ATLANTA — Kirby Smart made sure to praise the Clemson defense, especially when talking about how his quarterback Carson Beck faired on Saturday.
But for as much as Clemson made things difficult for Beck, he sees a tougher defense in practice on a routine basis.
“Well, I have to play against our defense every single day, and I don’t enjoy it very much, either. They’re phenomenal,” Beck said. “I absolutely hate playing against our defense every day, but I think that’s what makes our offense get better and better.”
Beck and the Georgia offense improved over the course of the game on Saturday, allowing the Bulldogs to coast to a 34-3 win over the No. 14 Tigers.
Georgia did not have a touchdown in the first half, holding just a 6-0 halftime lead. The Bulldogs routinely found themselves in third-and-long and had only 34 rushing yards in the first half.
But Beck and the Georgia offense were undeterred. They went into the locker room and instead of going back to the drawing board, they turned to the iPad.
“We started early and didn’t have 3rd down conversions in the first half, and I thought he responded well to that,” Smart said. “He came in, sat down with the iPad, and he told me, when we come out second half, we’re going to go in there and score, Coach, and sure enough, we did. I thought he really handled that well.”
Beck found transfer receiver Colbie Young for a 7-yard touchdown to push Georgia’s lead to 13-0 on the opening drive of the second half. It was a great moment for Beck and Young, as the Miami transfer missed much of fall camp with a hamstring injury.
It’s a credit to Beck that he was so quickly able to develop chemistry with the newcomer, especially with Dillon Bell briefly departing the game due to cramp issues.
On Georgia’s next drive, Beck had perhaps his best throw of the day. It went to Vanderbilt transfer London Humphreys, with Beck perfectly threading a third-and-9 pass through coverage.
The conversion set up a Nate Frazier touchdown and pushed Georgia’s lead to 17.
“He did a great job of breaking the corner off, coming back negative underneath the linebacker, which first and foremost, I have to have a lot of trust in him that he’s going to run the route right, that he’s going to win so that I can let it go on time, and that comes with reps and continuously doing it over and over again,” Beck said. “I think that was a huge play for us in the game and really catapulted us as an offense, especially on third and long. It definitely changes the momentum.”
In the fourth quarter, Beck found Humphreys again, on third down, for a 40-yard touchdown.
Beck was in complete command in the second half, looking like the best player on the field for either side. He finished the game completing 23 of his 33 pass attempts for 278 yards and 2 touchdowns. He didn’t turn the ball over either and added 23 non-sack rushing yards.
The senior quarterback consistently put Georgia in a position so it could pound Clemson’s vaunted defense into submission.
Georgia was able to finish the game rushing for 167 yards, due in large part to Beck’s arm opening things up.
“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,” Beck said. “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.”
Clemson quarterback Cade Klubnik did not have such luck against the opposing defense. He did not have a touchdown pass while Malaki Starks came down with an incredible interception.
Beck can sympathize with Klubnik. He sees Georgia’s defense daily.
It’s helped make him better, with Saturday’s showing being the latest example of that.
