Dabo Swinney: "I wish we played Georgia every year'
No. 14 Clemson will take on No. 1 Georgia to open the regular season, squaring off in Atlanta in the Aflac Kickoff matchup. If it were up to Dabo Swinney the meeting would be a much more regular occurrence.
Swinney vocalized that on Tuesday, just a few days before his team will take on the top-ranked Bulldogs.
“I mean honestly I wish we played Georgia every year, just because it’d save a lot of money for everybody, especially our fans,” the Clemson coach said. “Because I mean we’ve had to go out to 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].”
None of those other matchups are Georgia, though. Not in a season opener. Not with the Bulldogs looking to erase the sting of a College Football Playoff miss a year ago.
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Still, Dabo Swinney thinks there are a handful of reasons an annual matchup might make sense, not the least of which is geographic.
“These schools are close, there’s tradition. It’s a hard game,” Dabo Swinney said. “I mean this is a tough, tough game but there’s a lot of great history with Clemson-Georgia. I grew up, you always, you knew Clemson-Georgia was going to play each other. It was just one of those games that you wanted to watch as a kid. So I think it’s good for our fans, it’s good for college football.”
The teams last met in 2021, a decidedly defensive affair that Georgia won 10-3. Georgia has won seven of the last eight meetings and commands a decisive 43-18-4 overall edge.
The two teams played each other in all but two years between 1962-1987, a 25-year period.
But the scheduling and whether it is a feasible option for Clemson could well boil down to the shifting dynamics in the sport as conferences continue to realign. Clemson would love to stick with what’s been working for them.
That’s 10 competitive games per year, a quality Group of Five opponent and a true cupcake.
“That’s kind of been our formula for a long time,” Dabo Swinney said.