The last time that Clemson and Georgia faced off in 2014, things were a bit different.

Both fell into the category of “good, not great.” At the time, they were on the outside looking in at the national title picture. In the 3 seasons that followed, however, either Clemson or Georgia was in the College Football Playoff National Championship.

On the cusp, they are no more. It wouldn’t be surprising if the programs met in a national championship sometime in the near future.

If Dabo Swinney had it his way, they’d meet before that. The Clemson coach said he would “absolutely” welcome the idea of renewing the series with Georgia.

“Absolutely,” Swinney said when asked whether he would like to play Georgia every year via The State. “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.”

Swinney’s got a point, and the programs did used to play on a nearly annual basis from 1962-87.

Clemson also likes the idea of playing a pair of SEC schools annually, with the South Carolina matchup locked for the foreseeable future. With the Texas A&M series starting in 2018, Clemson does have 8 scheduled matchups with Notre Dame from 2020-37. Georgia, on the other hand, has plenty of spots open beginning in 2021.

If both the ACC and SEC still haven’t switched to the 9-game conference schedule, surely both programs could benefit from scheduling a headliner home-and-home series early in the season.

Swinney’s Clemson squad would have a lot of work to do to cut into Georgia’s 42-18-4 series lead.