College Football

New Clemson QB D.J. Uiagalelei receives rude welcome from Georgia defense

Updated Sep. 5, 2021 12:26 p.m. ET

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It’s not easy being a big-time college quarterback. Nor is it easy following a legend. And it’s especially difficult to do both on a prime-time stage against a top-notch defense.

But that’s exactly the situation in which D.J. Uiagalelei found himself Saturday, when he took over the starting quarterback position recently occupied by superstar Trevor Lawrence and guided No. 3 Clemson into Charlotte for the season opener against No. 5 Georgia.

Add it all up, and it was an almost unfair trial by fire for Uiagalelei, who was harassed and bashed all night in a 10-3 defeat.

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To say it was a struggle would be an understatement. 

Uiagalelei completed just 19 of 37 passes (51.4%) for 178 yards. He not only failed to throw a touchdown pass but also failed to coax any kind of offensive threat whatsoever from his Tigers. Uiagalelei did, in a way, provide the only touchdown of the game, but that came when his pass was swiped by Christopher Smith late in the second quarter and returned 74 yards for a score. Nobody knew it at the time, but that was the game right there.

What's worse, it’s not like Uiagalelei came in completely green. He played in nine games last season, starting two of them when Lawrence was out with COVID-19. Uiagalelei played well in those games, torching Boston College for 342 yards and a pair of touchdowns in his first start and following that with a 439-yard performance in a loss at Notre Dame.

But Georgia is not Boston College or even Notre Dame. Georgia is a different deal altogether, and that showed Saturday. The Bulldogs brought pressure, consistently harassing Uiagalelei and refusing to allow him to build any kind of rhythm with his receivers. They made him uncomfortable, they forced him to hurry, and they sacked him seven times.

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They also completely took away the running game, holding Clemson to one yard on the ground in the first half and just one more in the second. Yes, that's right: Mighty Clemson gained two yards in the running game on 23 carries, good for 0.1 yards per carry.

The stoutness of Georgia's defense should not have been a surprise. This unit has ranked fourth in total defense the past two seasons and was second in the SEC — and 16th in the nation — in points allowed last season, at only 20 PPG. They Bulldogs led the SEC last season in yards per play allowed, rushing defense and sacks.

That's what Uiagalelei had to face with the Clemson reins now solely in his hands. And he had to do it without star running back Travis Etienne, who followed Lawrence to the Jaguars in the draft.

Saturday's game will certainly tarnish Uiagalelei's profile on the national stage, at least in the short term. The sophomore entered the weekend among the top candidates to take home the Heisman Trophy. That prospect will take a hit now, if it doesn't disappear altogether.

To his credit, though, Uiagalelei took the blame after the contest, saying, "I didn’t play very good today. Everyone could see that, and it showed … It’s on me ... I just missed throws. I’ve gotta play better. It’s as simple as that."

The Tigers, who have now lost two games in a row for the first time in a decade, still have time to get back into the championship conversation. It's not like they were blown out by Georgia, after all. They could right the ship next weekend against South Carolina State. They could still run the table in the ACC. They could still wriggle their way into the College Football Playoff.

It might seem unlikely at the moment, but it's possible. Uiagalelei and the Tigers just have to play a whole lot better than they did Saturday night.  

The good news? They don't have any more scheduled games against Georgia this season.

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