Clemson's defense had Georgia befuddled all night.
The No. 5 Bulldogs expected the No. 3 Tigers to play plenty of man coverage. Instead, they hovered in zones and dared the Bulldogs to dink and dunk their way down the field at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte.
Georgia didn't see that coming, and it showed in a mostly mediocre offensive performance. After a 10-3 victory, the lessons learned are much easier to absorb.
"With young wideouts, I thought we’d see a lot of press and get up on us," Georgia head coach Kirby Smart said after the game. "I thought we’d be able to take some shots. They didn’t do that. They played a little bit softer and gave us some underneath stuff. We just never could hit an explosive on them."
After an offseason filled with high expectations, Georgia's passing attack struggled against Clemson.
Quarterback JT Daniels finished the night 22-of-30 for 135 yards with no touchdowns and one interception. That 4.5 yards per attempt figure is just over half of his lowest such number from 2020, when he averaged 8.7 yards per attempt against South Carolina.
Daniels said the Bulldogs mainly expected two things from the Tigers’ defense—man coverage and exotic blitz packages. Neither of those materialized, leaving Georgia to adjust on the fly.
"I think a lot of what they said was, we’re going to stay two-high, we’re going to keep our safeties and our corners off, we’re not going to let you be explosive in one-on-one shot plays," Daniels said. "You’re going to have to drive it on us and run the ball, you’re going to have to check it down, you’re going to have to keep the chains moving and stay efficient on first and second down."
Against that kind of defense, Daniels said he needs to do a better job of recognizing that coverage and checking it down to a running back. Clemson's interception was a perfect example.
Clemson linebacker Baylon Spector dropped in coverage against an inside route. Instead of staying with his man, he jumped to the outside and snagged Daniels' pass.
"When they’re going to drop eight and drop into windows, the best thing to do is get the ball to the running back and take our chances with him," Daniels said.
Overall, Daniels said the offense had too many "one player away" plays. Offensive coordinator Todd Monken emphasizes that each player needs to do his job for the play to be successful.
Daniels said there were too many occasions where he or another player made a wrong decision or didn't execute an assignment, leading to an unsuccessful play.
For Smart, his biggest takeaway is that Georgia needs to be more explosive on offense. He appreciated Georgia's ability to convert when needed—the Bulldogs ran the final 4:49 off the clock after stopping Clemson on downs in the fourth quarter.
However, Georgia had just six plays all night that went for at least 10 yards. Five of those came in the second half.
"When our offense had to convert, when our offense had to force the ball down somebody’s throat, a pretty good defense, they were able to do it," Smart said. "That makes me proud. But we certainly have a long way to go to be explosive and get where we need to go offensively."
Smart didn't use it as an excuse, but the offense had several key playmakers either out of the game or not at 100 percent due to injury. Receiver Kearis Jackson, in particular, saw virtually no playing time outside of special teams.
The return of top skill players should help create more explosive plays. A game like this can also show the Bulldogs what they can do to better attack opposing teams that sit back in zone coverage as Clemson did.
Those aspects will be harped on repeatedly at practice in the coming weeks. For a team as talented as Daniels believes, those lessons won't have quite as much sting after a defensive-driven victory.
"Our offense in general doesn’t feel the pressure to play based on what our defense gives up," Daniels said. "I think we’re good enough and we have the talent and we have the ability to execute to where we should be able to move the ball on anybody, no matter what the circumstance is."
