Clemson VS Georgia Tech: Postgame Thoughts
The wait for Clemson Football is finally over. With Clemson’s win over Georgia Tech, here is what we saw.
The first half was quite the mixed bag. Defensively, about everything you could ask for. The defensive line was dominant and was constantly in Jeff Simm’s face as they picked up right where they left off last year. Clemson held Georgia Tech to just three points heading into the half. As for individual performances, sophomore linebacker Barrett Carter was a force everywhere on the field. He covered receivers and went sideline to sideline, showing off his incredible speed.
As for the offense, it certainly looked like not much had changed. Multiple three-and-outs and a fumble inside the red zone looked to be evidence to back that up. Following a blocked punt by Caron, Donnelly set up the Tigers within the five and made the most of a great special teams play with Shipley’s first touchdown of the game. Clemson would follow that up with a sixty-seven-yard touchdown drive with big-time throws from DJ Uiagalelei. Beaux Collins was the recipient of those big throws and looked to be the go-to receiver for DJ. Clemson would go into halftime up 14-3.
The second half began with another three and out, and Georgia Tech turned that into seven with Simms throwing a touchdown pass to E.J. Jenkins. The offense appeared to have a significant drive but stalled out in the end zone, resulting in a 29-yard field goal from B.T. Potter. Clemson would hold Tech to another three and out and continue building momentum on offense. Antonio Williams would have two nice catches, and the drive would result in a touchdown rush by DJ. Williams could become that much-needed slot receiver that can be counted on to spark the offense, like a Hunter Renfrow or an Amari Rodgers. The third quarter would see two consistent scoring drives, doing a little bit of everything to pull away from the Yellow Jackets. Overall, a much better quarter from the Tigers offensively as they tightened their grip on the season opener.
The fourth quarter was all about taking care of business. Clemson would make strides offensively and show some progress from last year. The special teams unit from the Tigers would make some noise again, with a blocked punt courtesy of Wade Woodaz. Will Shipley would benefit from another special teams play and rush for his second touchdown of the game. Late in the game, we saw the debut of Cade Klubnik, who led Clemson down the field in a scoring drive. We saw Cade use his feet and his arm, which resulted in a passing touchdown to Will Taylor. It was not all perfect, but DJ and company did just enough to hold off their first conference opponent. Clemson now looks forward to hosting Furman for their first home game of the season.
GAME NOTES:
Clemson recorded an interception on the season’s first play from scrimmage. Safety Andrew Mukuba registered his first career interception on the play. The takeaway was Clemson’s first opening-drive takeaway since Nolan Turner recorded an interception on Virginia’s opening drive in the 2019 ACC Championship Game.
Clemson blocked two punts in a game for the first time since 2007 against South Carolina. Nelson Faerber and La’Donte Harris recorded the blocks in that 2007 contest.
Safety Carson Donnelly blocked a punt in the second quarter, Clemson’s first fully blocked punt since Jadar Johnson blocked a punt for a safety against Georgia Tech in 2015. (Note: Tanner Muse tipped a 25-yard punt in the National Championship Game to end the 2016 season against Alabama.)
Clemson added its second punt block in the fourth quarter. True freshman Wade Woodaz was credited with the block in his collegiate debut.
Clemson held Georgia Tech to 75 rushing yards and has now held five straight opponents below 100 rushing yards, dating to last season, for the first time since the final five games of 2010.
Clemson held Georgia Tech to 2-of-16 on third downs, its fewest third-down conversions allowed since holding UConn to zero third-down conversions last season.
Running back Will Shipley opened the scoring with a one-yard touchdown run on fourth-and-goal in the second quarter.
Shipley has now rushed for a touchdown in a career-long four consecutive games, dating to last season. The four-game streak represents Clemson’s longest since Travis Etienne rushed for a touchdown in seven straight games in 2020.
Shipley added his second touchdown run of the game on a three-yard fourth-quarter run, his fifth career multi-touchdown game.
