TCI Game Day: No. 14 Clemson Battles No. 1 Georgia

ATLANTA – It is game day at Mercedes-Benz Stadium where the Tigers hope to make a statement by taking down No. 1 Georgia.

For the second time in four years continue one of the nation’s best rivalries.

Location: Mercedes-Benz Stadium

Kickoff: Noon

Television: ABC

Announcers: Greg McElroy, Molly McGrath, Sean McDonough

2024 Record: Clemson 0-0,  Georgia 0-0

ACC Record: Clemson 0-0

Series History: Clemson trails series 18-43-4

Last Meeting: Georgia won 10-7 on September 4, 2021

Clemson will open its 2024 season in the national spotlight on Saturday, Aug. 31, when the No. 14 Tigers face the No. 1 Georgia Bulldogs in Atlanta. Kickoff at Mercedes-Benz Stadium is scheduled for noon ET in the weekend’s only matchup featuring two AP Top 15 squads.

Saturday’s contest represents a matchup of two of the only three active head coaches to have won an FBS national championship, as Clemson’s Dabo Swinney and Georgia’s Kirby Smart enter 2024 as part of that trio alongside North Carolina’s Mack Brown. Swinney and Smart are the only active coaches in the country that have won multiple FBS national championships,
and they are the only coaches to have won a national championship with their current programs.

A Clemson upset win on Saturday would mark only the sixth time in the history of the AP Poll (which dates to 1936) that a team has defeated the preseason (and active) AP No. 1 in the top-ranked team’s season opener.

WHAT TO WATCH FOR THIS SEASON

– Clemson (798-472-45) needing two more wins to become the first ACC program to record 800 all-time victories. Across all conferences, 12 teams have reached that all-time mark, and Clemson (798) and Auburn (799) can reach 800 early this season.
– Clemson attempting to become the first program to win 22 ACC titles. Since helping form the conference in 1953, Clemson leads the ACC with 21 titles all-time, including 20 outright.
– Clemson (six) attempting to become only the second team to earn seven College Football Playoff berths since the institution of the postseason format in 2014 (Alabama, 8).
– Clemson attempting to extend its school record by winning nine games for a 14th consecutive season. Clemson’s active streak of 13 straight nine-win seasons is the nation’s second-longest active streak, and a 14th consecutive season with nine-plus wins would tie Clemson with the 1987-2000 Florida State Seminoles for the third-longest in FBS history.
– Clemson (19) attempting to win 10 games to become the 13th program among current power conference programs to record at least 20 seasons alltime with 10 or more wins. Clemson would join Alabama (44), Oklahoma (42), Michigan (32), Ohio State (31), Georgia (28), USC (28), Nebraska (28), Florida State (26), Penn State (26), Texas (25), Notre Dame (23) and Tennessee (20).
– Clemson attempting to win a postseason game (conference championship, bowl game and/or national championship game) for a 14th consecutive season. Clemson’s current 13-year streak is the longest streak on record in major college football history.
– Clemson’s senior class (30-10 since 2021) needing 10 wins to become the 12th Clemson senior class to average at least 10 wins a year over a four-year span, joining the 1990, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022 and 2023 senior groups.
– Clemson’s senior class (2022 ACC Champions) attempting to become the 31st senior class in Clemson history to earn multiple conference championships in a four-year span.
– Clemson’s senior class (18-2 at home since 2021) needing a 7-0 home record to become the 10th senior class in school history to win 25 games at home in a four-year span, joining every senior class from 2014-22.
– Clemson attempting to win at least six home games to add to its active 13-year streak of winning at least six games at Memorial Stadium. The next longest streak of six-plus home wins in the country entering 2024 is three years, shared by six teams.

WHAT TO WATCH FOR THIS WEEK

– Clemson attempting to improve to 96-25-8 all-time in season openers and give the Tigers victories in 13 of their last 16 season debuts.
– Clemson opening its season away from home for the fifth consecutive year. It will match Clemson’s longest streak of season openers away from home all-time (1959-63). Clemson last opened a season at home in 2019.
– Clemson attempting to earn its third all-time win against a team ranking No. 1 in the AP Poll, joining national championship game victories against No. 1
Alabama to end the 2016 and 2018 seasons.
– Clemson attempting to improve to 3-6 all-time against AP No. 1 teams.
– Clemson attempting to earn its first all-time regular season victory against an AP No. 1 team.

SEASON OPENERS

Clemson has won 30 of its last 39 season openers.

Head Coach Dabo Swinney is 12-3 in openers in his career with losses to Georgia in 2014 and 2021 and a loss to Duke in 2023. Swinney’s 12 season-opening wins are second-most in school history, two ahead of Danny Ford (9) and 13 shy of Frank Howard’s record of 25.

The Tigers are 95-25-8 (.773) in their first game in their previous 128 seasons.

TCI Predictions

Robert – Georgia 31, Clemson 17

Will – Georgia 27, Clemson 17

JP – Georgia 23, Clemson 17