Clemson's 2024 football schedule is unveiled |
The ACC unveiled Clemson’s 2024 football schedule on Wednesday.
The season will be the first for a 17-team conference, where SMU, Stanford and Cal are the new additions to a campaign that will feature major upheaval for all traditional Power 5 conferences. Of that trio, Clemson will host Stanford this season (September 28) in an ACC slate that again will pit the top two league records in Charlotte’s ACC Championship Game on December 7. The ACC winner will likely receive an automatic bid in the new 12-team College Football Playoff (a model with the top five conference champions getting auto bids, with the top four champions receiving a top-four seed, is expected to pass a vote later this year). 2024 will be Clemson's first time playing all Saturday regular season games since 2020 and its first time doing so in a non-COVID year since 2018. It will be Clemson's seventh all-Saturday regular season since 2000. 2024 Clemson football schedule August 31 Georgia (Atlanta’s Mercedes-Benz Stadium) September 7 APPALACHIAN STATE Sept. 14 Open week Sept. 21 NC STATE Sept. 28 STANFORD October 5 at Florida State Oct. 12 at Wake Forest Oct. 19 VIRGINIA Oct. 26 Open week November 2 LOUISVILLE Nov. 9 at Virginia Tech Nov. 16 at Pittsburgh Nov. 23 THE CITADEL Nov. 30 SOUTH CAROLINA The team plans to hold its annual Spring Game at 1 p.m. on Saturday, April 6. Gameday designations for the 2024 season will be announced at a later date. Schedule notes AUG. 31 • VS. GEORGIA • MERCEDES-BENZ STADIUM, ATLANTA, GA. For the second time in three years, Clemson will open a season in the home of the NFL’s Atlanta Falcons when the Tigers face the Georgia Bulldogs on Saturday, Aug. 31. Clemson defeated Georgia Tech, 41-10, in its last visit to the facility to open 2022. The Tigers will attempt to earn their first win against Georgia since 2013 in a matchup of regional rivals that have accounted for four of the last eight national championships. In the series’ 17 installments since 1980, the winner of this contest went on to win the national championship three times. SEPT. 7 • VS. APPALACHIAN STATE • MEMORIAL STADIUM, CLEMSON, S.C. Clemson will host its home opener on Saturday, Sept. 7, when the Tigers welcome the Appalachian State Mountaineers to Memorial Stadium. Clemson is 98-17-8 in home openers all-time, including home opener wins against the boys from Boone in 1984, 1991 and 1997. The Tigers are 5-0 all-time against App State, including most recently a 41-10 win against Scott Satterfield’s Mountaineers in 2015. SEPT. 21 • VS. NC STATE • MEMORIAL STADIUM, CLEMSON, S.C. After a road loss in Raleigh last year, Clemson will attempt to extend its home dominance over NC State on Saturday, Sept. 21, when the Tigers host the Wolfpack at Memorial Stadium following an open date the prior Saturday. A win would extend Clemson’s home winning streak against the Wolfpack in Death Valley to 10 games, which would be the eighth home winning streak of 10 or more games against a single opponent in school history. The game will feature the winningest coaches in each program’s history. Dabo Swinney is 8-2 all-time against Dave Doeren, Swinney’s second-highest winning percentage against a head coach against whom he’s coached at least 10 games (10-0 vs. Dave Clawson). SEPT. 28 • VS. STANFORD • MEMORIAL STADIUM, CLEMSON, S.C. Clemson and Stanford will meet as ACC counterparts for the first time on Saturday, Sept. 28, when the Cardinal make their Death Valley debut. Clemson won the only meeting between the two programs to date, a 1986 Gator Bowl victory when Danny Ford’s Tigers ran out to a 27-0 halftime lead and held on for a 27-21 win against Jack Elway’s 20th-ranked Stanford squad. Of the ACC’s newest trio of programs, Stanford is the only new addition slated to face Clemson in 2024. Stanford will become only the second team from California ever to play in Death Valley, joining Pro Football Hall of Famer George Allen’s Long Beach State squad that lost to Clemson 59-0 in the 1990 season opener. OCT. 5 • AT FLORIDA STATE • DOAK CAMPBELL STADIUM, TALLAHASSEE, FLA. Clemson will face Florida State on Saturday, Oct. 5, the programs’ first meeting since Clemson’s heartbreaking overtime loss to the Seminoles last September. Though Clemson is 7-1 in its last eight meetings with Florida State including wins in each of the last three games in Tallahassee, the Seminoles are the last team to have defeated Clemson in back-to-back years, doing so in a three-year span from 2012-14. Clemson is 21-9 under Dabo Swinney when it faces opponents against which it lost its most recent meeting in the series. OCT. 12 • AT WAKE FOREST • ALLEGACY FEDERAL CREDIT UNION STADIUM, WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. Dabo Swinney’s perfect record against Wake Forest will again be on the line when the Tigers travel to Winston-Salem, N.C., to face the Demon Deacons on Saturday, Oct. 12. With a win against Wake Forest last year, Swinney became the first FBS head coach on record in Stats Perform’s data set back