Todd Gurley and Dawgs make statement in 45-21 win

If you’re a fan of the Georgia Bulldogs, you couldn’t imagine a better way to begin the 2014 season. Led by 198 yards rushing from Todd Gurley and 131 passing yards from Hutson Mason in the post-Aaron Murray era of UGA football, the Dawgs ran the Clemson Tigers out of Athens in a 45-21 victory to open the season in style.

Gurley was a man among boys out there, and added three rushing touchdowns on 15 total carries, and a 100 yard kickoff return for a touchdown to his nearly 200 yards out of the backfield. Gurley, for the most part, did nothing special aside from rolling over anyone who tried to get in his way, and averaged 13.2 yards per carry. Mason garnered his 131 yards through the air by completing 18 of his 26 attempted passes, and found eight different receivers.

The game started off well for Clemson, as they scored on their first drive of the game and went on to hold the Bulldog offense to a three and out on their first defensive drive of the season, but couldn’t carry that swagger throughout the game, and allowed 21 first half points and 21 fourth quarter points, while the UGA defense stepped up in a big way and shut out the Tigers in the second half. The Dogs scored in every quarter.

In total, UGA picked up 459 total yards of offense (131 passing and 328 on the ground) and averaged five yards per pass and eight per rush. Defensively, Georgia allowed 291 total yards – 189 through the air and 102 on the ground. If there’s one area of concern for the Dogs, aside from a relative slow start, is penalties – UGA committed eight penalties for a combined 65 yards. Clemson, on one hand, committed significantly less – three – but amassed almost as many yards – 40.

Georgia will open the CBS on SEC next week, as they’ll look to continue their offensive roll against a shocked South Carolina team who gave up a ton of points at home to Texas A&M.