The Notes: No. 1 Georgia 34, No. 14 Clemson 3

Wide receiver Antonio Williams recorded team highs with six receptions for 76 yards.

Williams’ 76 yards tied his performance against Florida State in 2022 for the second-most receiving yards in a game in his career. 

Williams’ six receptions were the third-most of his career and his most since his seven catches in last year’s season opener at Duke.

Williams recorded a 36-yard reception in the first quarter, his longest catch since a 36-yard catch against Louisville in November 2022.

Running back Phil Mafah recorded 59 yards on 16 carries.

Freshman wide receivers Bryant Wesco Jr. and T.J. Moore each recorded a reception in their collegiate debuts.

Defensive lineman Peter Woods recorded a career-high 2.5 tackles for loss, the most by a Clemson player since Jeremiah Trotter Jr.’s 2.5 tackles for loss against Notre Dame last year.

Woods recorded Clemson’s first sack of the season on the first sack of his career.

Linebacker Wade Woodaz was credited with a team-high and career-high eight tackles. His previous career high as awarded by gameday stat crews was six against North Carolina in the 2022 ACC Championship Game.

Punter Aidan Swanson averaged 43.1 yards on seven punts, including two punts of 50-plus yards.

Freshman kicker Nolan Hauser made his career debut. He scored Clemson’s first points of the season by converting his first career field goal attempt, a 26-yarder that was the culmination of a 12-play, 66-yard scoring drive.

Hauser’s field goal pushed Clemson’s streak of consecutive games scoring points to 281, passing the 1984-2008 Washington State Cougars for sole possession of the 17th-longest streak in FBS history.

Clemson surrendered a seven-yard passing touchdown with 12:01 remaining in the third quarter. It snapped a streak of 100:53 of elapsed game time spanning three meetings (2014, 2021 and 2024) in which Clemson had held Georgia without an offensive touchdown.

Head coaches Dabo Swinney and Kirby Smart met in a matchup of the only two active coaches with multiple FBS national championships to their credit.  Swinney and Smart represent two of only three active coaches with at least one FBS national championship and have combined for four of the five national championships won by that group (Mack Brown, one).

Clemson dropped to 95-26-8 all-time in season openers and 12-4 in openers under Swinney.

Clemson dropped to 8-8 against AP Top 5 teams since 2015. Despite the defeat Saturday, Clemson trails only Alabama (16) and Georgia (nine) for the most wins nationally against AP Top 5 teams since 2015.

Clemson opened its season away from home for the fifth consecutive year, matching Clemson’s longest streak of season openers away from home all-time (1959-63). Clemson last opened a season at home in 2019. 

The game was the 56th all-time matchup between two teams ranked inside the AP Top 15 in Clemson history.

Clemson and Georgia met with both teams ranked in the AP Top 25 for the sixth time in series history.

Clemson played its fourth neutral-site season opener in school history (Alabama in Atlanta in 2008; Auburn in Atlanta in 2012; Georgia in Charlotte in 2021). It was Clemson's sixth off-site season opener all-time, including one against Alabama in Birmingham in 1904 and a road game against Georgia Tech at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in 2022.

Clemson played its eighth August game all-time. 

Captains for the contest were linebacker Barrett Carter, running back Phil Mafah, defensive  tackle Payton Page and offensive lineman Walker Parks.