Colin Lacy
$180 Million Backup
By: Colin Lacy
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
With the NFL Wild Card round starting for the 2024 postseason this weekend, one team that had a shot to play on into postseason, but came up short to end the regular season made some news as Atlanta Falcons GM Terry Fontenot met with the media Thursday afternoon.
Fontenot met with the media and when asked about the plan for Kirk Cousins, the Falcons GM said the Atlanta is “comfortable” with having the $180 million QB serve as the back-up moving forward.
“We are very comfortable moving forward with (Cousins) as backup,” Fontenot said Thursday.
“Kirk is a great man, and he’s been great support for Mike. We are very comfortable moving forward with him as the backup.”
After turnover issues, the Falcons made the decision to bench Cousins officially going into week 16 against the Giants and turned to Michael Penix Jr. to lead the Atlanta offense for the final three regular season game.
Coming into the season, after Atlanta signed Kirk Cousin for $180 million to pilot the Falcons just weeks before drafting Penix in the first round after his magical run with University of Washington.
The sequence of moves left a lot of Falcons fans scratching their heads. While either one set alone would be great for a Falcons team who has been thirsting for a productive quarterback ever since the front office “let” Matt Ryan go to the Colts…Still not over that. The rub came with the question of “why both?”
The Falcons plan for this marriage was, at least publicly, was for Cousins to navigate the Falcons for two seasons while mentoring Michael Penix Jr. When the turnover woes came into play, the timeline was expedited by well over a year.
Terry Fontenot also told the media that the Falcons signed Cousins expecting to see a “high-level quarterback play for two years.” The Atlanta GM would go on to say, “the plan was for Kirk to play longer and for Mike to sit longer.”
Now the question comes into play of while the Falcons are “comfortable” with Cousins continuing the mentorship part of the plan and serving as the backup quarterback, is Cousins comfortable with the new plan?
Cousins showed flashes of still being a really good quarterback in the NFL, thinking back to his record setting 509 yards passing in an overtime win against Tampa Bay.
Folks also thought this was a match made in heaven with back-to-back wins against the Cowboys and Buccaneers for a second time, but that was the pinnacle of the season for Cousins.
After that stretch, the final five starts for the former Viking turned into throwing one touchdown and nine interceptions which would tie the NFL lead for the season with sixteen picks.
Especially after the Netflix Documentary “Quarterback” a few years ago, Cousins has been a fan favorite for his personality and leadership qualities everywhere he’s been, especially in his time with Minnesota, and that’s no different in Atlanta.
While a well-established NFL quarterback very easily could have turned the relationship sour after being benched in year one, Fontenot alluded to that being far from this situation, “Kirk is a great man, and he’s been great support for Mike. We are very comfortable moving forward with him as the backup.”
This is one, I’m torn. From the Falcons perspective, it would be awesome for Cousins to be essentially a second QB coach for Atlanta and mentor Michael Penix Jr. as he begins what the Birds believe is a long and successful career.
On the flip side, I also think Cousins has a lot to give to a team and could be a crucial factor going forward.
Bugs In The System
By: Colin Lacy
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
Just into the change of the calendar from 2024 to 2025, the first 12-team College Football Playoff has completed the first two rounds of the bracket.
Not that it surprises many folks, but the playoff format is already drawing grumblings from college football coaches, media, and fans alike.
Now that we’ve seen the first round, on-campus sites, and the quarterfinals round in four of the New Years Six Games, what have we learned and where should this go in the future?
To find out what we’ve learned, we must look back and see how we got here. The birth of the College Football Playoff began for the 2014 season and was formed as a four-team playoff for the National Championship until this season (2024) when the expansion to 12-teams took effect.
The expansion talks have been just that since the inception of the CFP but took some weight when an internal working group of ADs, Commissioners and former coaches/players was put into place in June of 2021.
That group was tasked with exploring what a format of an expanded playoff would look like in the future.
Fast forward a year and a half to December of 2022, the CFP Board of Managers unanimously agrees to implement the 12-team playoff beginning in the 2024 and 2025 seasons.
The part that severely went unnoticed in the expediency of the format change is that the working group was given a target date of beginning the format in the 2025 season.
SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey, who was in that working group, has publicly said that when the start date was moved up a full year, they knew there were going to be some bugs that needed to be worked out.
So, what are those bugs that have reared their ugly head so far through eight games in the CFP?
