The No. 1 Georgia Bulldogs lived up to the ranking against the No. 14 Clemson Tigers, bludgeoning them 34-3 in Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, Georgia. The over/under was at 49 points and Georgia was favored by at least 11 according to the spread, and they accomplished that goal today. Here’s a look at the statistics from each team.
Statistical Breakdown
Total Yards:
Clemson: 188 yards (402.7 YPG last year, 77th in FCS)
Georgia: 447 yards (496.5 YPG last year, 6th in FCS)
Simply put, Clemson simply couldn’t move the ball against Georgia’s defense today. Their longest drive of the whole game was only 66 yards, which was Clemson’s only scoring drive. That was also helped by a 15-yard roughing the passer call. Even though the game was within one score for the entire first half, Clemson mustered just 71 yards of offense. The only drives that went beyond 50 yards were the field-goal drive and a drive that ended with a turnover on downs late in the fourth quarter.
Meanwhile, Georgia’s offense looked better than the scoresheet says at the first half. They racked up 133 yards, but only got six points at the half because they had to punt twice on Clemson’s side of the field. In the second half, the points and yards aligned more, as Georgia gained over 50 yards and scored a touchdown on every single drive except for one punt.
Rushing Statistics:
Clemson: 23 attempts, 46 yards, 0 touchdowns, 2.0 YPC
Georgia: 27 attempts, 169 yards, 2 touchdowns, 6.3 YPC
If you wanted to look at one offensive statistic to see how dominant Georgia was, look no further than rushing yardage. Clemson running backs were only held to 2.0 yards per carry. This is only their third time in the last three seasons where their ever had 2.0 or less yards per carry. It’s made even more baffling that their leading rusher, Phil Mafah, rushed for 59 yards on 16 carries. This is because quarterback Cade Klubnik ran for -17 yards on four carries, which says more about Georgia’s pass rush than their run defense.
Georgia’s rushing offense, on the other hand, was arguably the catalyst of their offense. It didn’t start off well, with Georgia running backs only mustering up 3 yards before the last drive of the first half. But it really took off in the second half behind true freshman Nate Frazier, which helped Georgia keep possession for long stretches of time and forced Clemson to pass more often later in the game.
Passing Statistics:
Cade Klubnik: 18-29, 142 yards, 0 touchdowns, 1 interception, 96.3 passer rating (college) 4.9 YPA
Carson Beck: 23-33, 278 yards, 2 touchdowns, 0 interceptions, 160.7 passer rating, 8.4 YPA
Klubnik once again disappointed in a season opener. His yards per completion was just 7.89 in a game where most quarterbacks have over 10 yards per completion. Some of that had to do with the play calling, but 4.9 yards per attempt is unimpressive and that’s with padding his stats in garbage time, as 50 of his yards were when Clemson was down by at least three scores. By the end, he essentially had to will his team to the end zone (since his running game didn’t help him) and he couldn’t do it. Outside of two impressive throws, he was a non-factor in this game.
Carson Beck, on the other hand, was solid. He had 8.4 yards per attempt, was above average, but still lower than last year’s YPA of 9.95. His passer rating of 160.7 is 17% over the league average too, but somehow lower than his passer rating was last year, at 167.9. Regardless, he played within the system all game and didn’t make any turnovers.
Penalties
Clemson: 3 penalties, 15 yards
Georgia: 7 penalties, 70 yards
One negative note for Georgia is they had way too many penalties in this one. They only averaged about 4 penalties a game last year, but this game was a little undisciplined for them. This number is bloated by two 15-yard penalties. One was an offensive pass-interference that essentially ended their drive before the first half ended, and another that was a roughing the passer penalty that helped set up Clemson to score their only points of the day.
It doesn’t scream a lack of discipline just yet, but it was something to monitor in this game. Georgia will need to make sure they decrease their penalties against better opponents like Alabama in close games. Then again, with the showing they displayed on both sides of the ball, they may not be in many close games this season.
