It's official: Clemson, Georgia schedule neutral site contest to open 2021 season
It’s official: Clemson and Georgia have scheduled a neutral site contest in Charlotte to kickoff the season on Sept. 4, 2021. The two teams have not met since the start of the 2014 season in Athens when Georgia defeated Clemson.
More from the official release from Clemson:
The contest will be part of a 2021 rivalry series being hosted by the Charlotte Sports Foundation, including a neutral-site contest between Appalachian State and East Carolina.
The addition of the neutral-site game represents the sixth scheduled meeting between Clemson and Georgia over the next 14 seasons. In addition to the game in Charlotte, the two programs will face one another in the 2024 Chick-fil-A Kickoff Game in Atlanta. The historic geographic rivals also recently announced two home-and-home series that will feature games in Clemson in 2029 and 2033 and games in Athens in 2030 and 2032.
The teams most recently split a home-and-home series in 2013-14, with each school defending its home turf in a pair of Top 20 matchups. The programs met 24 times in a span of 26 years from 1962-87, playing one another every year with the exception of the 1966 and 1972 seasons. In back-to-back years in 1980-81, the winner of the Clemson-Georgia contest went on to win the national championship. Georgia earned a 20-16 victory against Clemson and a national title in 1980, followed by Clemson defeating Georgia, 13-3, en route to a national title in 1981.
The scheduling of this rivalry in non-conference play has been part of Clemson’s philosophy of supplementing its annual rivalry game against the University of South Carolina with additional non-conference contests against premier opponents. Beyond the neutral-site contests, Clemson’s schedule in recent and future years has featured home-and-home series with Georgia (2013-14, 2029-30 and 2032-33), Auburn (2016-17), Texas A&M (2018-19), LSU (2025-26) and Oklahoma (2035-36) as well as eight scheduled contests with Notre Dame from 2020 through 2037.
“Thank you to Georgia and the Charlotte Sports Foundation for helping make this game a reality,” Clemson Director of Athletics Dan Radakovich said. “Kicking off the 2021 season with this match-up will be a tremendous showcase for both universities and our fans. UGA is a great football program and we know that Charlotte will provide a first-class experience for everyone involved.”
The game against Georgia replaces a previously scheduled contest against Wyoming. Clemson’s future non-conference opponents are as follows:
Future Non-Conference Opponents:
2020: at Notre Dame, South Carolina, Akron, The Citadel
2021: Georgia (in Charlotte), at South Carolina, UConn, South Carolina State
2022: at Notre Dame, South Carolina, Louisiana Tech, Furman
2023: Notre Dame, at South Carolina, Florida Atlantic, Wofford
2024: Georgia (in Atlanta), South Carolina, Appalachian State, The Citadel
2025: LSU, at South Carolina, Troy, Furman
2026: at LSU, South Carolina, Charleston Southern
2027: Notre Dame, at South Carolina, Wofford
2028: at Notre Dame, South Carolina
2029: Georgia, at South Carolina
2030: at Georgia, South Carolina
2031: Notre Dame, at South Carolina
2032: at Georgia, South Carolina
2033: Georgia, at South Carolina
2034: at Notre Dame, South Carolina
2035: Oklahoma, at South Carolina
2036: at Oklahoma, South Carolina
2037: Notre Dame, at South Carolina