Going into the first round, outside of fans in Tuscaloosa and an SEC Head Coach that calls Oxford, Mississippi home, the majority of fans and media do not have many bones to pick with the 12-teams that are in the playoff, but questions have been raised about the selection process after the opening round.
Getting through the first round of on-campus hosted games felt like a chore with only one game ending within ten points. No matter the format, no matter the number of teams, and even with a flawless system there are always going to be conversations of “snubs” or “non-deserving” teams, so that’s not the elephant in the room.
The biggest issue we have with the current 12-team format is the seeding.
One of the cornerstones of this format was the emphasis on Conference Champions that would have the five highest rated conference champions in the final CFP rankings would automatically earn a spot in the field, and the four highest would earn a top four seed.
This year that plays out as the Big 10 Champion Oregon receiving the #1 seed, SEC Champion Georgia earning the #2 Seed, the Mountain West Champ Boise State as the #3 seed as the group of five representative, and Big 12 Winner Arizona State rounding out the group with first round byes as the #4 seed. The ACC champion Clemson was the 5th highest ranked conference champ and rounded out the field as the #12 seed.
The big rub has been the seeding of the conference champions with Boise State and Arizona State, while being deserving of being in the field due to winning their conference, a first round bye (which turns out didn’t fair so well for any of the four that earned it this year) shouldn’t have been in the cards for the Broncos or Sun Devils.
Discussions have already started at the top (SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey seems to always have that kind of pull) in order to not only change the seeding but also begin developing a system to re-seed after each round.
I suspect that even possibly as early as next year, we see the five highest ranked conference champions receive a slot in the 12-team playoff but are not guaranteed a top 4 seed and first round bye.
After this first cycle of the playoff that runs with the contract that runs out after the 2025 season playoffs, do not be surprised to see re-seeding come into play after each round similar to the NFL playoffs. This would put the highest remaining seed after each round facing the lowest remaining seed and so on.
At the end of the day, this process was rushed to get it online and while it is turned into a couple enticing games and fantastic environments for the first ever on-campus playoff games, there are still changes to be made to get it where it needs to be.
My biggest concern in the process is the impatience of folks forcing the hand to expand to 16 or beyond before the kinks are fully worked out with the 12-team format. Only time will tell.
Splashless
By: Colin Lacy
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
After what most Braves fans see as a 2024 Braves season that didn’t meet expectations, Alex Anthopolous was expected to make a splash this offseason to bolster the roster, but up until this point in late December, there has barely been a ripple, let alone a splash.
Most of the news involving the Braves coming across your ticker has been now former Bravos now donning a new uniform going forward.
The biggest subtraction from the Atlanta club is one that most suspected would not be back in the 404 after not landing on an extension prior to the 2024 season, but came to fruition in mid-December when Max Fried signed an eight-year contract with the Yankees.
Other departures include Travis d’Arnaud team option not exercised and promptly signing a two year deal with the Angels.
There have been some pens to paper to add to the Braves clubhouse, but most would fly under the radar for the casual Braves fan.
The most recent coming on December 20th with the Braves trading for RHP Davis Daniel with the Angles and sending minor league lefty hurler Mitch Farris to Anaheim.
Daniel was born in Atlanta and was a seventh-round selection out of Auburn. The former Tiger made his major league debut in 2023 with three appearances out of the Angels bullpen and put up a 2.19 ERA in the short debut season.
With experience in both the back end of the Angels rotation last year and out of the bullpen, Daniel gives the Braves options on how he is used and what the best path looks like for the partnership.
The only other addition to note (if you want to call it that) is signing outfielder Bryan De La Cruz to a one-year non-guaranteed deal.
The past few years haven’t worked out for De La Cruz. In 2024, De La Cruz started the season with the Marlins and fell victim to the Miami Fire Sale in late July when he was traded to Pittsburgh for a pair of prospects.
After 44 games with the Pirates, De La Cruz was non-tendered by the club after just a .200 average and three homers.
There are a couple of bright spots in this somewhat head-scratching signing for the Braves. While Atlanta fans can hope for another rejuvenating season that the Braves development staff have done in the past, the biggest plus to this signing is options.
De La Cruz is a young player at 27 years old and still has options to be used, so if he doesn’t make the team out of spring, he can be sent to Gwinnett as depth.
