Observations from the armchair, Clemson edition

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Going into the game, I thought I had a pretty good idea of how the game would go, especially after Etienne was confirmed out, and that was how the first half looked. OK, maybe a little better than the first half. I thought outcomes in the range of a 20-3 or 24-7 Georgia win were likely.

The Dawgs offense had a slow start with inconsistent play by the OL, a rusty Branson Robinson and a cautious Bobo seemingly trying to figure out which blocking schemes worked best for each back’s style and against a good Clemson front. When Bobo recognized opening up the passing game would open up the run game, the dam broke.

On the other side of the ball, you could see early on that the Clemson WRs were not beating the DBs in man coverage and Cade Klubnik lacked the confidence to challenge them. Their only hope was to run Mafah, and for some reason they didn’t give him many touches early on. The defense methodically and overwhelmingly suffocated the Tigers until the final whistle. I think we could all get used to that. On to the bullets:

  • As I mentioned, the first half was clunky for both offenses, with some excellent tackling by both defenses and typical first game jitters and mistakes.
  • Clemson was clearly concerned about Klubnik, running only 1-2 plays over 15 yards. But given how poorly Klubnik played and how tight the DBs were in coverage, can you blame them?
  • What you can blame Garrett Riley for is the lack of touches for Mafah. That kid is a beast and tough to bring down.
  • Speaking of blaming, anyone else have some choice words for Bobo running all those swing passes early for no gain or lost yardage? Yeah, me too. I get he was trying to run Clemson’s defense sideline to sideline to tire them out, but we also needed first downs.
  • Carson Beck is money on crossing patterns and posts. I think he just rushed that RPO to Young and he didn’t look comfortable. But I’ll bet we see it again because the TD was there. And if he’s accurate there, the blowout starts earlier.
  • Speaking of Beck, that was a workman-like great game against a tough defense. His scramble runs were back-breakers too.
  • Welcome back to relevance, Arian Smith! We need you engaged (and healthy) like that for the next 4 months or so, please.
  • Lovett was so explosive, especially that juke move to set up Frazier’s first career TD.
  • Speaking of Frazier, what a lightning bolt he was! I’m not sure if he has much of a clue as to what he’s supposed to do yet, but he’s sure fun to watch.
  • Not sure if any of the WRs are elite but there’s a lot of good ones and a few more weeks to develop in games.
  • Loved the NSFW TD celebrations from Bobo and Hartley.
  • On defense, Mykel dominated the first 3 quarters, and I thought he was robbed for not being rewarded with that sack, and then Mafah landed a dirty block on him and there’s a chance he misses some time now. Sucks for him and the team. And Naz and Brinson going down make that DL awfully thin. Let’s hope they get back soon.
  • Damon Wilson and KJ Bolden, future stars.
  • The LB room is the best in the country by a country mile. Jalon Walker is almost unblockable off the edge and had a nice game inside too.
  • We have to remember to savor this last season with Malaki Starks. Every game he gets better and makes amazing plays.
  • Helluva 55-yard FG by Woodring, eh? The Dawgs may have the best special teams unit in the country with him, Thorson and Evans.
  • I almost forgot about Anthony Evans, what a revelation! It’s been a long time since we’ve seen a Georgia kick returner who was that confident in catching short punts instead of letting them bounce and roll 25 yards.
  • Lastly, how fun was that manball drive to finish out the game? Just like the last time the Dawgs beat Clemson. How did that season end again?

What else did you all see that I missed above?

48 thoughts on “Observations from the armchair, Clemson edition”

  2. This is the type of effort I love to watch. You know your team is better coached, better conditioned, more physical, more disciplined. Talent, size, speed are relatively even.

    Then you just lean into them and let the truth unfold over a very long contest.

    Nothing fancy. No need to be impatient. No need for going for it on 4th downs or faking kicks.

    Just like a damn python squeezing tighter and tighter until they fucking lie down and quit, having been fully processed.

    I feel like we lose Baba O’Reilly and go with:

    “So welcome!!! …to the machine!!”

  3. Excellent recap. Perfect way to start a season. Dabo is officially now in trouble at home. Without a game changer at QB his teams are no threat to elite teams.

  4. Good stuff, Austin!

    I thought Clemson would get some cheap stuff later in the game, but once the boa constrictor wrapped itself around the Clemson offensive line and QB, it was lights out.

    The Clemson crowd tapped out early. On the train back to Doraville where they all parked, they were very quiet.

    Fun Stat: Garrett Riley has a total of 10 points against the Georgia defense in his 2 games calling plays against us.

      • The Georgia crowd was very good. If you’ve seen 4th quarter Krypton/Light Up the Benz, the crowd was much more Georgia than I expected. I get the feeling a lot Clemson people knew what was coming.

