Dabo Swinney wants Clemson to play Georgia every year

Arguably the biggest game of Week1 in college football pits powerhouse programs Clemson and Georgia against each other in Atlanta. It’s a top-15 showdown that could have sizable implications for the expanded 12-team College Football Playoff later on in the 2024 season.

This Saturday, beginning at noon, the No. 1 Bulldogs and the No. 14 Tigers will do battle inside Mercedes-Benz Stadium in a non-conference contest that is technically a neutral-site game.

Southeastern Conference member Georgia and Atlantic Coast Conference school Clemson have combined to capture four of the last eight CFP national championships, and Tigers head coach Dabo Swinney said that he’d like to face off with the Bulldogs on an annual basis.

“I mean, honestly, I wish we played Georgia every year, just because it’d save a lot of money for everybody, especially our fans,” Swinney said on Tuesday during his weekly press conference. “Because, I mean, we’ve had to go out to (Texas) A&M. I think we go to LSU in a couple years. I mean, we’ve tried to always play 10 you-better-bring-your-A-game type games, plus a top Group of Five type of team, which obviously this year we’ve got that with about as good as you can find in (Appalachian State).”

He called Clemson’s game versus Georgia “a huge challenge” and a “great opportunity to play the best team in the country, right out of the gate.” Swinney added, “These schools are close. There’s tradition. It’s a hard game. This is a tough, tough game, but there’s a lot of great history with Clemson-Georgia.”

In their all-time series together, Georgia sports a 43-18-4 record versus Clemson. The last time that they squared off, in September 2021, the Bulldogs beat the Tigers, 10-3, in Charlotte, N.C. However, these juggernauts in college football have only gone toe-to-toe on five occasions since 2000.

Both Clemson and Georgia have national championship aspirations in the 2024 season. The ACC’s preseason media poll projected the Tigers to finish at No. 2 in the league standings while Georgia was the favorite to claim the SEC title.

Clemson’s potential road to an ACC crown opened up a bit last weekend in Dublin when preseason ACC favorite Florida State, ranked No. 10 in the country, fell to Georgia Tech on a last-second field goal.

With the CFP having grown from four participants to a dozen for this season, taking a loss or even two won’t necessarily eliminate teams like Clemson or Georgia from landing an invite.

At the same time, grabbing a big-time non-conference win this early in the 2024 season will prove huge for either resume.

This weekend, there are several other enticing non-conference games. No. 7 Notre Dame travels to No. 20 Texas A&M on Saturday. No. 23 Southern California, a new member of the Big Ten Conference, will play No. 13 LSU in Las Vegas. But no game in Week 1, at least on paper, is bigger than Clemson versus Georgia in Atlanta.

Marquee non-conference encounters at the onset of a season are not only entertaining for fans, but they’re also important for the sport to generate buzz and attract new viewers beyond these two energetic and massive fan bases.

As Swinney noted, Clemson playing Georgia would typically occur in the CFP. He’s embracing the chance to battle the Bulldogs, and he’d like this rivalry to continue more consistently in the future.

“I think it’s good for our fans and it’s good for college football,” Swinney said.