Dabo Swinney is excited about his Clemson team getting to open the 2021 season with a marquee game against Georgia. It’s a matchup of two Power 5 programs that have both had a ton of success in recent years.

In fact, Swinney is such a fan of the matchup, he wishes the Tigers and Bulldogs played each other more frequently, considering their geographic proximity.

“I’ve always said Clemson and Georgia should play every year,” Swinney said during a recent interview with UGASports.com. “It’s crazy we’ve got to go all the way out to Texas A&M, play Texas A&M, or Georgia’s got to go to play UCLA or Oklahoma, whoever.”

Since Swinney became Clemson’s head coach in 2009, the Tigers have played Georgia only twice. The two teams split a home-and-home series in 2013 and 2014, with the home team winning each matchup.

But there was a time when Clemson and Georgia played much more frequently. The two programs faced off in all but one year from 1967-87.

“I kind of grew up watching the Clemson-Georgia game, it was one of those games you always watched,” Swinney said. “It’s tough, it’s a tough matchup because you’ve got a high likelihood of getting beat in games like this. But it’s exciting because there’s an edge that comes with opening up with a game like this. … You step in Day 1, this is a heavyweight top-5 matchup, maybe a top-3 matchup right out of the gate.”

Swinney made note that teams have more time to prepare for the season opener, in which there’s also plenty of unknowns going into a new year. And he believes that should lead to an exciting matchup against the Bulldogs.

“You throw in the fact that you’ve got two really, really talented teams, it’s going to be a good one,” Swinney said.

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Georgia and Clemson are set to play Sept. 4 at 7:30 p.m. ET on ABC.