SEC Football: Ranking most important 2021 non-conference games

Though it may not seem like these two teams have tangled much recently, the Georgia-Clemson rivalry actually extends back to 1897 in a series that’s featured 64 games. Georgia owns the all-time series record at 42-18-4.

The two programs have met only four times on the gridiron since 1995. Most recently, the teams swapped victories from and home-and-home series in 2013 and 2014, with the Bulldogs winning 45-21 under then-head coach Mark Richt in the latter season.

This year’s Week 1 game between No. 3 Clemson and No. 5 Georgia, which will take place at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte, has the feel of an early-season title bout.

Georgia desperately wants to break into the ranks of college football’s true elite of the past decade. Though the Bulldogs did advance to the 2017 national title game after beating Oklahoma in the College Football Playoff semifinal, Georgia has not advanced to the four-team playoff since then.

Clemson, on the other hand, is eager to come back and prove that it’s still one of the best teams in the land. The 2019 title-game loss to LSU was followed by a convincing 49-28 loss to Ohio State in the CFP semifinals. If the Tigers lose this Week 1 prize fight bottoms up in 2021, the whispers might begin that Dabo Swinney has lost a step and is already plotting his way back to Tuscaloosa.

A potential Georgia victory in this game would give the SEC two immediate contenders to make the 2021 College Football Playoff. If something happens along the lines of two unbeatens meeting in the SEC Championship Game (Georgia being one of them), a case could be made for both teams advancing to the CFP.

Most importantly, neither team is necessarily eliminated from the CFP conversation with a loss in this game. The winner, though, will be in the driver’s seat after gaining the most of the best winner-take-all contest at the beginning of the 2021 college football season.