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.”
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