to 1996 to win the first 15 games in a series against a single FBS opponent. A 16th consecutive win by Clemson in the series would represent Clemson’s fourth-longest winning streak against a single opponent in school history. OCT. 19 • VS. VIRGINIA • MEMORIAL STADIUM, CLEMSON, S.C. One of Clemson’s native sons will return home on Saturday, Oct. 19, when Clemson is slated to face the Virginia Cavaliers under the guidance of Virginia Head Coach Tony Elliott. Elliott was a wide receiver at Clemson from 1999-2003 and was a team captain of the 2003 squad for which Dabo Swinney served as Elliott’s position coach in Swinney’s first year at Clemson. Elliott later served 11 years as an assistant coach at Clemson from 2011-21, helping the Tigers to a 130-21 record in his tenure. Clemson is 27-22-2 all-time against opposing head coaches who were previously Clemson head coaches or assistants; it will be Clemson’s first such contest since defeating former Clemson graduate assistant Gene Chizik’s Auburn squad in the 2012 season opener. NOV. 2 • VS. LOUISVILLE • MEMORIAL STADIUM, CLEMSON, S.C. A year after Louisville made its first ACC Championship Game appearance in its history, Clemson will attempt to preclude the Cardinals from earning their first win against the Tigers when Clemson hosts Louisville on Saturday, Nov. 2. Clemson is 8-0 all-time against Louisville with all eight meetings coming since the Cardinals joined the ACC in 2014, including most recently a 31-16 win at Memorial Stadium in 2022. NOV. 9 • AT VIRGINIA TECH • LANE STADIUM, BLACKSBURG, VA. Clemson will make its first trip to Virginia Tech since the pandemic-impacted 2020 season — and its first to a fully charged Lane Stadium atmosphere since 2017 — when the Tigers face the Hokies on Saturday, Nov. 9. Dabo Swinney is 6-0 all-time against the Hokies, including a 3-0 mark against both Frank Beamer and Justin Fuente in advance of his first meeting with current Virginia Tech Head Coach Brent Pry. Clemson is 8-2 all-time at Lane Stadium since the facility opened in 1965 and has won its last three games there by an average of 23.0 points per game. NOV. 16 • AT PITT • ACRISURE STADIUM, PITTSBURGH, PA. Clemson will play in the city of Pittsburgh for only the third time in school history on Saturday, Nov. 16, when the Tigers face the Pitt Panthers at Acrisure Stadium. Prior to Clemson’s road game at Pitt in 2021, the program’s only other trip to the Steel City came in 1947 in a 34-13 win by Frank Howard’s Tigers against Duquesne at Forbes Field. A Clemson win in 2024 would even the all-time series record between the two programs at 3-3. NOV. 23 • VS. THE CITADEL • MEMORIAL STADIUM, CLEMSON, S.C. Clemson will face The Citadel at Memorial Stadium on Saturday, Nov. 23 in the programs’ first meeting since a 49-0 shutout win by Clemson in 2020. Clemson is 39-0 against FCS opponents since Division I split in 1978, winning 38 of the 39 games by double digits. The game is part of Clemson’s annual non-conference scheduling philosophy of facing two Power Five conference opponents, a Group of Five conference opponent and an in-state Football Championship Subdivision squad. NOV. 30 • VS. SOUTH CAROLINA • MEMORIAL STADIUM, CLEMSON, S.C. On Saturday, Nov. 30, Clemson will host the 121st installment of its arch rivalry with South Carolina at Memorial Stadium. Clemson is 73-43-4 all-time against South Carolina, including a 19-11-1 mark against the Gamecocks at home since the rivalry transitioned to a home-and-home format in 1960. Clemson has won eight of the series’ last nine games and has outscored South Carolina by an average of 21.1 points per game in that span. SCHEDULE NOTES AND ODDITIES Clemson is once again scheduled to play 10 Power Five Conference opponents. During Clemson’s active 13-year streak of nine-win seasons, Clemson has played 153 games against Power Five foes — the most in the country — and is tied with Alabama for the most wins against Power Five teams in that span (126). The 2024 season will be Clemson’s 23rd consecutive season facing at least 10 Power Five opponents. Clemson is scheduled to once again host its customary seven-game home slate in 2024. Clemson has staged at least six games at Death Valley every year since 2000. In the College Football Playoff era (since 2014), Clemson is 65-3 at home, tied for the best home record in the country. Clemson enters 2024 having won at least six home games for a national-best 13 straight seasons. The next-longest active streak is three years, shared by six schools. Clemson enters the season having won its most recent meeting with nine of the 12 teams on its schedule. Clemson has active winning streaks against The Citadel (18), Wake Forest (15), Louisville (eight), Virginia Tech (six), Virginia (five), Appalachian State (five), Stanford (one) and South Carolina (one). Clemson will attempt to respond to losses in its most recent meeting with four of its 2024 opponents: Georgia (2021), Pitt (2021), Florida State (2023) and NC State (2023). Clemson is 21-9 under Dabo Swinney when it faces opponents