Georgia football: Dawgs and Clemson to meet in 2024 Chick-fil-A kickoff

Georgia football and Clemson agreed Friday to meet in Atlanta in 2024 for a Chick-fil-A Kickoff Game. This will be the Dawgs fifth appearance in the Peach Bowl owned kickoff game.

The Dawgs and Tigers finally reached an agreement Friday morning. Georgia football will renew its rivalry with Clemson in 2024. This announcement comes just weeks after Georgia and Oregon agreed to meet in the 2022 Chick-fil-A Kickoff Game. A home-and-home agreement with Georgia and Texas has also been reported to be in the works.

Add in Georgia hosting Notre Dame next season, playing Virginia in the 2020 Chick-fil-A Season Kickoff Game, and meeting UCLA for a home-and-home in 2025 and 2026, the Dawgs will have one of the toughest non-conference schedules in the nation over the next decade.

As for Georgia versus Clemson, The writing has been on the wall all summer about meeting again in the near future. In April, Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney said “Absolutely,” when a reporter asked him if he wanted to play Georgia every year.

"“I think it’d be great for both fan bases. I’ve said that for a long time. We’re going to play somebody like that every year. We go to Texas A&M this year, then they come to us. We played Auburn a bunch of times… So I think that would be great. To me, it’d be great for the fan bases. You don’t really look forward to playing Georgia. There’s a good chance you can lose. But any time you step out of conference and play the Texas A&Ms, Auburns, whoever else we play, those are big challenges, but that’s how we built our program. I would have no problem with it.”"

The meeting became inevitable just a week later when reporters asked UGA’s director of athletics Greg McGarity about Clemson. McGarity responded to Swinney’s comments with a simple “yes.” He went on to say:

"“I do think down the road you will see Clemson and Georgia playing each other. 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… In each one of those years (2021-to-2024) we are working on other power five opponents. We have a lot of discussions in the works now. That’s our goal to have two power five non-conference opponents every year.”"

Earlier this month, Clemson athletic director Dan Radakovich brought the topic back to the spotlight when he admitted that he was negotiating deals to play Georgia and LSU in the near future. That comment, and Georgia filling their 2020’s with top-notch opponents fueled even more anticipation for the Dawgs and Tigers to announce a meeting soon.

"“It’d be great. You can look at our past history. That’s kind of what we do. Football scheduling is like a cake that never bakes. It just kind of goes on and on, and we’re trying to get our schedule taken care of through the decade of the 20s. We’re close… It’s just keeping in contact with people and trying to see if dates work. “Many athletic directors, when they see one another, if there is an interest in playing, they’ll say, ‘Hey, you got anything open?”"

By the time Georgia and Clemson play in 2024, both teams may be close to completing a dynasty. Thanks to Clemson’s coach Swinney, and Georgia head coach Kirby Smart, both programs are among the nations elite.

Swinney and the Tigers already have the 2016 National Championship and enter 2018 ranked no. 2 in the Associated Press Poll. Smart brought the Dawgs to the National Championship Game this past season, and the AP ranks Georgia no. 3.

Both are also recruiting at an elite level. Georgia’s last two classes finished in the top-two in the SEC, with last year’s class finishing no. 1 overall. Georgia’s 2019 class currently claims the no. 1 spot. Clemson has dominated ACC recruiting since 2015 with three top-two classes, including a no. 1 ACC class that finished no. 7 overall this past year. The Tiger’s 2019 class is the best in the ACC right now and also ranks no. 5 overall.

It wouldn’t shock anybody if either team entered the 2024 game as defending National Champions. That’s where both programs are at right now. It’s like 1982, except both teams appear able to prolong success for longer than a handful of years. President and CEO of Peach Bowl Inc. Gary Stokan certainly believes so.

"“We think it’s going to be a tremendous blockbuster game… You’ve got to believe the 2024 game will be between top-five teams, the way Georgia and Clemson are recruiting and performing on the field… Give Kirby and Dabo a great deal of credit, they always wanted to get this game done, and so did Greg McGarity and Dan Radakovich. It was just a matter of what year made sense.”"

Georgia now just has five years left unfilled by power-five teams in the 2020’s. Although the proposed Georgia versus Texas home-and-home would fill in 2028 and 2029 if an agreement is met.

There were previous talks about Georgia and Clemson meeting in a home-and-home series as well, but the ACC’s deal with Notre Dame makes reaching a deal on home-and-home’s a chore for its teams.

The Tigers meets Notre Dame in 2023, and the Dawgs play Oregon in 2022. That left just two-years (2021 and 2024) as the only years the two could renew their rivalry within the next 10 years. Both programs have stressed wanting to play more frequently, so it’s not surprising to see them forgo agreeing on a home-and-home in favor of a neutral site game.

While fans will have to wait several years for this game, a game between Georgia and Clemson might take place before 2024. The stature of both programs creates the possibility of a playoff or New Year’s Six Bowl meeting. Another organization who operates neutral site games might also try to unite the Dawgs and Tigers in 2021.

Arlington, Texas has the Advocare Classic which has operated annually since 2009, making it the second oldest college football kickoff game. Houston, Texas has hosted the Texas Kickoff since 2013.

Charlotte, North Carolina received their own kickoff game with the Belk Kickoff Game in 2015 and they have five games scheduled through 2023. Although the 2021 game doesn’t feature any power-five schools (currently). Lastly, Orlando, Florida got the Camping World Kickoff in 2016 and they’re still forming their future schedules. The Advocare Classic, Texas Kickoff and Camping World Kickoff do not yet have game’s scheduled for 2021.