How Bill Belichick, Dabo Swinney make rare championship history with matchup
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A college football game doesn't get much more decorated than Clemson vs. North Carolina — at least, when it comes to the programs' current coaches.
Bill Belichick and the Tar Heels will visit Dabo Swinney and the Tigers on Saturday, Sept. 19, with the longtime friends playing against each for the second straight season.
Regardless of whether the matchup lives up to its blockbuster billing, it is one of the rare instances of championship-winning coaches facing each other. Coaches that have won national championships happen often, but it's rare to see Super Bowls involved — especially at the college level.
Belichick is a six-time Super Bowl winning coach with the New England Patriots, and Swinney has won two national titles with Clemson. If it sounds rare for a multi-time Super Bowl winning coach to go against a multi-time college champion, that's because it is.
But it isn't unprecedented.
Bill Belichick vs Dabo Swinney coaching history
In coaching against each other last season, Belichick and Swinney made history: It was the first instance of a multi-time Super Bowl champion coach vs. multi-time college football champion coach in more than 30 years.
The only time it ever happened was the 1993 Blockbuster Bowl, on New Year's Day: It featured three-time Super Bowl champion Bill Walsh and Stanford against two-time national champion Joe Paterno and Penn State. The Cardinal defeated the Nittany Lions 24-3 at Joe Robbie Stadium, now known as Hard Rock Stadium, in Miami Gardens, Florida.
When Belichick and Swinney meet again in Week 3, it will be the first time in college football history that two coaches with multiple Super Bowl and college football championships face off more than once.
There have been other instances of a Super Bowl-winning coach against a one-time national champion coach, however, and they all involve Walsh.
After he returned to Stanford following his three Super Bowl titles with the San Francisco 49ers, Walsh faced one-time winners in Lou Holtz and Notre Dame in 1992-94; Don James and Washington in 1992; and Bill McCartney and Colorado in 1993.
Bill Belichick championship history
- Super Bowl 36 champion (2001)
- Super Bowl 38 champion (2003)
- Super Bowl 39 champion (2004)
- Super Bowl 49 champion (2014)
- Super Bowl 51 champion (2016)
- Super Bowl 53 champion (2018)
Dabo Swinney championship history
- 2016 national champion
- 2018 national champion
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: How Bill Belichick, Dabo Swinney make rare championship history with matchup
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