It was a tale of two halves for top-ranked Georgia against No. 14 Clemson in its 34-3 win last Saturday at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta.
The Bulldogs couldn’t find the end zone in the first half, leading the Tigers 6-0 at the end of the second quarter. However, they dominated the second half, scoring four touchdowns on six drives to secure Georgia's 40th straight regular-season win.
“I think Mike [Bobo] and his staff did a good job at halftime looking at pictures, seeing what was there, [and] capitalizing on some explosive plays,” Georgia head coach Kirby Smart said after the game. “We blocked well on the perimeter, and that drive in the second half opened things up. I think it loosened them up. It made us more explosive, and we used some tempo to help us.”
Georgia made it look easy on its first drive in the second half, marching down the field in just six plays.
Quarterback Carson Beck completed a 32-yard pass to wideout Arian Smith before skill player Dillon Bell rushed 27 yards on a reverse deep down inside Clemson territory. Two plays later, Beck fired a strike to transfer wide receiver Colbie Young in the back corner of the end zone for six.
Clemson made it 13-3 on the following possession, as kicker Nolan Hauser nailed a 36-yard field goal. Regardless, the Bulldogs’ offense proved effective, scoring again and extending their lead to 20-3.
The Dawgs’ next possession was highlighted by freshman running back Nate Frazier's 24-yard catch-and-run, which delivered the first touchdown of his college career.
Georgia scored twice more – on a 40-yard pass from Beck to transfer wide receiver London Humphreys, and with a 15-yard rush by running back Cash Jones – to help secure the victory over Clemson.
Beck led the charge in the second half, completing 22 of 33 passes for 278 yards and two touchdowns that helped Georgia’s offense find its rhythm.
“I thought he got a little passion and energy there, too,” Smart said of his fifth-year quarterback. “We started early and didn’t have third-down conversions in the first half, and I thought we responded well to that.
“[Beck] came in, sat down with the iPad, and told me, ‘When we come out in the second half, we’re going to go in there and score, coach. I thought we handled that well. Look, that was a good defense, guys.’” Georgia accounted for 278 yards in the second half, while Clemson totaled 188 yards the entire game. The Bulldogs averaged 7.5 yards per play against a stingy Tigers defensive unit this past week.
Frazier was the team’s leading rusher, totaling 83 yards on 11 carries and a touchdown. He also had one catch for 24 yards. He was the team’s difference-maker on the ground, especially in the final half.
“The players can tell you I always get on him because he’s out of control. He is just a foot to fire, moving at the speed of light. He doesn’t know he might run into a brick wall, cutting back,” Smart said of Frazier. “He cut back a couple of times in practice, and I told him, ‘When you get in a real game, you cut back like that, they’re going to light you up.’ I might have said some things I can’t say here, but he cut back and went across the field for about 50 yards. I told him it’s okay now. He can do that. He’s a great kid. He got an opportunity; he seized the moment.”