downs (2). And Georgia had 34 rushing yards on 11 carries (more on that in a second). First touchdown wins? It felt like it, especially with the Clemson defensive line’s early showing.
And then it didn’t. A 28-3 UGA advantage in the second half gave the Georgia first-teamers an early shower.
Credit Carson Beck, Mike Bobo and really, this entire Georgia offense. It was dominant. Beck settled in and hit transfer receivers Colbie Young and London Humphreys for touchdowns, and Nate Frazier scored his first career touchdown in a Georgia uniform behind a much stronger second-half showing from the Georgia offensive line.
Frazier was the best back on the field in a Trevor Etienne-less backfield. Etienne was in full pads but suspended for the season opener after his DUI arrest in March. Branson Robinson got the first carries, but Frazier finished as the leading rusher with 83 yards on 11 carries, including a 40-yard run. Any concerns about the UGA ground game faded by day’s end.
2. Georgia’s defense looked strong, but seeing Mykel Williams and Naz Stackhouse get banged up wasn’t ideal
If there was a tough pill for UGA to swallow, it was seeing both Williams and Stackhouse go down. Williams, who is No. 2 on ESPN’s 2025 Big Board for the NFL Draft, took an illegal hit below the waist by Clemson running back Phil Mafah in pass protection. He suffered an ankle injury in the second half that sidelined him for the remainder of the day. It remains to be seen what the severity of the injury was.
Stackhouse also went down with an apparent leg injury, but the All-SEC defensive lineman returned to action. That was a positive.
Depth is always an issue for national title contenders, but in the 12-team Playoff, its importance will be magnified. Keeping that defensive line healthy will be of the utmost importance, even for a team as deep as Georgia.
3. UGA will remain No. 1 for at least another 2 weeks
Why? Because FCS Tennessee Tech comes to town next week. For those aforementioned injuries, that’ll be an opportunity to get healthy.
But for all the talk about whether Georgia or Ohio State deserved that No. 1 ranking entering the season, did anything from the Dawgs’ opening statement suggest that they weren’t worthy?
Nope.
Connor O'Gara is the senior national columnist for Saturday Down South. He's a member of the Football Writers Association of America. After spending his entire life living in B1G country, he moved to the South in 2015.
