Dabo Swinney On Clemson-Georgia: ‘Heavyweight Matchup Out of Gate’

One of the biggest games of the season is set to take place the first first week of the season.

No. 3 Clemson and No. 5 Georgia are set to square off in Charlotte on September 4 and on Wednesday’s edition of The Packer and Durham Show head coach Dabo Swinney didn’t mince words when he talked about the magnitude of the primetime matchup.

“It’s a heavyweight matchup out of the gate.”

And it isn’t just the fans that get excited for these kind of games.

“These are two great programs,” Swinney said. “The last decade, these two programs have represented the best of the best. Both teams have been to the playoffs. Both teams have been in national championships. Both teams recruit well. We recruit well. We recruit a lot of the same territory and things like that. Both teams in the top-5 preseason and all that stuff.”

On top of it being a matchup between top-five teams, the two programs are also considered rivals. At one time, this game was played every season. Not to mention the two campuses are only about 75 miles apart.

“It’s Clemson-Georgia and just the history of Clemson-Georgia that goes back years and years and years,” Swinney said. “Fans have been excited and always have been. We’ve had a couple matchups with them, one here and one there and now we have a neutral site. And then you throw in that nobody was at the games last year and people are excited to come and get back in the stand and see some football, in particular, a game of this magnitude.”

Making it even more exciting is the fact that it’s an opener, according to Swinney. College teams do not get preseason games, meaning coaches have less of an idea of what to expect at times, when it comes to the first game of the season.

“And college football, there’s so much unknown especially in an opener,” Swinney said. “We don’t get any preseason games. It’s for real the first time you take a step on the field. And you throw in the fact that you have two really high-level teams playing each other. It just generates a lot of conversation.”