By Will Vandervort.
It was the start of the fourth quarter and everybody on the Clemson sideline was up and on their feet with their four fingers up in the air.
This was it. This was crunch time. This was the moment to be excited about.
Trailing by just three points on the road in a hostile environment was right were the 23rd-ranked Tigers wanted to be against No. 8 Georgia last Saturday. This was their chance to shine and go win the game.
“We talked about that exact moment during meetings,” Clemson defensive coordinator Brent Venables said. “Here comes the fourth quarter, no scoreboard. This is going to be about will. This is going to be about toughness.”
Unfortunately for Clemson, Venables defense did not have anymore will to give. Georgia ran roughshod over his defense as the Bulldogs rushed for 211 of their 328 yards in the fourth quarter, while scoring on three consecutive offensive plays to blow the game open.
The more disheartening part was a six-play, 82-yard drive the Tigers gave up after punter Bradley Pinion finally flipped field position with a 60-yard punt.
“We did not match what they had,” Venables said. “Obviously, that is disappointing and I know there are a lot of guys that are hurt because of that. But you can’t sit here and dwell on it and feel sorry for yourself. You have to get up off the ground and go to back to work and hopefully we have learned our lessons from it.”
The Tigers (0-1) will see what lessons they learned this Saturday when they host South Carolina State in their home opener at Death Valley. Kickoff is slated for 12:30 p.m.
“(The Georgia) game definitely challenged our leadership and what we have to do in the fourth quarter. We have to be able to finish games and we can’t let that happen, again,” linebacker Stephone Anthony said.
It definitely challenged Anthony. The senior, who was a preseason All-ACC First-Team selection, was run over and dragged by freshman running back Nick Chubb on a 47-yard scoring play in the fourth quarter that gave Georgia a 17-point lead at the time.
Anthony, who had eight tackles, was often out of position and had too many missed tackles. It was one of the worse games he has played since he became a starter two years ago.
“He didn’t play well,” Venables said.
But it just wasn’t Anthony. The Tigers had 13 missed tackles in the fourth quarter alone.
“Positioning was poor. Aggression wasn’t what it needed to be across the board and again having that sense of desperation when the game is on the line and you have a chance to win it – all of those things were poor,” Venables said.
“You go back and think maybe you should have called this or maybe you should have called that, but as a long as you know what you called is sound, you ought to be able to execute. There are always things when you evaluate that you did in the first half that doesn’t work in that last quarter, but that is the game of football. It comes down to all the intangibles that we talk about and certainly execution is one and we got out executed.”
Anthony says the final 15 minutes at Georgia was one of the worst experiences he has ever had as a football player.
“It is demoralizing,” he said. “They had a good game and they finished us off.”
Now the question is can the Tigers make sure it doesn’t happen again.
“I have no reservation about our guys – their character, their toughness. We have great leadership,” Venables said. “Again, we lost a game. We failed. That is tough. It hurts because there is a lot of investment. Guys have worked incredibly hard, but I know what their resolve is. I really do.”