The Tigers and the Dawgs. Clemson and Georgia. One of college football’s most intense rivalries, despite the fact that the two teams rarely face off these days.
However, that is about to change. The two teams have done battle just four times since 1995, but are set to open this season against one another in Charlotte.
The matchup in Charlotte is the first of six games pitting the two programs against one another over the next 14 years, something Georgia head coach Kirby Smart is happy to see.
.”It’s what people want to see,” Smart said recently on ESPN radio. “It’s what college football’s all about.”
Smart is one of those who can remember when the two teams played every season, something he recollects with fondness.
“When I was growing up, that was one of the biggest rivalries in all of college football,” Smart said. “Georgia-Clemson in the early ’80s was just epic, and most people don’t really remember that. And even as a player at Georgia, we played Clemson, I went to Death Valley, played them at home, and as late as Todd Gurley being here, played Clemson.”
With the two schools so close in proximity and the rivalry being as intense as it is, Smart thinks it only makes sense that these two teams play more often.
“It’s a great rivalry,” Smart said. “It’s not far apart. We recruit a lot of the same kids, got a lot of respect for Dabo (Swinney), he’s done an incredible job with that program.”
