By Kaila Burns-Heffner.

Saturday’s 45-21 loss at 12th-ranked Georgia was a tough pill to swallow for Clemson, but veteran offensive guard Kalon Davis is ready to put the defeat behind him and to focus on being successful in the season ahead.

“The season is not over. It’s a long season,” he said. “Right now, we put it to bed really as a team. This morning we came in at 6:30 and watched our film. We looked at some of the good and some of the bad, but we’ve got to start getting ready for the next game.”

The next game is this Saturday against South Carolina State in the home opener for the Tigers. Kickoff is set for 12:30 p.m. in Death Valley.

There is optimism for Clemson to learn from last week’s mistakes made in the second half.

“Really we’re just going out there and everyone is trying to do their best,” said Davis, who was named Clemson’s offensive player of the game. “My mindset is the same as everyone else on the team, just to go out there and give it your all and play your best. I just happened to have a good game, but in the end, it’s still not the result we wanted so it’s really irrelevant.”

The first half ended with Clemson rushing for 102 yards on 31 carries. Three dropped passes and a missed field goal were the biggest reasons Clemson didn’t score more points in the first half.

One of the biggest downfalls of the game was the field position and the lack of first downs, especially towards the end of the game. Offensive coordinator Chad Morris mentioned that Clemson went 0-for-7 on third downs in the second half, and there were 31 missed assignments.

“We’ve got to get first downs, we’ve got to move the ball and we’ve got to change the field positions,” Davis said.

Davis mentioned the absence of offensive guard David Beasley also affected the rotation of the offensive line and that his return to the team this week will provide the unit much needed depth on the offensive line. Beasley sat out the Georgia game due to a suspension for violation of team rules back in the spring.

“With Beasley in there we’re able to maybe take like three people out and have two fresh bodies in, and we’ll only have one guy that’s like maybe a little winded,” Davis said.