Dabo Swinney understands why Clemson's future series with Georgia was canceled, but he doesn't like it, either
· Yahoo Sports
Clemson coach Dabo Swinney understands why the Tigers' upcoming series with Georgia was canceled. He doesn't like it, however.
Clemson and Georgia were set to play each other for four years from 2029 through 2032. The series would have included two games on each team's campus. But that series was mutually canceled in March and the cancellation became public earlier in the week through an open records request from the Athens Banner-Herald.
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"I hate it," Swinney said of the series being called off. "Because I just think it's great for fans but I get it. I don't think you'll have many people play 11 power four games. You look around — we've been playing 10 forever around here. But going to nine conference games, a lot of these leagues are going — I wish it was less. I wish everybody played seven conference games and then you had more crossover games all throughout college football. But it is what it is."
The SEC is in the first year of its nine-game schedule and the ACC also recently moved to a nine-game schedule, though its transition is a bit tougher. There are 19 teams in the ACC, so it's mathematically impossible for everyone to play nine games without a rematch. Clemson and other teams are playing just eight conference games this season and the ACC recently announced that the Tigers were the only team in the conference that would play eight league games in 2027.
But, as Swinney noted, Clemson will still have 10 games against power conference opponents as the Tigers play Notre Dame and have their annual rivalry game with South Carolina at the end of the season.
In 2029, Clemson is also slated to play Notre Dame and South Carolina, and will play 11 power conference opponents with a ninth conference game.
The standardization of nine conference games across all the power conferences could be a reason why higher-profile non-conference series have been canceled recently. In addition to Clemson and Georgia, Indiana and Notre Dame's future series was recently called off. As the playoff may expand to 16 or 24 teams in the near future, are we about to get fewer marquee non-conference matchups going forward?