Quarterback DJ Uiagalelei improved to 12-4 as a starter and completed 19-of-32 for 210 yards, a passing touchdown, a rushing touchdown and no interceptions.
Wide receiver Beaux Collins had a team-high 54 receiving yards on three receptions.
Collins scored his fourth career receiving touchdown on a six-yard pass from Uiagalalei in the second quarter.
Uiagalelei scored his ninth career rushing touchdown on a nine-yard run in the third quarter. It was his first since his fourth-quarter rushing touchdown in a comeback win at Louisville last season.
Linebacker Barrett Carter recorded his first career forced fumble in the first quarter.
Defensive end K.J. Henry recorded a third-quarter sack in which he forced his second career forced fumble. He has now forced a fumble in each of Clemson’s last two regular season games, including a forced fumble at South Carolina to close the 2021 regular season.
Henry has now recorded at least a half-sack in five straight games, dating to last season, for the first time in his career.
Defensive tackle Bryan Bresee and linebacker Jeremiah Trotter Jr. split a fourth-quarter sack.
Kicker B.T. Potter recorded his first field goal of the season on a 29-yard kick in the third quarter. The field goal was the culmination of a 12-play, 63-yard drive, Clemson’s longest drive of the evening in terms of plays.
Potter later added another field goal in the fourth quarter to extend Clemson’s lead to 17.
With the two field goals, Potter passed Greg Huegel (54 from 2015-18) and tied Aaron Hunt (55 from 2000-03) for fifth on Clemson’s leaderboard for career field goals made.
Dating to last season, Potter has now kicked multiple field goals in six consecutive games for the first time in his career. Potter went 3-of-3 against Louisville, UConn and South Carolina, 2-for-2 against Wake Forest and 2-for-3 against Iowa State down the stretch last season prior to his performance against Georgia Tech on Monday.
On a PAT following Uiagalelei’s touchdown run, Potter scored his 350th career point to join Travis Etienne (468 from 2017-20), Chandler Catanzaro (404 from 2010-13) and Greg Huegel (379 from 2015-18) as the only players in school history to reach 350 career points.
Potter (351) became the 15th player in ACC history to record 350 career kicking points.
True freshman wide receiver Antonio Williams recorded four receptions for 37 yards in his collegiate debut. Williams’ four catches in a season opener were the most by a Clemson true freshman in a season opener since Ray-Ray McCloud in 2015 (eight vs. Wofford).
Quarterback Cade Klubnik made his collegiate debut and engineered a 10–play, 66-yard touchdown drive that culminated with his first career touchdown pass, a three-yard completion to wide receiver Will Taylor.
The receiving touchdown was Taylor’s first of his career. Taylor, a dual-sport athlete at Clemson, became the first Clemson Baseball player to score a touchdown for Clemson since Kyle Parker’s three-yard touchdown run against Wake Forest in 2009.
Klubnik completed 4-of-6 passes for 49 yards with the touchdown.
After missing the entire 2021 season, wide receiver Brannon Spector saw his first game action since the Sugar Bowl on Jan. 1, 2021, a span of 612 days. Spector finished with two catches for 11 yards.
Offensive tackle Blake Miller started at right tackle and became only the third true freshman to start a season opener at offensive tackle for Clemson since 1944, joining Mitch Hyatt (2015) and Phil Prince (1944).
Punter Aidan Swanson made his first career start and recorded a career-long 51-yarder on his first punt. He finished the game with a 44.0-yard average on six punts with three downed inside the 20-yard line.
Clemson faced Georgia Tech away from one of the teams’ campuses for the first time since the 2009 ACC Championship Game in Tampa, Fla. It was the first regular season game away from one of the teams’ campuses since 1899, when Clemson defeated Georgia Tech, 41-5, in Greenville, S.C. on Thanksgiving Day.
