It seems Dabo Swinney was indeed onto something bringing up a restart of the Clemson-Georgia series.
A week after the Tigers’ head coach said he’d love to play the Bulldogs every year like the two regional rivals did in the past, UGA athletic director Greg McGarity told the Athens Banner-Herald on Wednesday that a resumption could be in the cards soon even if it’s not on an annual basis.
“I do think down the road you will see Clemson and Georgia playing each other,” McGarity told the paper. “I’m not sure about the frequency of it, but I do think you’ll see us play each other in the not too distant future.”
McGarity pointed to potential openings in the 2021-2024 time range where the school has openings on their schedule besides the annual game with in-state rival Georgia Tech. He added that Georgia’s goal is to have two Power Five non-conference opponents every year and the Yellow Jackets obviously fill one of those slots, raising the possibility that the two powerhouses could meet once again in the regular season.
Such a prospect has to excite both fan bases as well as the casual college football fan given how Swinney and his counterpart Kirby Smart appear to have both programs on solid footing as regular College Football Playoff contenders. The two schools themselves are only 90 minutes apart and share plenty of similarities, which is one reason they played regularly nearly every year in the 1960’s through the late 1980’s.
Clemson and Georgia did have a home-and-home series in 2013 and 2014, but it sounds like a neutral site option will strongly be considered (i.e. Mercedes Benz Stadium in Atlanta). Something says we might not have to wait that long to see the Tigers and ‘Dawgs play each other, even if it comes in the postseason instead of the regular season.