ATLANTA, Ga. — Led by a stifling performance from its defense, the top-ranked Georgia football team opened its 2024 season Saturday with a dominant 34-3 win over No. 14 Clemson in the Aflac Kickoff Game at a sold-out Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
The Bulldogs (1-0) were leading 20-3 in the fourth quarter when quarterback Carson Beck hit sophomore wide receiver London Humphreys for a 40-yard touchdown to lift much of the crowd of 78,827 to its feet and blow the game open with 9:57 remaining. Beck finished 23 of 33 passing for 278 yards and two touchdowns, the Georgia offense racked up 447 yards, and the Bulldog defense, which got an interception from safety Malaki Starks in the fourth quarter, held the Tigers (0-1) to just 188 yards.
“Once we got in that second half, looking at the iPad, seeing what they were doing against us, it was everything that we saw on film that we watched from last year,” Beck said. “So we just kind of deciphered which ways we wanted to attack them and maybe tried to be a little bit more aggressive coming out at the half, and I think we did a really good job of that. We got on the perimeter, had some good perimeter runs and were able to throw the ball down the field a little bit, and that ultimately ended up opening things up for us.”
The Bulldogs opened their season with a win for the 11th year in a row. The last time they failed to prevail in their opener was a 38-35 loss in a thriller at Clemson in 2013. This was the 66th all-time meeting between Georgia and Clemson, with the Bulldogs now leading the series 44-18-4.
In 2021, the Bulldogs pulled out a 10-3 win over the Tigers in Charlotte, N.C., to open the season. Safety Christopher Smith returned an interception 74 yards for the game’s only touchdown, lifting Georgia to the win and beginning the march to the program’s first national championship since 1980.
Not unlike that defense-dominated matchup in 2021, neither offense got much going early Saturday, and the game was scoreless after the opening quarter. In the second, Georgia’s offense continued what became a methodical, 12-play drive that ended with a 30-yard Peyton Woodring field goal and a 3-0 lead with 8:49 left in the half.
After Georgia forced another Clemson punt, Beck on first down connected with tight end Lawson Luckie for 31 yards up the left side, down to the Tiger 37-yard line. The drive stalled there, but Woodring blasted a career-long 55-yard field goal to make it 6-0 Georgia with 4:16 to play in the quarter. That remained the score at halftime despite Georgia out-gaining the Tigers 160-76; both teams were 1 of 6 on third down in the first two quarters.
“If you’re a talented freshman and you can learn, then you can play,” Bulldogs head coach Kirby Smart said. “Malaki’s growth is a credit to his humbleness or his humility, and he is a great kid from a great family, and that’s what makes Malaki special.”
Georgia got the ball to start the second half and quickly went to work. Receiver Arian Smith ran the ball for seven yards on first down and then had a 32-yard reception on the next play. Wideout Dillon Bell ran for 27 yards up the left side, and soon after, Beck hit receiver Colbie Young for a seven-yard touchdown and a 13-0 lead with 12:01 to play in the third.
Clemson put together its best drive on the ensuing possession and had a first down at the Georgia 7. But the Bulldogs held the Tigers to a 26-yard Nolan Hauser field goal that cut the Georgia lead to 13-3 with 6:34 to go in the third quarter.
The Bulldogs responded with another touchdown drive. This one began with a short pass from Beck to tailback Nate Frazier that led to a 24-yard gain — and ended with a 1-yard Frazier run for the score and a 20-3 lead with 3:15 remaining in the quarter. Georgia also got a 23-yard completion from Beck to wideout London Humphrey on third-and-10 to keep the drive going.
Early in the fourth, Beck found Humphrey for the 40-yard score that made it 27-3. Later in the period, after Starks’ interception, Cash Jones ran the ball in from the 15 to push the lead to 34-3.
Nine Bulldogs caught at least one pass, with Smith leading the way with five receptions for 56 yards. Frazier paced the ground attack with 1 carries for 83 yards and the 1-yard score. Linebacker Jalon Walker led the defense with six tackles, including 1.5 sacks, and five other Bulldogs tallied for stops.
Eight years ago, in 2016, Georgia’s Kirby Smart made his head-coaching debut in the Aflac Kickoff Game, with the Bulldogs beating North Carolina 33-24. In 2022, Georgia hammered Oregon 49-3 in the Kickoff Game to begin an undefeated run to a second straight title. Smart and Clemson’s Dabo Swinney are the only active head coaches who have won multiple FBS national championships.
Former Georgia coach Mark Richt gave the invocation on the field before kickoff Saturday, while legendary kicker Kevin Butler was the Bulldogs’ honorary captain. Clemson won the coin toss and chose to receive the ball to start the game.
The Bulldogs open their six-game home schedule next Saturday against Tennessee Tech at Sanford Stadium (2 p.m.). Georgia has won a program-record 25 straight games on Dooley Field.
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Georgia Sports Communications contributed to this column
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