Clemson vs. Georgia is Great for College Football

CLEMSON — When speaking with The Clemson Insider earlier this week, Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl President & CEO Gary Stokan referred back to the 1980s Clemson-Georgia matchups when he thought about the prospects of this year’s battle between the Tigers and the Bulldogs.

Those games were always tough, physical games between the two rivals.

During an 11-year stretch from 1977-87, the average margin of victory was 4.7 points, with each team winning five of the 11 contests to go with one tie.

“I think the game is going to be that close and not with a lot of scoring,” said Stokan, who referred back to Kevin Butler’s 60-yard field goal in 1984 to help Georgia knock off second-ranked Clemson in Athens, Ga.

Clemson vs. Georgia is a rivalry, as they play annually in pretty much every sport except football. The two first met in 1897 in Athens, as Georgia knocked off the Tigers, 24-0. They met 32 times from 1897 to 1955, and then basically played every year from 1962-’87, with the exception of 1966 and 1972.

“It’s Clemson-Georgia, who are about eighty miles apart, with a lot of history and a lot of tradition, you best believe people are going to tune in and watch that one,” Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney said.

The only reason Clemson and Georgia stopped playing every year in football was due to Georgia’s SEC schedule. The Bulldogs did not want to lose a home game every other year if they continued to play the Tigers in a home-and-home series.

Clemson, who is ranked No. 14 in the Associated Press Preseason Poll, eventually found itself in the same situation with the ACC schedule.

“These traditional rivalries of these out of conference opponents are going to pull and tug at the hearts of fans, the ADs and administrators. They want to keep those,” Georgia head coach Kirby Smart said. “I don’t know just because there are more conference games and conferences expanding that you want to have more conference games that these types of games will go down.

“It is probably going to hurt smaller schools more because there are going to be less where you buy an opponent.”

Georgia, who is ranked No.1 to start the season, leads the all-time series between the two rivals, 43-18-4. The two have played just nine times since 1990, with the Bulldogs winning seven of those games.

They last played in 2021 in Charlotte, a 10-3 Georgia victory. Clemson and Georgia are scheduled to play a home-and-home series again beginning in 2027 and 2028.

This year’s matchup between the Tigers and Bulldogs, will mark the fourth straight meeting that both teams came in nationally ranked. Georgia has won two of the previous three meetings.

“It is great for college football,” Swinney said. “It is a great stage. It is a big-time matchup early on. Obviously, the team that can find a way to win the game can create some early momentum in your season.”

The first time Clemson and Georgia were both ranked coming into a game was in 1982, when they met on Labor Day Night in Athens. The game was televised nationally on ABC and was the first ever nationally televised college football game on Labor Day Night.

Clemson was ranked No. 11 coming into that game, while the Bulldogs were No. 7. They met again as ranked opponents in 1984, as No. 20 Georgia edged the second-ranked Tigers, 26-23, on Butlers’ 60-yard kick.

The Tigers got some revenge in 1987 when David Treadwell kicked a 21-yard field goal with two seconds to play, as No. 8 Clemson beat No. 11 Georgia, 21-20.

It was another 26 years before a Clemson team (No. 8) faced a ranked Georgia team (No. 5). Again, Clemson won 38-35 in 2013. Georgia (No. 12) took down Clemson (No. 16) in 2014 and then won the 2021 matchup, as the Bulldogs were ranked No. 5 and Clemson was No. 3.

Georgia went on to win the national championship that season.