Georgia football: future games with Texas and Clemson finalized, 2029 will be brutal
Georgia football adds two non-conference opponents to its future schedules. The Dawgs will play Texas in 2028 and 2029, and Clemson in 2029 and 2030.
Georgia football finalized the rumored 2028-29 home-and-home with Texas, and added a home-and-home series with Clemson for 2029 and 2030. That’s right, the Dawgs will play both Clemson and Texas in 2029. If the SEC doesn’t change it’s cross-division rotations, Georgia will host Mississippi State as well that year.
247Sports first reported the conversation between Georgia and Texas back in August. 2028 and 2029 were the rumored dates at that time, so the two schools had clearly been on the same page for the entirety of the negotiations.
Georgia will travel to Austin, Texas in 2028. It will be their first trip to play the Longhorns since 1958. The Dawgs will host the Longhorns in 2029 for the first time ever. Georgia has played Texas four times, but the last meeting was in the 1984 Cotton Bowl. The Dawgs won that game 10-9 with a late muffed punt and touchdown run by John Lastinger. The Longhorns won the first three meetings in 1949, 1957 and 1958. The 1949 meeting was in the Orange Bowl after Georgia won the SEC Championship. In 1957, the two met in Atlanta.
Georgia already has a neutral site game with Clemson planned for 2024 in Atlanta. That came after a spring and summer full of rumors about an eventual meeting between the Dawgs and Tigers, sparked by comments Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney made about welcoming power-five challengers, especially Georgia given the old rivalry between the two schools.
Georgia athletic director Greg McGarity and Clemson AD Dan Radakovich stoked the flames with comments they made weeks later expressing interests and admitting to starting negotiations. The two eventually agreed to meet in 2024, with the help of Peach Bowl Inc. But they left the door open for more games in the future and that’s led us to today’s announcement of the home-and-home series for 2029 and 2030.
Georgia and Clemson have played each other 64 times, but meetings have been scarce since 1995. Georgia is 3-1 against the Tigers in games played in 2002, 2003, 2013 and 2014. The Dawgs needed a late Billy Bennett field goal to beat Clemson in 2002 and then won 30-0 a year later. Clemson got the best of Georgia in a 38-35 win in 2013, but the Dawgs took revenge thanks to a highlight filled fourth quarter in 2014.
Georgia and Clemson, separated by a mere 70 miles, played each other 28 times between 1962 and 1995. They met every year from 1897 and 1921 (with the exception of 1917 and 1918, a break for World War I). meetings were rare until they rekindled the rivalry in 1962. Georgia leads the series 42-18-4.
The upcoming games with Clemson and Texas are additions to an already tough decade awaiting Georgia football. Excluding Georgia Tech, here are the power-five opponents Georgia has scheduled for the next 12 seasons:
- 2019 vs. Notre Dame
- 2020 vs. Virginia (Chick-fil-A Season Kickoff)
- 2022 vs. Oregon (Chick-fil-A Season Kickoff)
- 2024 vs. Clemson (Chick-fil-A Season Kickoff)
- 2025 vs. UCLA
- 2026 vs. UCLA
- 2028 vs. Texas
- 2029 vs. Texas
- 2029 vs. Clemson
- 2030 vs. Clemson
And with how Georgia’s scheduling has changed under Kirby Smart, expect those openings in 2021, 2023 and 2027 to be filled with other power-five teams. Neutral site games in Houston, Dallas, Charlotte and Orlando are possibilities. As is a home-and-home with someone for 2021 and 2023.
Next. Top 30 players of the Mark Richt era. dark
2028 is a long ways off and we do not know what the stature of the three programs will be at that time. Georgia versus Texas and Georgia versus Clemson may be negligible non-conference matchups to the rest of the nation by then. Or all four games may be top five matchups featuring recent national champions.