Rivalry restored: We revisit Clemson vs Georgia 2013, 2014 through eyes of key players
The deafening noise level at Clemson’s Memorial Stadium was like an electric pump of adrenaline shot directly into Stanton Seckinger’s veins.
The Tigers tight end stood on the sideline, staring up at the video board in Death Valley with the thousands of Clemson fans surrounding him, waiting for the referees to confirm what he already knew. When the Tigers needed to score, Seckinger provided that in a tight game against Georgia broadcast on ABC on the night of Aug. 31, 2013.
Touchdown — and the crowd went wild.
Looking back, the Charleston native admits it was much closer of a call than he remembered. All he knew was that he needed to get the ball on the left side of the pylon, and he accomplished the assignment to help the Tigers win a 38-35 thriller.
The nostalgia the memory evokes for Seckinger is a welcome emotion as the Clemson-Georgia rivalry kicks back up as the 2021 season opener. The Bulldogs have a comfortable lead in the series, 42-18-4, which included a 45-21 victory over the Tigers in their last matchup, played in 2014.
“We played and it was pretty competitive and then in the fourth quarter, we were just terrible,” Tigers head coach Dabo Swinney admitted. “They just smashed us, ran all over us. We were no good.”
Clemson and Georgia have been successful in their own right in the years following the 2014 contest. For one reason or another, though, they haven’t played each other since then. Getting the rivalry back on the schedule has been a welcomed start to the 2021 season for both teams.
The 65th matchup between the border rivals takes place Saturday night at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte. Those 2013 and 2014 Georgia-Clemson games, and the stories told from those who played, provide a glimpse of the emotions and competition that come out when the Bulldogs and Tigers meet.
2013: Gameday in the Valley
Aaron Murray couldn’t hear himself think, much less call out plays.
The Bulldogs’ quarterback expected nothing less, though, when playing in Death Valley.
Clemson’s offense started the game with the ball. The Bulldogs’ defense forced a three-and-out drive, bringing out the UGA offense.
Murray was in shotgun and yelled as loud as he could with center David Andrews looking back for the cue to snap the ball. The Bulldogs prepared for the noise level, but practicing and experiencing it were two different things. Andrews was called for a false start on the first play — Georgia, too, went three-and-out.
The Tigers scored first on a four-yard trot from Tajh Boyd, now a member of Clemson’s coaching staff, only to be answered by a 75-yard touchdown run from Todd Gurley, who now plays for the Los Angeles Rams.
“We knew it was going to be an offensive battle back and forth,” Murray told The State. “I mean, they had (Boyd), Sammy Watkins, some other guys offensively, and I thought our defense did a good job early on, but it’s tough to contain those guys.
“You know they’re going to get theirs and Tajh was a tremendous quarterback and obviously had the ability to use his legs, too.”
No sooner than Gurley got into the end zone, the Bulldogs lost one of their weapons in Malcolm Mitchell. The wide receiver tore his ACL while celebrating Gurley’s score. Still, the Bulldogs and Tigers went blow for blow for the duration of the game with Clemson pulling ahead 31-28 going into the final frame.
The Tigers started the fourth quarter with the ball and got down to the Georgia four-yard line before being called for a false start. Boyd’s pass attempt to Martavis Bryant then fell incomplete, bringing up third-and-goal from the 9.
Next, the Tigers put Watkins in motion, executing the play that ended with Seckinger catching the ball and diving for the pylon. The referees called him out at the 2-yard line, to which Seckinger got up, shaking his head “no.”
In his mind, he was absolutely in.
“I knew that the sideline was coming quickly and so I just knew that I had to catch the ball and basically put a foot in the ground and try to get as far upfield as I possibly could, so that’s what I did,” the former tight end said. “When I turned my head around, I saw the pylon and my only thought was I had to get the ball on the left side of the pylon.”
The play went up to the review booth and didn’t take long to confirm what Seckinger had tried to tell the referees before. His ballerina-esque move of keeping left his tiptoes inside the sideline and stretching out for the pylon saved him. Even the slightest hint of the then 6-foot-4, 230-pound Tiger’s twisted heel grazing the white line would’ve been ruled out.
The crowd erupted and Seckinger’s teammates congratulated him as the call was overturned. His first TD of the year was a big one.
Inspired to help other athletes with injuries after struggling with his own, Stanton returned to his hometown and now works in the sports medicine division of medical sales. Some days, it feels like he was just suiting up for Clemson, while others, running down the hill in Death Valley seems like a distant memory.
Still, he’ll never forget the night he helped Clemson, ranked eighth that preseason, take down No. 5 Georgia.
The Bulldogs fought back and Murray scored on a one-yard run about six minutes later to narrow the deficit 38-35. The Bulldogs tried for the onside kick right after with 1:19 to go, but Clemson recovered it.
Game, Tigers.
“It was just a tough game, tough place to play and for us, it was not the best feeling to lose in Week 1, but our mind was, ‘OK, we lost,’ ” Murray said. “It stung, but it was a non conference game. We have some tough opponents ahead of us with South Carolina, LSU, which was great for us to put that game behind us and focus on our next couple of games.”