Clemson played its 19th game in an NFL stadium since 2015. The win gave Clemson victories in 16 of its last 22 games in NFL stadiums and improved the Tigers to 19-10 all-time in NFL stadiums under Head Coach Dabo Swinney. Swinney moved to 3-0 in Atlanta, including a 2-0 record in games played at the old Georgia Dome.
Clemson played its 26th Monday game all-time but only its 10th regular season Monday game in school history. It was Clemson’s first Monday night game since a 24-18 Labor Day win vs. Florida State in the 2007 season opener.
Clemson opened the season on the road for the third time since 2016, including No. 2 Clemson’s 19-13 win at Auburn in 2016 and No. 1 Clemson’s 37-13 win at Wake Forest in 2020.
Clemson opened conference play on the road for the ninth time in the last 11 years. Clemson has now won each of its last eight conference openers since 2015, the longest conference-opener winning streak in school history. This season marked the fifth time in the last seven years that Georgia Tech will be Clemson’s first ACC opponent of the season (2016, 2018, 2019, 2021 and 2022).
Clemson opened a season against an ACC opponent for only the 15th time since the conference’s founding in 1953. Clemson is now 12-2-1 against ACC opponents in Week 1 contests all-time.
Captains for the contest were tight end Davis Allen, defensive end Justin Mascoll, wide receiver Joseph Ngata and safety Jalyn Phillips.
WITH THE WIN…
Clemson improved to 95-24-8 all-time in season openers and gave the Tigers victories in 12 of their last 14 season debuts.
Clemson improved to 15-11 all-time in Monday games, including a 7-3 record in Monday regular season games.
Clemson earned its 35th all-time victory against Georgia Tech. Georgia Tech is one of 11 schools against whom Clemson has earned at least 30 all-time victories (South Carolina, Wake Forest, North Carolina State, Furman, Virginia, North Carolina, Duke, Maryland, Presbyterian and The Citadel).
Clemson won its eighth consecutive game against Georgia Tech, dating to a 43-24 home win in 2015. It extended Clemson’s longest winning streak in the all-time series and doubled its second-longest winning streaks in series history (four-game winning streaks across the 1898-1903 seasons and the 1993-96 campaigns).
Clemson won a fourth straight road game against Georgia Tech for the first time in series history. The win was Clemson’s 16th all-time road win against Georgia Tech.
Clemson improved to 12-2 against Georgia Tech in ACC openers since the ACC’s first season in 1953.
Clemson improved to 44-25-1 in conference openers since joining the ACC.
Clemson’s 2022 senior class became the ninth senior class in Clemson history to win all four of its ACC openers, joining 4-0 records posted by the 1983, 1984, 1989, 2005, 2018, 2019, 2020 and 2021 senior classes in ACC debuts.
Clemson improved to 59-5 against ACC opponents (including postseason play) since the start of the 2015 season.
Clemson improved to 77-6 in regular season play since the start of the 2015 season.
Clemson improved to 35-9 against opponents historically from the ACC Coastal Division, including postseason play, under Head Coach Dabo Swinney. That figure includes games against traditional Coastal opponents in a divisionless season in 2020. Clemson has now won 21 of its last 23 games against the Coastal Division since 2015.
Clemson improved to 118-13 against AP-unranked teams under Dabo Swinney. Clemson is now 95-3 against unranked teams since the start of the 2012 season.
Clemson improved to 22-4 in night games since the start of the 2018 season. The win moved Clemson to 41-7 at night since 2015.
Clemson improved to 31-4 in true road games since 2015.
Clemson improved to 26-2 in September games since 2015.
Clemson is now 67-4 when scoring first since 2015.
Clemson has now won 97 of its last 99 games, including each of its last 60, when leading at halftime.
Clemson improved to 119-2 since 2011 when leading after three quarters.
Head Coach Dabo Swinney improved to 11-5 all-time against Georgia Tech, including postseason play. Georgia Tech was already one of four schools against which Swinney has recorded double-digit victories (Boston College, 13; Wake Forest, 13; NC State, 10).
