Just because it is a bye week for Georgia does not mean Kirby Smart and his team should be taking the weekend off. There are plenty of great games on tap to watch and try to learn something from. One of the biggest takeaways from the early window is how quickly things have gone awry for Dabo Swinney and his Clemson Tigers. They might play in the ACC, but this is a regional rival of Georgia.
With Clemson falling to 1-3 on the season and 0-2 in ACC play following a dismal 34-21 performance at home to Syracuse, nobody saw this demise coming. Entering the season, Clemson was seen as even more of a College Football Playoff lock than Georgia. The Tigers were supposed to cakewalk through ACC play. Instead, they are 0-3 vs. Power Four teams in LSU, Georgia Tech and now Syracuse.
Smart was probably paying attention to this game because Fran Brown was one of his former top assistants in Athens only a few seasons ago. The Orange have had their challenges this year, but Brown is proving himself to be a great up-and-coming Power Four head coach. He is a great branch blossoming off Smart's coaching tree in real time. However, why has it gotten so rotten at Clemson?
Smart must look at the antiquated blueprint in place at Clemson and never get complacent like it has.
Georgia must learn vicariously through Clemson's ongoing failures
While Georgia embraces NIL and the transfer portal, Clemson's downward spiral this year is nothing to sneeze at. This was a team on the shortlist of serious national championship contenders coming in. Now the Tigers might not even be ranked at any point the rest of the year. Swinney's inability to hire the right coordinators are getting him in trouble again. Garrett Riley and Tom Allen are just not it.
Allen should get some benefit of the doubt, as this is his first year on the job. He came over from Penn State after only spending a year there. Wes Goodwin did not leave his defense in a great spot from a schematic standpoint. Clemson has always had players, but they are not living up to their lofty standard. Even more concerning, Cade Klubnik is proving to have absolutely no dog at quarterback.
So what does this mean for Georgia? Smart cannot become complacent with recruitment and who he employs on his Georgia staff. While Gunner Stockton has looked the part under center for Georgia, the coaching staff could be better. Mike Bobo calls weird plays all the time. Stacy Searels is living on his reputation. What exactly is the point of Glenn Schumann? Smart cannot stumble like Swinney has.
Empires collapse all the time, but Georgia's day in the sun does not have to end in the coming years.