2014: Georgia turns the tables
The next year, it was the Bulldogs’ turn to host. For as loud as Memorial Stadium was in 2013, Sanford Stadium was that and more.
“I remember riding the bus in there passing all these Georgia fans. They’re all just screaming at the bus and doing all different kinds of stuff,” Seckinger said. “We’re like, ‘Man, this is truly a hostile environment.’ ”
The moment he and the other tight ends stepped onto the field during warmups, the booing ensued. Seckinger thrives off that kind of energy, which worked out considering he’d soon learn he was starting the game.
That fact wasn’t immediately apparent, as Sam Cooper was supposed to run out first at the position. Seckinger had partially torn his Achilles during fall camp and only had one day of practice with full pads heading into the 2014 season opener in Athens.
Cooper was warming up for the game when he broke his fibula, moving Seckinger up on the depth chart from backup to TE1.
“It was just a chaotic time to happen right before kickoff, not 45 minutes before kickoff,” Seckinger said. “Just made the dynamic of the game, for us, a little different, a little more challenging, but Georgia had a very good, strong team that year. They were a tough team to beat that night, for sure.”
While Boyd and Murray were gone, Deshaun Watson went under center for the Tigers and Hutson Mason was Georgia’s guy at QB. The Bulldogs also had a three-headed monster in the backfield in Gurley, Nick Chubb and Sony Michel, all of whom are currently in the NFL.
The first half ended tied at 21. Then the Bulldogs rattled off 24 second-half points, 21 of which came in the last quarter. Gurley scored three rushing touchdowns and another on a 100-yard kickoff return, finishing with 293 all-purpose yards.
“Todd Gurley, I think he still just scored (another rushing touchdown,” said Eric Mac Lain, who was a backup offensive lineman that year, last week, “but it was fun.”
Murray left Georgia as the SEC’s all-time leading passer and was selected by the Kansas City Chiefs in the 2014 NFL Draft, but he still enjoyed seeing his Bulldogs avenge the loss from the year prior.
“Obviously wish we could’ve won ours, but it’s great to see Georgia win any big-time game,” he said. “It was nice to see and hopefully it’ll be nice to see them win (on Saturday).”
Some good did come out of it for Clemson, though: Swinney got to add another voicemail to his “Spurrier voicemail file,” an arrangement of voicemails from Steve Spurrier that Swinney has kept over the years.
“If Steve Spurrier calls you, you usually want to keep those,” Swinney said.
Two days before Clemson’s loss to Georgia, the Spurrier-led South Carolina Gamecocks were routed by Texas A&M 52-28 in a Thursday night game at home.
Perhaps in an effort to console Swinney, Spurrier gave the Tigers’ mentor a call after the Clemson loss to Georgia and left a voicemail.
“He said, ‘Yeah, I don’t know why we schedule these games. If we play East Carolina and y’all go play Furman or somebody, everybody’s happy to get a win,’ ” Swinney said, imitating Spurrier’s higher-pitched Southern tone, continuing, “ ‘We got our butts kicked for four quarters. Yeah, looks like y’all just got yours kicked for one quarter, but hey, you know. We bounce back, go get them next week.’
“I just laughed, but it made me feel better.”
UGA-Clemson, the next chapter
Saturday night’s meeting will hold no apparent advantage for Georgia nor Clemson, though Las Vegas has the Tigers a 3-point favorite.
They play at a neutral Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte. True, it’s more of a drive for Georgia fans coming almost 200 miles from Athens, but traveling isn’t an issue for the Bulldogs faithful.
“Oh, it’s going to be nuts,” Murray said. “This is going to be a lot of energy from the tailgating to in the stadium. Two teams that both feel like they can win a national championship this year. After the craziness of last year, fans are hungry to be back in the stadiums, so I think it’s going to be a really special game for fans to be a part of.”
Murray, now a college football analyst for CBS Sports, has his money on his alma mater in another close contest, with a score prediction of 28-24. Mac Lain, who also entered the college football analyst world working for the ACC Network, is going with his former team as well.
“I think the Tigers win and I think it might even be comfortably,” Mac Lain told The State in July. “I think they’re that good of a team, all the experience they have coming back, but again, Georgia, a fantastic team. A lot of expectations on them. ... Of course I’m going to say the Tigers win it, but it could get interesting or I think it could get a little one-sided.”
Seckinger will be watching from home where he can give the game his full, undivided attention. Despite the former players having differing views on the victor of the game, the general consensus is that it’s one you’re not going to want to miss.
“It’ll be interesting to see how the crowd reacts to everything,” Seckinger said. “Will the Clemson crowd spur the Georgia crowd to be louder and vice versa or what will it be like? It’s going to be a great game either way. Both teams have great coaches, great athletes. They both have really good-looking squads, so I’m looking forward to the game for sure.”
This story was originally published August 31, 2021 at 5:00 AM with the headline "Rivalry restored: We revisit Clemson vs Georgia 2013, 2014 through eyes of key players."
