By Will Vandervort.

It’s simple where No. 23 Clemson lost the Georgia game last Saturday – it was on third down.

The Tigers, who will host South Carolina State this Saturday in Death Valley, were 7 of 20 on third down and on 12 of their 15 drives, they were held to six plays or less, including  nine three-and-outs.

“The biggest thing that shocked me was our inability to keep anything going,” Clemson offensive coordinator Chad Morris said. “We would get something, but I’d be dang we would take two or three steps back. We would have positive plays on first down and second down and then on third down, you lose third down.”

Clemson lost a lot on Saturday. The Tigers had a total of minus-24 yards in the fourth quarter and finished the second half with only 15 yards of total offense. They were 0-for-7 on third down and quarterbacks Cole Stoudt and Deshaun Watson were sacked four times.

“It’s a learning process for our guys. I thought that once the momentum turned that some of our inexperienced showed,” Morris said.

It turned at the end of the third quarter when Ammon Lakip missed a 35-yard field goal that could have given the Tigers a three-point lead at the break. That killed a 13-play, 65-yard drive. Clemson totaled 276 yards in the first half and were executing at a high level.

But they never recovered after Lakip’s miss.

Morris indicated in fall camp that he was concerned no one was stepping up a being that vocal leader that the offense needs when things are going wrong. It happened again against the Bulldogs in Week 1.

“That’s when you need that great leader to step up and say, ‘Okay, we got this. We are only down ten points. Let’s go,’” the Clemson coach said.

“We had plenty of time, instead it seemed like it started snowballing from all angles at that point.”

Georgia also played a big role in what happened as defensive coordinator Jeremy Pruitt stopped blitzing and start going with two high safeties as he rushed with only his four down linemen. With no deep threat or passing game, the Bulldogs just teed off on Stoudt and Watson.

“Again, I think it is a learning experience. If we can learn from this, which we will, then it will pay dividends down the road,” Morris said. “That’s all you ask as a coach is to be able to learn from it.”

The question now is will they learn from it? Saturday might tell a lot. Then again, it might tell nothing.