Because of not exercising d’Arnaud’s $8 million option and re-working the contracts of Renaldo Lopez and Aaron Bummer to a lower dollar amount than anticipated, the Braves have some money to play with to go after that “splash” that has been hoped for since September.
Anthopolous said early in the off-season that he wouldn’t be deterred by the higher penalties (higher taxes with competitive balance tax thresholds) in order to go out and sign someone that could really help the club, but now the question is what’s the priority?
You can argue if the priority should be a bat in the outfield or help in the rotation or a key bullpen arm.
To me, the lineup should be mark number one. As hot and cold as the offense was last season, they seemed to be missing a solid bat in the middle of the order to be consistent all season long.
You find that, in a way, it takes the stress off the pitching staff both on the rotation and the pen. Now… just have to find it.
Flying To Bowl
By: Colin Lacy
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
While 2024 didn’t end in a Sun Belt Conference crown like the Eagles were still fighting for just a few short weeks ago, Georgia Southern finished the 2024 regular season 8-4 and have been invited to the Big Easy for the R&L Carriers New Orleans Bowl in the Caesars Superdome on December 19th to face the C-USA’s Sam Houston State Bearkats who will make their first FBS Bowl appearance in their second season at the FBS level.
Georgia Southern will appear in their 7th appearance in a postseason bowl game since moving up to the FBS in the 2014 season.
Because of the NCAA rules on transitioning teams, Georgia Southern couldn’t participate in a bowl in 2014, but set the standard straight in the first-year bowl eligible with a dominating win over Bowling Green in the 2015 GoDaddy Bowl in Mobile to the tune of 57-27.
The Eagles are 3-3 in the previous bowl matchups and have come up short in the last two meetings (Last year falling 41-21 to Ohio in the Myrtle Beach Bowl and 2022 to Buffalo in the Camellia Bowl 23-21). The last triumph in the post season for the Blue and White came…in the same bowl game they’re heading to this season.
The 2020 season was capped off with a convincing 38-3 victory over Louisiana Tech in the R&L Carriers New Orleans Bowl.
Shai Werts was named MVP for his efforts in the Big Easy running for three touchdowns while the Eagle defense amassed four interceptions of the Bulldogs to capture the New Orleans Bowl title under then Head Coach Chad Lunsford.
Since that 2020 NOLA Bowl, the landscape of college football has changed drastically and now the biggest question going into any bowl game outside of the College Football Playoff is… Who is actually playing in the game?
Because of the Transfer Portal window opening a week before Bowl Season officially starts (this year it opened Monday the 9th), most teams are being gutted with players entering the transfer portal and opting out of the game.
Luckily for Georgia Southern, the Eagles have been one of the least affected teams in the country by the portal to this point with only three players entering the portal. Wideout DeAndre Buchannon, defensive back Deontre Morris, along with quarterback Dexter Williams II (who decided to fore-go the last few games of the season to enter the portal) are the only casualties Georgia Southern has seen decide to elect for free agency…. I mean the portal.
On the flip side, Sam Houston State has been slapped across the face by the portal. Eighteen Bearkats have decided to look for greener pastures in the portal including virtually the entire running back room with the only four running backs with a carry on the season entering their name into the transfer jar including DJ McKinney who was named C-USA Freshman of the Year.
The Bearkats also have seen eleven players that have played a factor (not all starters) on defense this year have also joined the list. With all of that said, the decision hasn’t been made yet of how many of them still play in the Bowl game despite being in the portal. Each team decides how to handle that scenario where some coaches will, and some won’t allow someone in the portal to still play for that school. Indications are that at least some (again no idea how many) will suit up against the Blue and White.
In addition to all of the portal departures, Sam Houston State is battling through also losing their head coach, K.C. Keeler who was hired as the next head coach at Temple on December 1st. Keeler had spearheaded Sam Houston in their transition from the FCS to FBS and after eleven years in Huntsville, Keeler hands the reigns off to Interim Head Coach Brad Cornelsen who was the Offensive Coordinator for Keeler the past two years.
So, while stability is the name of the game for Georgia Southern in the meantime, there are a lot of unanswered questions on the scouting report for the Bearkats. We have seen magical moments in the Bowl Season for Georgia Southern many times and can’t wait to see what this one turns out to be in the Big Easy for Big Blue!
Becoming A Legend
By: Colin Lacy
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
The air on Friday nights gets a little cooler…time change makes the sun set a little earlier; it must mean it’s time for postseason football in South Georgia.
