Georgia HC Kirby Smart speaks highly of Clemson's Dabo Swinney ahead of Week 1 clash

Cooler mornings and Georgia football are finally here, ya'll!

The Bulldogs are gearing up to take on Clemson in the Aflac Kickoff Game at Mercedes-Benz Stadium on Saturday at noon ET, but before they go to battle, head coach Kirby Smart has some high praise for Dabo Swinney and his Tigers.

"A lot of respect for their program and what Dabo's done," Smart said on Monday morning . "He's done an incredible job. He's got a great culture there. Great environment. You think about their coaching staff, how intact it's been able to stay. How many coaches he's had go on to be head coaches. They do a tremendous job recruiting our state and we go head-to-head with them quite a bit. When you look across their roster there's a lot of kids that we were really close to and I'm sure it's the same way with him."

This will be the 66th meeting between the two teams with Georgia holding onto a big all-time series lead of 43-18-4 over Clemson. Despite the record, the Tigers have given Georgia a tough time in recent years with the last time being when they went head-to-head in 2021 when the Bulldogs barely won 10-3. On that note, Dabo has beaten the Dawgs just once in his career (2013) as Clemson's head coach but has yet to beat Kirby's football team.

As Smart pointed out, it should be another exciting matchup as Georgia opens the 2024 CFB season ranked No. 1 in the nation with the Tigers not too far behind at No. 14.

"Should be an awesome environment. I have so much respect for the Kickoff Classic Game," Smart said. "Gary Stokan (CEO and President of Peach Bowl) and his staff. Aflac you know, is near and dear to my heart and they've done a tremendous job in our state, and for them to take over this cause, I think it's a great event. And to have two teams like this, it's going to be awesome."

According to multiple sportsbooks, the Bulldogs are currently 13.5-point favorites with those odds expected to change depending on certain player availability , such as Georgia's projected lead running back Trevor Etienne .

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