UGA Football: Frierson – Defense Carries Bulldogs To Tough Win

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Time after time Saturday night, big third down after big third down, the Georgia defense was getting into the backfield and disrupting or sacking Clemson quarterback D.J. Uiagalelei.

“Do we have an elite pass rush? I don’t know that yet. Can we affect the quarterbacks? Absolutely,” Georgia coach Kirby Smart said after the fifth-ranked Bulldogs produced 7 sacks and 8 tackles for loss in a 10-3 win over No. 2 Clemson in the Duke’s Mayo Classic.

It was just one game, Smart said postgame, and you can only learn so much from one game. But what a game, what a performance.

Both teams’ defenses could walk off the Bank of America Stadium field with their heads held high after neither surrendered a touchdown in a tough contest played in front of 74,187 fans. Georgia and Clemson gave up a field goal on defense, that’s it. The difference in the game was a defensive one, of course.

Late in the second quarter of what was a scoreless game to that point, Bulldog safety Christopher Smith baited Uiagalelei into making a throw down the middle toward big receiver Justyn Ross. Smith jumped in to make the interception and sprinted up the left side 74 yards for the game’s only touchdown. What a time and place to come up with your first career interception.

“That was the whole point of the play,” said Smith, a senior from Atlanta who moved into the starting lineup midway through the 2020 season.

Smith said Georgia ran that defensive play “1,000 times” in practice leading up to the much-anticipated opener between two teams ranked in the top five. The key was working on how to disguise Georgia’s coverage and get Uiagalelei, Clemson’s new starting QB after years of Trevor Lawrence, to take the bait.

The play developed just as Georgia wanted, with a “perfect route combination,” and Uiagalelei “threw it right to me,” Smith said.

For the defense, great weeks of preseason practice and a great week-plus of preparation for Clemson resulted in a spectacular defensive performance. Georgia held the Tigers to 180 yards of total offense, including just 2 on the ground. Uiagalelei ended up completing 19 of 37 passes for 178, hitting a few explosive plays in the second half, and drawing some pass interference penalties, but the Bulldogs couldn’t ask for much more than what they produced Saturday.

“We put together a good game plan throughout the week and we just went out there and executed it,” Smith said.

Linebacker Nakobe Dean talked postgame about the defense priding itself on getting takeaways and playing like an elite squad in the big moments.

“On that play he was elite,” Dean said of Smith.

For Smart, the keywords Saturday were “composure” and “attention to detail.” The defense delivered on both, particularly at a pivotal point in the second quarter, when Georgia accidentally touched a bouncing punt and the Tigers recovered at the 50.

Clemson was able to move the ball down to the 30, but then on third-and-4, Smith jumped in front of Ross and raced to the end zone.

“Nobody ever panicked,” Smart said. “That’s usually a sign of a good character team.”

Clemson’s first drive was stopped by a sack for an 8-yard loss on third down by linebacker Nolan Smith.   The Tigers’ second drive was stopped by Dean’s sack for a 6-yard loss on third-and-4. Later, in the third quarter, Dean took off after Uiagalelei on a delayed blitz and got his second sack of the night, an 8-yarder on a third-and-7.

Linebacker Adam Anderson also got one, as did defensive linemen Travon Walker, Jalen Carter and the Charlotte native, Jordan Davis.

Again and again, the guys made plays. And they needed to because Clemson’s defense was giving Georgia’s offense plenty of trouble, too. The Bulldogs managed 256 yards of offense but only averaged 4.2 yards per play and had very few explosive plays.

For quarterback JT Daniels, he wants to do better than 22 of 30 passing for 135 yards and an interception, and he wants to see explosive passing and rushing attacks, but winning and not statistics is the important thing.

“If the defense does that every game,” he said, “we don’t need to do much more than score four points.”

Asked if he was going to leave the stadium with a bittersweet feeling given the offense’s trouble putting complete drives together, Daniels didn’t hesitate before answering.

“Not one bit. We just beat Clemson,” he said.

Yes, they did. And it was the defense that made it happen.
Assistant Sports Communications Director John Frierson is the staff writer for the UGA Athletic Association and curator of the ITA Men’s Tennis Hall of Fame. You can find his work at: Frierson Files. He’s also on Twitter: @FriersonFiles and @ITAHallofFame.