Although the GISA has gotten a jump on the postseason party a few weeks prior to the GHSA, Southeast Bulloch Football is poised to return to the postseason for the first time since 2021.
Although there’s a ton of factors in the success for the Jackets in 2024, there’s one that seems we have said over the airwaves repeatedly and has racked up a historic season in Brooklet…Colby Smith.
On the first weekend in November, Colby Smith eclipsed the 1,000-yard rushing mark for the season becoming the first Jacket in seven years to run for more than 1K in a year.
With a 36 yard second quarter rush against Beach, the junior running back became the first SEB rusher since Chase Walker in 2017 to reach the 1,000-yard echelon, which lends itself to pretty good company.
Chase Walker is one of the most decorated players to come through Brooklet with a stellar high school career from 2014-2017 playing under three head coaches in his four-year span of Pat Collins, Steve Pennington, and Barrett Davis.
Walker not only surpassed 1,000 rushing yards as a senior in 2017 but did it in all four years as a Yellow Jacket and racked up 6,100 career yards on the ground with 28 career 100-yard rushing games.
Walker also found the endzone 91 times for rushing touchdowns, which still ranks top 15 on the all-time state of Georgia record book. To put it in perspective, Herschel Walker (regarded as one of the best players out of the state) sits 3 spots behind Walker on the all-time career rushing touchdowns list with 86.
Colby Smith has been a massive impact for Southeast Bulloch on both sides of the ball virtually his entire career. He will wrap the 2024 regular season with his 27th game played and 25th career game started.
Smith was thrust on the scene as a freshman in 2022 and started the back half of the season as a linebacker for the Jackets.
Over the last four years, Smith has seen considerable action at linebacker, safety, nickel, running back and was the backup quarterback last season and was thrown in the fire after Will Nelson’s injury.
“He’s just a hard-nosed kid,” said SEB Head Coach Jared Zito. “He physical and he’s super smart, but what gets overlooked is his athleticism and the kind of athlete he is. He’s got incredible balance, great vision, tremendous feet and is MUCH faster than people think.”
Smith has the old school football player feeling around him, and a lot of that comes from his family.
His family is one that loves the Jackets and is the picture of what a football family is.
There is not a game or event that goes by that doesn’t have his dad Cameron (who is part of the chain crew on the sidelines for the home games), his mom, Christy, and sister Courtney.
It goes beyond that too. Colby’s cousins Matt Bowen played, and Jason Bowen plays for the Jackets on the field with his Uncle Mark Bowen in the booth as an analyst on SEB’s radio broadcast on 106.5, the Boro and Aunt Christy Bowen who serves with the SEB Athletic Booster Club as the treasurer.
If that group isn’t enough, the icons of the squad that show up no matter where or the weather are his grandparents Larry and Charlotte Bowen, and when you hear someone yelling and cheering above everyone else…. it’s probably Mr. Larry.
It’s been a blast this year for me to get a front row seat to watch a historic season that Colby Smith has been putting up on the field, but the real root of high school football is the people that you get to spend each Friday night with, and it’s an absolute honor to get to see the person that Colby is and has around him.
Where’s The Game?
By: Colin Lacy
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
The “World’s Largest Cocktail Party” has become a staple in college football and the sports world for the game, the atmosphere, and the pageantry around one of (if not the single) best rivalries in College Football. Each year half of EverBank Stadium, Home to the NFL’s Jacksonville Jaguars is filled with red and black while half is filled with blue and orange.
Since 1933, all but two Georgia/Florida (or Florida/Georgia depending on which side you sit) matchups have taken place in Jacksonville. But the question raises…Why Jacksonville?
The only matchups since 1933 that haven’t taken place in Jacksonville were in 1994 & 1995 because the Gator Bowl had been demolished, and the (then) Jacksonville Municipal Stadium construction was still in progress as the ‘94 meeting moved to Gainesville & ’95 called Athens home.
1933 wasn’t the first time the two met in Jacksonville, as a matter of fact just the second all-time meeting came in Duval County in 1915.
Leading into the 1933 season, administrators from both schools had talked about moving the game to a neutral site, but where?
Florida Historian Norm Carlson said in an interview with Florida Football that transportation was the reason…
“They moved that game to Jacksonville in 1933 because fans of both schools could easily get there by train,” said Carlson in a 2016 interview. “It turned out right. The game was sold out the first year and from then on that was held in Jacksonville.”
