Uiagalelei and the Clemson offense no match for Georgia in a packed house in Charlotte
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College Football Week 1
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D.J. Uiagalelei had been down before.
In his first start with Clemson last season, he rallied the Tigers in the second half for a comeback victory over Boston College.
Boston College, however, isn’t fifth-ranked Georgia.
A strong fourth-quarter effort from the No. 3 Tigers was matched by the Bulldogs’ defense, which picked up where it left off last year. Georgia’s D, which was the nation’s top-ranked rush defense a year ago, recorded seven sacks and scored the team’s first points on a pick-six interception in the season-opening 10-3 victory over the Tigers on Saturday night at Bank of America Stadium.
Tigers coach Dabo Swinney called the loss disappointing, but believes his team will bounce back.
“When you’re in a game like that, the margin for error is incredibly small and it’s the same for Georgia,” he said. “That one play (interception) was the difference. There were a lot of bad plays, but it comes down to just three or four and we didn’t make the three or four critical, critical plays when we had the opportunity and they capitalized. We’ve got to get better.”
It took the Tigers’ offense a while longer to get rolling but found some momentum after a 44-yard snag from Joseph Ngata near the beginning of the fourth quarter. While the squad didn’t reach the end zone by the end of the series, it settled for a 22-yard field goal from BT Potter for the 10-3 deficit.
On Clemson’s next drive, the Tigers went for it on fourth-and-5 from Georgia’s 45-yard line with 4:49 remaining. Uiagalelei, who was sacked three plays earlier, had his pass to E.J Williams fall incomplete. From there, the Bulldogs stuck with their usual offensive identity and kept the ball on the ground, forcing Swinney to use all of the team’s timeouts during the drive only to never get the ball back.
Georgia’s lone first-half points came via a 74-yard pick-six from safety Christopher Smith. It was Uiagalelei’s first career interception thrown in college, and Smith’s first to pick off.
Clemson had negative rushing yards for most of the game and finished with a net of two yards on the ground. Uiagalelei was 19-of-37 passing for 178 yards. Joseph Ngata was Uiagalelei’s favorite target with six catches for 110 yards.
Clemson limited Georgia to 256 total yards and the Bulldogs’ only offensive points were a 22-yard field goal from Jack Podlesny.
“All of our goals are still in front of us,” Swinney said. “This hurts because this is not the outcome we want, but you step in the ring with games like this, these are hard ones to win. You’ve got to make the critical plays in critical moments. We didn’t do it. They did, so congratulate them, but we’ll show back up Monday and we’ll get back to work.
“This is going to be a heckuva football team coming together. ... This one game’s not going to define us, it’s going to develop us into what I know we’re capable of being.”
Key numbers
2010. The Bulldogs posted a shutout in the first half. It’s the first time the Tigers have been held scoreless after two quarters for the first time since playing NC State on No. 6, 2010 at home. Clemson went on to win that contest, 14-13.
44. Joseph Ngata’s 44-yard catch in the fourth quarter propelled Clemson to score its first points of the game via BT Potter’s field goal with 9:06 left in the game.
2014. The last time Clemson lost its season opener was 2014, which was also to Georgia. The Tigers bounced back, however, and finished the season 10-3. They beat Oklahoma, 40-6, in the Russell Athletic Bowl that year.
NEXT
Who: South Carolina State at Clemson
When: 5 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 11
Where: Memorial Stadium, Clemson, S.C.
TV: ACC Network
This story was originally published September 4, 2021 at 11:04 PM.
