Clemson and Georgia are scrapping a future series that had been set to stretch deep into the next decade, another sign of how conference scheduling changes are reshaping the nonconference calendar.
According to a report from Marc Weiszer of the Athens Banner-Herald, the Tigers and Bulldogs are canceling four home-and-home games between 2029 and 2033. The matchups were originally agreed to in 2018 and 2019.
"The parties have mutually agreed to terminate the Contracts and all of the provisions of those contracts, including payment requirements," the document the schools signed in March, obtained by the Banner-Herald, said.
The games had been scheduled for Clemson on Sept. 15, 2029, then Athens on Aug. 31, 2030, back to Athens on Sept. 4, 2032, and Clemson again on Sept. 3, 2033.
The move comes as both the SEC and ACC are changing the way they build their conference slates.
Starting next year, SEC teams must play nine conference opponents and one Power-Four nonconference opponent each season. Each SEC school will have three permanent league opponents annually, and for Georgia those are Florida, Auburn and South Carolina.
The ACC’s new setup is similar, though with a twist beginning in 2027. The league is moving to a nine-plus-one model, except one school each season will play eight conference games and two quality nonconference games. Clemson will be the first team to operate under the eight-game conference format next year.
Clemson’s upcoming schedule already reflects those shifts. The Tigers will host Boston College, Florida State, Stanford and Wake Forest, and they’ll go on the road to Louisville, N.C.
State, SMU and Virginia Tech. After opening with Georgia State, Clemson will host Wofford on Sept. 11 and Notre Dame on Oct. 30, then finish the regular season at home against South Carolina.
Clemson recently moved its 2027 game with Georgia State to the season opener on Aug. 28, 2027, according to documents obtained by The Post and Courier. Clemson will pay Georgia State $1.5 million for that game, which is set to be the earliest calendar date the Tigers have ever played.
Georgia athletic director Josh Brooks said in May that he was open to the idea of a neutral-site game with Clemson down the road as the scheduling landscape changes.
"I’ve got to get through some other stuff first, but (Clemson AD) Graham (Neff) and I have been in talks, and we’ll see how that evolves over time,” Brooks said.
Neff told TigerIllustrated in June that the four-game series was “uncertain” and, while it is a possibility, he didn’t expect a neutral-site matchup to “come to fruition” at the time.
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