That’s one reason, but if you ask ten historians, you may get ten different answers. So why else has this 80-year tradition stood?
You have to remember back in the early 1900s college football stadiums weren’t the cathedrals they are today, so it wasn’t out of the ordinary for rivalry games across the country to be held at a neutral site to allow for a larger crowd.
Georgia historian Loran Smith said in a 2023 interview with 11Alive in Atlanta, “ “Georgia had a rickety old baseball field which served as the football field. We played Georgia Tech in Atlanta every year for a number of years.”
There have been many conversations about moving this game over the years, but administrators from both sides still see the value of playing in the bigger city.
Jacksonville wasn’t the only neutral site for this game. The first ever meeting between the two took place in Macon while also seeing stops in Tampa (1919) and Savannah (1928 & 1930). Athens has hosted the game five times while Gainesville has only seen this matchup inside the city limits twice (1931 & 1994).
In recent years there has been some questions surrounding the Jaguars rebuilding EverBank Stadium and what would happen to this game, but all parties have an agreed to extend the option in the current contract and keep the game in Jacksonville until at least 2025.
While Georgia is still trying to prove it’s at the elite level in the game, and Florida is trying to get their program right, you can throw it all out the window. The World’s Largest Cocktail Party will be rocking in Duval County!
Making The Grade?
By: Colin Lacy
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
Hard to believe already but the regular season for high school football in Georgia is at the halfway point of the year.
Today we’ll take a look at the report card for the four Bulloch County high school football teams; Southeast Bulloch, Statesboro, Bulloch Academy, and Portal.
Southeast Bulloch (4-1; 3-1 Reg3-3A) | A-
Southeast Bulloch has been off to a great start to the season with the only blemish on the card being the road loss at Calvary Day School.
The Jackets offense has been steadily growing despite a couple of injuries and culminated three 100 yard rushing performances so far.
Jacket Country saw Jayden Murphy rush for 160 yards and two scores against the Atom Smashers and Colby Smith following up with 130 yards and a score in the contest against Johnson. Smith followed the Johnson game up with 124 rushing yards against Windsor Forest last weekend.
Sophomore Quarterback Rhett Morgan is growing up before Head Coach Jared Zito’s eyes with two passing scores on the year and 5 explosive plays the past two weeks thru the air.
The Jackets defense led by Senior Kyle O’Brien, and Sophomore Brant Horst at the linebacker spots have held their own only allowing just over 100 rushing yards per game on the year and forcing 12 turnovers in the first five games.
Statesboro (2-3; 1-2 Reg1-5A) | C+
Second year Head Coach Matt Dobson has had a tough go at through the first half of the year.
After falling to cross town rival SEB in the opener, the Blue Devils picked up their first victory against Veterans 21-10 in week 2.
SHS then dropped their first two region matchups against Greenbrier and Glynn Academy but picked up their first region win against Bradwell Institute last week 41-36.
Quarterback Beckham Jarrard has taken the boro by storm in his freshman season already with over 800 passing yards and completing 62% of his passes with Keon Childers the favorite target racking up 298 receiving yards and two scores.
Statesboro has a tough road ahead down the back stretch but look to build off an impressive game against Bradwell Institute.
Bulloch Academy (6-0) | A+
The Gators have come out hot as ever in 2024 ranking #1 in the GIAA rankings after the 6-0 start.
Head Coach Aaron Phillips builds off the state semifinal appearance last season with a march to continue the winning ways in 2024.
Shamar Jenkins has been a huge boost for the Gators on the offensive side both at running back and receiver while the BA Defense has been the huge linchpin for the Gators success.
BA looks poised to enter region play then take a march deep into the GIAA state playoffs that culminate at the end of November at Allen E. Paulson Stadium for the GIAA State Championships.
Portal (2-3; 1-2 Reg 3-1Ad2) | C
The Portal Panthers continue to find the new identity after losing a number of players from a year ago to graduation and are now playing on Saturdays.
A couple of those that have stepped up is senior running back Jaylon Strickland and Brian McQueen.
Strickland recorded his first 100+ rushing yard game in the victory over Byran County last week and has racked up 360 on the year with 2 scores.
McQueen who has made the shift from quarterback to receiver is accountable for five touchdowns on the year (2 rushing, 2 receiving, 1 passing).