against which it lost its most recent meeting in the series. Clemson enters the 2024 season having not lost to the same team in back-to-back years since 2014, the final year of a three-game series winning streak by Florida State. There are four ACC programs against which Dabo Swinney is undefeated in his head coaching career: Wake Forest (15-0), Louisville (8-0), Virginia Tech (6-0) and Virginia (5-0). Clemson will face all four of those programs in 2024. Clemson will play at least two games in NFL stadiums in 2024, including ones at the homes of the Atlanta Falcons and Pittsburgh Steelers. Clemson has played multiple games in NFL stadiums every year since 2015. Clemson has won 18 of its last 26 games in NFL stadiums, including a 3-0 career mark by Dabo Swinney in Atlanta’s two most recent NFL facilities (Georgia Dome and Mercedes-Benz Stadium). Clemson will open its season away from home for the fifth consecutive year. It will match Clemson’s longest streak of season openers away from home all-time (1959-63). If Clemson’s opener against Georgia is selected by broadcast rightsholders for an evening kickoff, Clemson would open the season in prime time for the sixth consecutive season, the second-longest streak in school history behind Clemson’s nine consecutive season debuts under the lights from 1948-56, all of which came against Presbyterian. Clemson would have an opportunity to attempt to improve to 20-6 in season-opening night games all-time and give Dabo Swinney an 8-2 mark in prime-time season openers. Including Clemson’s 2023 regular season finale against South Carolina and its 2023 Gator Bowl win against Kentucky, Clemson’s season opener against Georgia will be its third consecutive game against an SEC opponent. According to Stats Perform, there have been 18 = instances since 1980 in which a non-SEC team has played SEC opponents in three consecutive games; with a win, Clemson would be the first non-conference program in that span to play three consecutive games against SEC teams and win all three. With games against Georgia and South Carolina bookending the regular season, Clemson will face multiple SEC opponents in a season for the 18th time in the last 19 years, dating to 2006. The lone exception came in 2020 when the SEC opted out of non-conference play amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Clemson is 14-6 against SEC opponents since 2015. Clemson’s .700 winning percentage in SEC play in that span is higher than 12 of the 14 members that comprised the SEC from 2015-23. Clemson is 95-25-8 all-time in season openers, including victories in 12 of its last 15 season debuts. Clemson will attempt to even its record in season openers against Georgia at 2-2 in that span. Clemson will have multiple open dates for the fifth time since 2013, joining the 2013, 2014, 2019 and 2020 seasons. Clemson’s games against Appalachian State and Virginia will come in advance of open dates on Sept. 14 and Oct. 26, respectively. Since joining the ACC as a charter member in 1953, Clemson is 41-21-2 in games preceding regular season open dates, including a 14-2 mark in those games since 2012. Clemson’s games against NC State and Louisville will come following open dates. Clemson has played 64 regular season games following open dates since 1953 and has a 43-21 mark in those contests and a 14-3 record in those games since 2011. By virtue of Clemson opening the first five weeks with a neutral-site game, three home games and an open date, Clemson’s Oct. 5 true road opener at Florida State will represent Clemson’s latest road opener since Oct. 9, 2008, when Clemson’s 12-7 loss at Wake Forest in its road opener led to Clemson elevating Dabo Swinney to interim head coach the following week. Clemson will face six head coaches for the first time: Appalachian State’s Shawn Clark, Stanford’s Troy Taylor, Virginia’s Tony Elliott, Louisville’s Jeff Brohm, Virginia Tech’s Brent Pry and The Citadel’s Maurice Drayton. Clemson’s game against Elliott’s Virginia squad will be Clemson’s 52nd all-time against head coaches who are former Clemson staff members and its 12th against head coaches who were former Clemson players. Clemson is 27-22-2 against former Clemson staff members as head coaches and 8-3 against former Clemson players as head coaches. Clemson is 163-73-3 all-time — and 46-7 since 2011 — against head coaches who are facing Clemson for the first time. At roughly 2,200 miles as the crow flies, Stanford’s trek to Death Valley in September will represent the furthest distance an opponent has traveled to face the Tigers in Clemson, surpassing the roughly 2,000 miles traveled by Long Beach State in 1990. All 12 regular season games are scheduled for Saturdays. It will be Clemson’s first time playing all Saturday games in a regular season since 2020 and its first time doing so in a non-pandemic-impacted year since 2018. It will be Clemson’s seventh Saturday-only regular season since 2000 (2000, 2001, 2010, 2011, 2018 and 2020). (Notes via Clemson)
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