  5. Great job on the bullet points, JP. We are still up here in the mountains and everybody else is still asleep. Being able to make me some coffee and enjoy bullet points brings a smile to my face.

    Our dbs were impressive to me. Even when Clemson hit on some throws it was with a Georgia db draped all over their receiver. I knew Clemson couldn’t do that consistently and most other teams won’t either.

    I guess they could have given it to Mafah more but he really didn’t have any room to run most of the time. Our guys were on him quick. He had a couple of runs where he was hard to stop but only a couple and they didn’t amount to much. As for his dirty block on Mykel, as I said in the game day comments, FTMF.

    I’m not a Bobo hater at all but he did frustrate early yesterday. I think you’re exactly right about his wanting to make the Clemson defense run east and west but he could have done that in a way that would have gotten us some yards too. He’s his own worst enemy sometimes.

    Beck looked good. He threw it a little behind Lovett on what would have been a long gain but otherwise he seemed in control. Lovett looks like a different guy. Yesterday he looked like the dude from Missouri. Colby Young is a weapon and so is London Humphreys. We all know what Bell can do and if Arian has decided he’s going to be a real receiver, I don’t know if that adds up to elite but I’ll sure take it.

    Mysel was sprinting on the sideline after he went out. Doesn’t seem to be too serious. I think Naz is ok. Not sure about Brinson. That defense is scary.

    • Glad you saw Mykel sprinting afterwards, I missed that. Kirby wasn’t super positive on his status after the game. He’s got to clear an MRI and some tests, I’m sure. They don’t need him in the next game, if it helps him heal and be 100% for Kentucky.

      • I fell asleep watching Kirby’s post game late last night so I missed what he said. But Kirby is also downplaying Nate Frazier to beat all hell despite what we all saw and talking up Cash Jones like he’s being paid to do it. I love Kirby but that man gaslights like no tomorrow. I feel like we can afford to lose Mykel for a game or two more than we can Naz. I’d rather have them both though.

        • Lol on Kirby’s pressers. You have to listen to each question as if he’s talking to someone different: a player, a position group, an opposing coach, the media, us fans, etc. Otherwise it can be confusing. I wanted to do a post about how to interpret Kirby’s presser answers because I’ve found some tells, but never had time in the off-season. I’ll probably save it for February.

          • I look forward to it. I know you don’t want to hear Kirby say a hurt player is “week to week”. That dude is going into witness protection if you hear that. If he says a player, has something he’s dealing with” then that means that guy is being punished for something.

        • Did you guys see my prediction of the next great UGA RB? Nate Frazier is a stud, and Kirby would have never let him in the game if he did not trust him. Maybe he needs to work on pass blocking, but I did not see him miss anything important against Clemson. He is a 17-year-old man.

          • He’s probably as good as Etienne except for pass receiving skills….which given time he will be better with that. You can count on Kirby seeing to it.

          • Agreed. Word is he drops passes in practice too. Long way to go but he’s soooo talented already.

        • Kirby’s answer to the post game question about Frazier was not intended to be a message to you and me. It was a message to Frazier that what he does when the ball isn’t in his hands is important and used Cash as his example.

          • I realize that. But it’s so transparent that that what it is I do t know why he bothers. Frazier will get plenty of “You’re not ready for the NFL, Frazier!” in practice. Kirby going on and on about Cash Jones just kind of makes me roll my eyes.

          • Good Afternoon, Did you see what Saban had to say about Nate Frazier yesterday on Gameday. He said I don’t know if Kirby trusts him, but I thought he was the best running back coming out of HS last year.

          • I didn’t see that but what’s ironic is that Frazier didn’t even start all of the games for his HS last year. Georgia is naturally recruiting that kid too, but Frazier was awesome last year.

    • These are the best Sunday mornings. A little coolness in the air, coffee in hand, reviewing yesterday’s results. Thanks to the entire GTPR team for doing God’s work!

    • Take whut the opposition d gives ya, don’t impose your east/west plan, let them think their east/west scheme is working, while UGA football offense is running crossing patterns underneath (wide fucking open) with #11 running post patterns and UGA football RB’s are open in the flats….don’t blame Bobo, it is the ghost of Bobo that haunts play calls…GO DAWGS!!

  7. Thank you! Praise to Mike Bobo — spent the entire first half poking and prodding the Clemson D to find their vulnerabilities and completely exploited those weaknesses in the second half. With patience, he “ran the damned ball” after making the Clemson D pay for man coverage. Loved his NSFW reactions after TDs.

  8. Sorry, Austin. I’ve gotten so used to JP sounding just like the Senator that I thought that was him. Great job.

  9. When it comes to being frustrated with Bobo “when Bobo recognized opening up the passing game would open up the run game” isn’t that true of every team and every game? Why do we have to wait for Bobo to constantly rediscover this truism?

