Georgia football head coach Kirby Smart and his Bulldogs are currently gearing up for Saturday's game vs the Clemson Tigers, which is slated to take place from Mercedes Benz Stadium in Atlanta. Smart and his squad narrowly missed out on the playoff last year despite finishing the regular season undefeated, and Georgia is hoping to earn its third national championship in four years in this upcoming 2024 season.

Clemson, meanwhile, has somewhat fallen off of a cliff in recent years after winning two championships of their own, but that hasn't stopped Smart from still having a lot of respect for what head coach Dabo Swinney has been able to do with his program, per James Morgan of UGAWire.

“Just a lot of respect for their program, what Dabo has done, he’s done an incredible job,” said Smart. “He’s got a great culture there, a great environment. You think about their coaching staff, how intact it’s been able to stay, how many coaches he’s had go on to be head coaches and they do a tremendous job recruiting our state and we go head-to-head with them quite a bit. When you look across their roster, there’s a lot of kids that we were really close to, and I’m sure it’s the same way with him.”

Smart also spoke on Clemson quarterback Cade Klubnik.

“He’s played a lot of football for a guy that age, has the ability to scramble, make plays on his feet, has more weapons around him,” said Smart. “I think he’s a lot more comfortable now in their offense. You could see that throughout the year last year as you watched the season go on, how much more comfortable he got.”

An intriguing matchup

Georgia head coach Kirby Smart speaking at Omni Dallas Hotel.
Brett Patzke-USA TODAY Sports
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Ironically enough, Georgia football is currently trying to avoid falling into the same hole that Clemson did after winning two championships of their own.

At the current juncture, Georgia would still appear to be the “team to beat” in the college football landscape (as evidenced by their number one ranking), but Swinney's program is proof of just how quickly a team can fall from the ranks of national dominance into borderline irrelevance in such a short period of time.

In any case, the matchup on Saturday should still be a good early test for a Bulldogs team that has an incredibly difficult schedule in 2024. The game is slated to get underway at 12:00 PM ET from Atlanta.