ATLANTA — Everybody has that one team that it just cannot beat. The Georgia Bulldogs are that team for the Clemson Tigers.
The top-ranked Bulldogs proved why they have won 40 straight regular season games, as they battered and bruised the 14th-ranked Tigers with a great second half performance.
Leading by just six points at halftime, Georgia scored touchdowns on its first two possessions in the third quarter and then cruised, as they beat the Tigers, 34-3, at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta.
The Bulldogs’ 31-point victory is their largest over Clemson since beating the Tigers 41-0 in 1976. They have now defeated Clemson eight times in their last nine meetings, dating back to 1991. The Tigers lone win came in 2013.
Clemson has now lost back-to-back season openers and three of their last four, after winning 11 of its first 12 openers under Dabo Swinney. The 31-point loss to Georgia is the second worst for Clemson under Swinney. Only topped by West Virginia’s 33-point win over the Tigers in the 2012 Orange Bowl.
Leading 6-0 at halftime, thanks to two Peyton Woodring field goals in the second quarter, Georgia needed just two minutes and 59 seconds to extend its lead to 13-0, as Colbie Young hauled in a seven-yard pass from Carson Beck to cap an impressive 6-play, 75-yard drive.
Clemson tried to answer with a 66-yard drive of its own. However, the drive bogged down at the Georgia nine and freshman Nolan Hauser made a 26-yard field goal with 6:34 to play in the third. It was Hauser’s first career kick and the Tigers only points.
Whatever momentum Clemson got with with the Hauser kick, ended quickly. Beck drove the Bulldogs right back down the field, this time needing eight plays to get his team in the end zone.
Nate Frazier finished the 75-yard drive with a one-yard plunge with 3:15 to go in the third for a 20-3 lead.
Beck later found London Humphreys on a crossing route and the wide receiver did the rest on a 40-yard catch-and-run touchdown for a 27-3 edge with 9:57 to play. They added another touchdown later in the fourth quarter.
The Bulldogs outgained Clemon 283-112 in the second half.
Clemson had no answer for Beck. The senior picked the Tigers apart in the second and finished the afternoon 23 for 33 for 278 yards and two touchdowns.
Beck’s counterpart on the other side of the field did not have things so good. Georgia smothered the Clemson running game and quarterback Cade Klubnik and his receivers were unable to manage the pressure.
Georgia held the Tigers to 188 total yards and 3.6 yards per play, compared to 7.7 for the Bulldogs.
Klubnik finished the day 18-for-29 for 142 yards and one interception. He was sacked twice.
Clemson has not scored an offensive touchdown against the Bulldogs since 2014.
Clemson will try to regroup and get in the win column next Saturday (8 p.m., ACCN) when it hosts App. State in its home opener.
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