Kirby Smart on Georgia's defensive dominance over Clemson

No. 5 Georgia and No. 3 Clemson faced off on Saturday night in the most intriguing week one matchup in recent memory. Georgia’s defense showed up in a big way against Clemson, and the Bulldogs came away with a 10-3 victory. Bulldogs head coach Kirby Smart was thrilled with his defense’s performance, but he wasn’t expecting to hold Clemson’s offense to just three points.

Georgia completely eliminated Clemson’s run game

In the game, Clemson rushed for just two yards on 23 carries. As a whole, Clemson totaled 180 yards and 178 passing yards. Clemson quarterback D.J. Uiagalelei was sacked seven times, and he was not able to get anything going for the Tigers.

Smart expects his defense to perform at a high level every game. But he was a little bit surprised as how dominating the defense was. Clemson’s offense was not expected to take a major step back with Uiagalelei at the helm.

“No, I never would have thought that (we would hold Clemson to three points),” Smart said to reporters after the game. “We go to every game with the goal to shut them out. That’s the goal, but we have a goal on defense that says no explosive plays and going to hold them under thirteen points.

“Everyone thinks we’re crazy. They think ‘you’re never going to hold teams under thirteen points in this day and age.’ Why can’t we? Just like they have an offense, we have a defense. We want to be able to defend it. We’ve got to be better.”

Smart: This defense fights for each other

Uiagalelei had two strong performances in his only two starts last season. He is a potential Heisman hopeful and is in line to be one of the top NFL Draft picks very soon. Georgia was able to get into the backfield early and often, and Uiagalelei was never able to get comfortable. Uiagalelei completed 19 of 37 passes for 178 yards and an interception.

“I think we rattled the quarterback, and once he got affected, it probably hurt him with his eyes downfield and things,” Smart said. “I’m not ready to anoint anybody. The one thing I know about this defense is that they love each other. They fight for each other. There are so many guys who didn’t play tonight that were happy for the other guys.

“That’s what’s unique. I’ve been in a lot of these games where you go in the locker room, and there’s guys sulking about, ‘Man, I didn’t play.’ There were guys who didn’t play tonight, and they were just so excited for the other guys. That’s a good sign.”

Coming into the game, everyone knew that the outcome could potentially have big implications on the College Football Playoff at the end of the season. Georgia hopes that is the case. The Bulldogs start the season 1-0 as the Tigers fall to 0-1.