Portal seems to be rounding into shape and looking to get back to the success they’ve shown in the past few years.
Gators QB1?
By: Colin Lacy
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
Turmoil has been a consistent descriptor for the Florida Gators the last couple of seasons and the start of 2024 has been no different.
Florida felt a little bit of confidence and optimism entering the season but was quickly squashed with the season-opening loss against rival Miami 41-17.
In that lid-lifting loss, Gator quarterback Graham Mertz took a tough hit in the fourth quarter and was diagnosed with a concussion. True freshman phenom D.J. Lagway took over for Mertz to finish off the Miami game then started and played the majority of the Gators 45-7 victory over FCS Samford.
Now the questions of “who is QB1 for the Gators” have caught fire. So, who are these two and where does the toasted rear’ of Billy Napier go for the season?
Graham Mertz is the experienced sixth year signal caller who transferred into the Florida program after four years at Wisconsin.
In his debut season with the Gators, Mertz was on track with his best statistical season of his career with 20 touchdowns to just 3 interceptions while racking up 264 yards per game on average through the first 11 games of the season before fracturing his collarbone in the week eleven loss to Missouri and missing the finale against Florida State.
The offseason and preseason leading into the 2024 season was filled with optimism around Mertz but the Miami game suggests it may be a bit premature. Mertz, before leaving the game with the concussion in the fourth quarter, went 11-20 passing with only 91 yards through the air. Mertz didn’t record a score while throwing an interception and was sacked three times.
D.J. Lagway was a highly sought-after recruit out of Willis, Texas (just north of Houston) after totaling over 5,500 all-purpose yards and 73 touchdowns as a senior in high school in route to winning the 2023 Gatorade National Player of the Year.
Lagway essentially had his pick of the litter where to take his talents in the collegiate ranks but saw the vision of Napier and the Gators.
In his Gator debut, Lagway connected on 3 of 6 of the passes for 31 yards and added 20 rushing yards and his first career touchdown on the ground in less than a quarter in the Miami matchup.
Lagway followed that up with his first career start for the Gators against Samford (again because of Mertz’ concussion holding him out). Against the FCS’ Bulldogs, Lagway impressed with 456 yards through the air and 3 scores while completing 18 of 25 passes including an 85-yard reception to Eugene Wilson III.
Now the question goes to “what happens now?”
Most are expecting Napier and company to play Graham Mertz as QB1, but many in Gator Nation are wanting to turn the page and see what D.J. Lagway does with the full keys to the program.
Personally, I think (at least for the time being), Mertz has earned the right to get the opportunity to lose his job as QB1.
In his 6-year career, Mertz has amassed over 8,300 career passing yards and 58 touchdowns.
The experience factor plays a huge role in this decision. Mertz should be the guy. That being said, I think it’s only a question of “IF” not “WHEN” D.J. Lagway takes the reigns and runs with it.
Dawgs And Tigers To Tear It Up
By: Colin Lacy
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
Boot meets ball and we’ve got Football in 2024!
While I know college football officially began last week with Week Zero, we have our first full weekend of football coming this weekend and the first marquee game kicks off at Noon with the Aflac Kickoff game between Clemson and Georgia.
The Bulldogs come into the match-up a consensus number 1 team while Dabo Swinney’s Tigers come in as the 14th best ranked squad.
This SEC vs ACC clash is the 65th meeting all time between the two, and a rematch of the 2021 Kickoff game in Charlotte where the Bulldogs won 10-3. That 2021 match-up was the last meeting between the two, and the only touchdown scored in the game was a pick-six by Georgia’s Chris Smith taking a (now former Tiger) DJ Uiagalelei pass back 74 yards to the house in the second quarter to start the scoring.
This game away from Memorial Stadium marks the 5th straight season that Clemson will open the year away from the friendly confines of Death Valley.
The Tigers look to build off the success they had in the back half of 2023. After starting the season 4-4, Clemson finished up the 9-4 slate by winning the final five games of the year.
On the flip side, Georgia has become accustomed to playing inside Mercedes Benz Stadium after having played at least one game inside “the Benz” each of the last eight seasons.
That being said, the Dawgs are looking to get the sour taste out of their mouths from the last contest in Atlanta with the loss in the SEC Championship game last season to Alabama 27-24. While the loss to Alabama still sticks in the crawl of Dawg fans, the loss in the SEC Title game was the only loss in the last 30 contests.
