Following No. 5 Georgia’s 10-3 victory over No. 3 Clemson on Saturday night, Dabo Swinney started off his press conference congratulating the Bulldogs on winning the defensive struggle. But the Tigers’ head coach demonstrated a degree of disappointment.
“Obviously, we’re incredibly disappointed with the outcome of the game,” Swinney said. “Congratulations to Georgia. That was a heavyweight fight, a really tough matchup like we knew it was going to be."
The two teams, each of which featured what was believed to be a high-powered offense, were limited to 436 combined total yards (Georgia: 256, Clemson: 180) and only 3.6 yards per play. Swinney’s Tigers especially limited the Bulldogs’ passing game. Georgia quarterback JT Daniels completed 22 of 30 passes but for merely 135 yards. He was intercepted on one occasion and did not throw a touchdown pass in a game for the first time since September of 2018, when he was a freshman signal-caller at Southern California.
“We knew points were going to be hard to come by. I’m super-proud of our defense,” Swinney said. “They just battled their tails off. Man, our defense was tough. They were physical.”
Clemson’s quarterback, DJ Uiagalelei, struggled against a dominant Georgia defense. He completed just 19 of 37 passes for 178 yards and was intercepted by Christopher Smith, who broke a scoreless second-quarter tie by returning the errant throw 74 yards for a touchdown. Uiagalelei was also sacked seven times by six different Bulldog defenders.
“I didn’t play good. I didn’t play good enough to win the ballgame,” Uiagalelei said. “I started playing better toward the end, but I need to come out playing better.”
Trailing 7-0 midway through the third quarter, Clemson was threatening to tie the ballgame. The Tigers had possession on Georgia’s 33-yard line before three plays, including two sacks, netted them a loss of nine yards and forced them to punt.
“We just couldn’t capitalize [on offense],” Swinney said. “We just didn’t do a good enough job offensively when the opportunities were there to take advantage of them.”
In the end, Swinney was proud of the way his Clemson squad played, but was disappointed in its execution on offense. Still, he believes his Tigers, like Georgia, have an excellent chance of being an outstanding team when the 2021 season is all said and done.
“I’m proud of how we played, but I’m not proud of some of the executions in some areas, and some of the critical mistakes,” Swinney said. “Georgia is going to watch the tape, and they’re going to see a lot that they got to get better from as well. But both these teams have a chance to be great, special teams—and I think the season will prove out to be that.”
