Clemson lost its third season-opening game in its past four seasons, its second-straight by 21 or more points, and again looked neolithic on offense.
The result? A 34-3 beatdown at the paws of top-ranked and longtime rival, Georgia.
Tigers coach Dabo Swinney said he shouldered all the blame for an "absolutely crap second half."
"Biggest thing, when you get beat like that, that's on the head coach," Swinney told reporters postgame. "That's on me, so, that's just complete ownership of just an absolute crap second half.
"Really disappointed. But I've done it long enough. Sometimes you get your butt kicked, and we did today. That's not what we came here to do. But you got to give Georgia credit. We got to move on, we got to learn from it."
Clemson's offense was anemic in both halves -- as evidenced by the Tigers' meager production on six of their 11 possessions.
Six times Clemson had the ball and those drives resulted in net yardage of 2, 9, 7, -1, 9 and -1.
And, in those opening losses in three of the last four seasons, the Tigers have fielded an offense that hasn't much given them a chance.
They've scored three, seven and three points, respectively, in those losses to Georgia, Duke last year and again Georgia to open this season.
The last two openers have come with high-priced offensive coordinator Garrett Riley at the helm; he's become the target of Clemson faithful's consternation.
"I'd say we got a long season ahead," Swinney said of criticism directed at Riley. "That's what I'd say. I'd say (this game) was bad.
"Georgia is going to make a lot of people look bad. They made us look bad today."
Clemson finished with just 188 yards' offense and averaged 3.6 yards-per-play.
Swinney knows the critics of his program are certain to resurface with a louder chorus, especially as Clemson isn't recruiting as well, admittedly is behind in Name, Image and Likeness initiatives and also continues to be largely inactive in NCAA Transfer Portal acquisitions.
"People are going to say whatever they want to say; It doesn't matter," Swinney declared. "Doesn't matter what I say, people are going to say whatever they want to say.
"But we do what's best for Clemson, year in and year out. When you lose like this, they got every right to say whatever they want to say. So, say whatever you want to say, write whatever you want to write. That comes with it. It's just part of it."
More tests await. The Tigers host a scrappy, resurgent Appalachian State squad next week and battle ACC rival and nationally ranked North Carolina State in two weeks.