Does Swinney Wish Clemson Played Georgia Every Year?

The Clemson-Georgia rivalry is one that Dabo Swinney would love to see get renewed on an annual basis.

“Honestly, I wish we played Georgia every year,” Clemson’s head coach said on Tuesday, ahead of Saturday’s season opener between the 14th-ranked Tigers and No. 1 Bulldogs in Atlanta.

Swinney added that if the Tigers and Dawgs squared off each season, “it’d save a lot of money for everybody, especially our fans.”

“Because we’ve had to go out to (Texas) A&M,” Swinney said. “I think we go to LSU in a couple years.”

Swinney also likes how playing Georgia fits in with Clemson’s preferred scheduling model.

“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 App (State),” Swinney said. “That’s kind of been our formula for a long time.”

Georgia holds a 43-18-4 advantage in the series against Clemson dating to the teams’ first meeting in 1897.

The two teams most recently met in 2021, a 10-3 Georgia victory. The Tigers and Bulldogs have played each other only five times in the 2000s after facing off in all but six seasons between 1962-95 (1966, 1972, 1988-89, 1992-93).

This Saturday in the Aflac Kickoff Game in Atlanta’s Mercedes-Benz Stadium (12 p.m., ABC), the Tigers will attempt to earn their first win against the Bulldogs since 2013 in a matchup of regional rivals that have accounted for four of the last eight national championships.

In the series’ 17 installments since 1980, the winner of this contest went on to win the national championship three times.

“These schools are close. There’s tradition,” Swinney said. “It’s a hard game. I mean, this is a tough, tough game. But there’s a lot of great history with Clemson-Georgia. I grew up – I mean, you knew Clemson-Georgia were 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.”

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