By Will Vandervort.
ATHENS, Ga. — For the first 30 minutes in Saturday’s 45-21 loss to 12th-ranked Georgia in Athens, Ga., everything was going pretty much according to plan for No. 16 Clemson.
Though not perfect, Clemson’s offense was running efficiently as it racked up 276 yards on 54 plays. The Tigers converted seven of 13 third downs, ran for 102 yards and were controlling the clock. Quarterbacks Cole Stoudt and Deshaun Watson led the team on three touchdown drives and they were a shanked field goal away from going into the locker room with a three-point lead.
With the game tied at 21, everything was going to plan. Offensive coordinator Chad Morris felt good and so did his offense.
“I thought the first half we came out and executed well,” Morris said. “Our plan all along has been to run the football. We wanted to run the football and put it on our running backs to take a little pressure off our quarterbacks and our wide receivers.
“I thought we did that and we had a really good first half. I thought we squandered some opportunities with some drops and had an opportunity that could have been a big momentum change for us right there before the half. We had an opportunity to score and at least gets some points out of a drive and it did not happen.”
Then came the second half.
Clemson managed just 15 total yards and one first down in the final 30 minutes. After having four drives of 65 or more yards in the first half, the Tigers longest drive of the second half was 19 yards and the last three ended at minus-3, minus-6 and minus-15 yards.
“I think it was execution,” said Stoudt, who finished the game 15-for-28 for 130 yards and an interception. “We had some mental errors and we have some things we have to correct. We did not expand on the big plays that we made (in the first half).”
In the first half Clemson had five plays of 20 yards or more with wide receiver Mike Williams grabbing three passes for 88 yards, including a 38-yard pass on the opening drive of the game that set up the first score and a 29-yard catch just before the Tigers’ second touchdown of the night.
But in the second half Williams was shutout and was not targeted the entire half.
Williams said it wasn’t really anything Georgia did that took him out of the game, but instead was the result of poor field position.
“Before the game, Coach (Dabo) Swinney was all focused on field position. We have a field position chart that we look at every day and where we want to start the ball. We just were not starting in great field position and it kind of changed up the play calls.”
Morris said it got the Tigers behind the changes and it allowed Georgia’s defense to tee off on his young offensive tackles Isaiah Battle and Joe Gore.
“The thing that was disappointing more than anything was the fact that we were unable to get off our own goal line,” Morris said. “We were unable to get a couple of first downs, that’s it. Just get something to breath so your whole offense can open up.
“When you are down there you are a little bit conservative and with a young group of guys and the environment we are in, I did not want to beat ourselves especially with the way our defense was playing.”
Eventually, Clemson’s defense wore down. Todd Gurley and the Georgia running backs gashed the Tigers in the fourth quarter with touchdown runs of 18, 47 and 51 yards. With the Clemson offense going three-and-out on every possession, the defense eventually gave out.
The Bulldogs rushed for 211 yards in the fourth quarter as they averaged 14.1 yards per carry. Gurley finished the game with 198 yards and scored four touchdowns overall.
“That was a little frustrating because you want to be able to help out the defense because they always want to help us out,” Stoudt said. “We got stuck and it was something we could not really dig out of. It was frustrating but it was something that will make us better.”