    • Not sure if it’s always the case with him, but it happens sometimes. It was Game 1 with a lot of new players on offense, going against a good defense. And ultimately the Dawgs humiliated them. To me, it’s just something to mark for later and not get too upset about yet.

  10. Good observations. Frazier is an exciting player – he and Etienne are going to be Thunder & Lightning, Part 2. Just a sick interception by Starks. Tough road ahead but what a start.

    • I don’t think we’ve seen the end of Branson yet either, but the thought of having 2 mini Sony Michels running around in the UGA backfield brings me joy.

  12. I had a whole lot of “WTF is up with these swing passes?!” moments in the first half. My built-in analyst, my son, kept reassuring me that Bobo was just moving chess pieces to see what would and how he could work things later.
    I honestly think Lanning knew what he had from the first series.
    Clems-sons were never gonna move the ball. Had one play on the Dawgs side of the field the entire first half and that was minus 1 yard.
    -Rest Mykel.
    -Get the rest of the DL healthy.
    -Get Branson past the mental part of his injury methinks. Maybe it’s the plays he was in on.
    -London Humphrey is a baller.

    -Colbie Young is wha we thought.
    -I’d like to see more Delp & Luckie

    -Etienne and Frazier both are going to be fun and if Robinson & Robinson get going things will be even better.

    • Good call on the missing TEs, I forgot to add that note. Good blocking outside but nothing in the passing game.

    • Exactly. An analogy is a video I saw earlier this year that was an interview with Greg Maddux and Eddie Perez. Perez talked about how smart Maddux was and he gave an example of a September game against a team the Braves would be playing in the NLCS. The Braves were up by a safe margin in the game and the opposing team’s best hitter came up. Perez called a pitch and Maddux shook him off. Perez went to the mound and Maddux told him he wanted to throw a fastball low and inside. Perez said that the he was pitch8ng to the guys strength. Maddux said, “I know.” He through the pitch and the guy hit a home run. After the game Maddux told Perez that his purpose was that in the NLCS in a tight game the guy would look for that pitch but Maddux would throw it off of the plate and the guy would chase it. Sure enough the guy was up with runners on and Maddux threw him that pitch but off the plate and the guy struck out swinging.

      Every call has a purpose but that purpose isn’t necessarily to score on every play.

  13. I’d like to think that the blocking-optional swing passes are Bobo’s way of setting up plays for later this season. He’s putting film out there for Texas and Bama and anOSU to see so he can zig when they’ll expect us to zag. He knows that our D is good enough that he can afford to not score every drive if it means success when it really counts. I hope.

    I also believe my hair might grow back, the weight will come off, and if I could just meet Kate Upton in person she’d really really like me…

  14. Ehhh…the OL was not together with the early run game and give Clemson’s DL some credit for that. Missing two top backs and not ready to try Fraiser too early (he did bobble his first handoff) left CMB with little choice but to dink and dunk a little. Beck admitted he was too amped and missing things until he settled down after the half. The first live action is always sloppy. This will all get cleaned up quickly.

    Off topic…hearing on the radio broadcast Beck and one of the Georgia Lady Dawgs do a bank commercial was refreshing. Fun kids, get a legal paycheck, fan recognition, Kirby doesn’t need the money for something only he was allowed to do in the past. The NCAA could have avoided so much of the mess we now have had they let simple stuff like this happen long ago.

  15. I see Corch is still with some of us in spirit. Rolled up 34 points on a top 15 team to start the season but some are still salty about Bobo.

    • Russ, please don’t tempt fate even bringing his name up. The LAST thing I want to see here is him bitching about Bobo on and on and on. Remember, the Senator was a gnat’s ass from banning him before he died. Brought his name up on Talk’nDawgs and a guy said he was showing his ass on another site he moved to and the moderator began deleting his posts. He got mad and quit in a hissy fit. Oh, and Mike Cooley would really appreciate it too.

  16. The fabled Garrett Riley’s teams have put up 10 points against UGA in 2 games

  17. Dabo was dying for a trash time touchdown. DYING. Our defense told him to eff off.

  19. Best summary from Stewart Mandel in The Athletic ($$$):

    “That being said, I am willing to declare one ACC coach’s mini-dynasty officially over.

    3. If No. 1 Georgia’s 34-3 rout of No. 14 Clemson in Atlanta looked at times like college kids against high school kids … well, it was.”

    He also had this comment about the Handbags that made me smile:

    “After watching fifth-year quarterback Graham Mertz go 11-of-20 for 91 yards and an interception, Gators fans will invariably start calling for five-star freshman DJ Lagway. But Florida’s much more pressing issue is its defense, which looked just as hapless as it did for most of 2023. But don’t worry. Florida has only seven games still to go against preseason Top 25 teams.” (my emphasis)

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