The quarterback match-up is one of experienced signal callers. Georgia’s QB1 Carson Beck ranked third in all the FBS with 3,941 passing yards and was a Manning Award finalist a year ago.
Beck is going to be protected by familiar faces with four returning starting linemen with LT Earnest Greene III, LG, Dylan Fairchild, RG Tate Ratledge and RT Xavier Truss. That combination helped lead the Georgia offense to a school record 7.26 yards per play and leading the country on third down by converting on over 55% of the time.
For the Clemson Tigers, Cade Klubnik already made a name for himself last season already ranking in the top 15 in Clemson history in career passing touchdowns and collected three contests of over 300 yards passing, which is good for 6th best in Clemson lore.
This match-up is the only meeting between two AP Top 15 teams this weekend and clashes two legendary head coaches. Dabo Swinney and Kirby Smart are two of only three active head coaches to have won an FBS National Championship (along with North Carolina’s Mack Brown).
Obviously, Georgia is the favorite in the game, and casual fans have overlooked the Clemson squad for the last year plus, I think Clemson makes this more of a game than many believe.
Clemson hasn’t utilized the transfer portal much, but honestly didn’t need to this year with fourteen returning starters from a year ago from a team that arguably had the most momentum in college football down the back stretch.
So, on Saturday, after a morning of College Game Day, it will lead you to the ABC kickoff in Atlanta for the first major matchup of the season. The Dawgs and the Tigers to kick off your Week 1!
Life In Death Valley
By: Colin Lacy
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
People have seen the Clemson Tigers coming back down to earth after their historic run with Head Coach Dabo Swinney the last few years. The Tigers have had at least three losses in each of the last three years.
Swinney has been extremely vocal about his opposition to the current state of college football with the transfer portal and NIL running rampant, but at the end of the day, Clemson keeps winning!
Last season, the Tigers began the 2023 season 4-4 with losses to Duke, Florida State, Miami, and NC State. It was at that point that Dabo Swinney said that if Clemson was a stock, you should buy big. Boy was he right.
The Tigers rattled off five straight victories including a victory over Kentucky in the Gator Bowl to finish 9-4. While that mark still is sub-par in Clemson, the impressive finish to 2023 cannot be overlooked.
Swinney, again, has been against the evolution of the transfer portal and had dug his heels in the sand with the lack of transfers that Clemson has brought in the last half-decade.
That being said, this year Clemson may not need a ton of new talent into South Carolina with the Tigers returning 14 starters from last year’s squad.
One of the most impactful returners for the Tigers is quarterback Cade Klubnik. Klubnik took the full reigns of the offense last year after three impressive games as a true freshman in 2022.
Last year, Klubnik threw for over 2,800 yards, but did make some critical mistakes in the first half of the season leading to the 4-4 start. That being said, Klubnik grew up in front of Tiger fans’ eyes taking control and led the team to the aforementioned five game season-ending winning streak.
The offense seems to be in a good place with Offensive Coordinator Garrett Riley and Klubnik both in year two as the “full-go” along with an upgraded receivers room and a heavily experienced offensive line.
The Tigers defense took a hit in the offseason with five NFL Draft picks and losing all four starting D-Linemen. Swinney and 3rd year Defensive Coordinator Wes Goodwin dove deep into the recruiting trail to bring in pass rushers and return two Freshman All-Americans in TJ Parker and Peter Woods.
While last year’s 9-4 mark snapped the streak of 12 consecutive seasons of 10+ wins, folks around the Tiger program believe this could just be a bump in the road and the Tigers continue to help lead the ACC.
The Tigers have won the ACC in seven of the last nine seasons, and look to continue that trend in 2024, but it will be a tough road to do so.
Clemson will have to come out of the gate swinging with the 2024 season opener coming in Atlanta for the Chic-Fil-A Kickoff against the Georgia Bulldogs. In addition to the Bulldogs in a “neutral” site game, the Tigers track to an ACC Title is a tough one.
Clemson draws NC State, Florida State, Virginia Tech on their league schedule with the matchup against the Seminoles and Hokies coming on the road.
While the schedule isn’t necessarily in favor of Clemson, I think this is a year that is manageable for the Tigers to get back into prominence in the ACC, and into the expanded College Football Playoff.
And who knows, even if the Tigers don’t take home the ACC crown, maybe a first-round playoff game finds its way to Death Valley and Memorial Stadium.
