CLEMSON, S.C. — The Atlantic Coast Conference announced its 2026 football schedule on Monday evening, unveiling Clemson’s full 2026 regular season slate on ACC Network and ESPN2. Clemson will kick off its 2026 season on Saturday, Sept. 5, when it faces the LSU Tigers at Tiger Stadium in Baton Rouge, La.
Clemson's 2026 schedule will include a seven-game home slate. Among others, the visitors to Memorial Stadium include multi-time Super Bowl champion Bill Belichick's North Carolina Tar Heels, the College Football Playoff runner-up Miami Hurricanes, the Virginia Tech Hokies in their first season under the guidance of James Franklin, and the South Carolina Gamecocks.
2026 Clemson Football Schedule
(Home games BOLDED; all games on Saturdays unless otherwise noted)
Sept. 5: at LSU
Sept. 12: vs. GEORGIA SOUTHERN
Sept. 19: vs. NORTH CAROLINA
Sept. 25 (Fri.): at Cal
Oct. 3: vs. MIAMI (FLA.)
Oct. 10: Open Date
Oct. 17: vs. CHARLESTON SOUTHERN
Oct. 24: vs. VIRGINIA TECH
Oct. 31: at Florida State
Nov. 6 (Fri.) -OR- Nov. 7: at Syracuse*
Nov. 14: vs. GEORGIA TECH
Nov. 21: at Duke
Nov. 28: vs. SOUTH CAROLINA
*Game subject to flex scheduling. The game’s selection for Friday or Saturday will be announced at a later date.
Gameday designations for the 2026 season will be announced at a later date.
In order to receive the 2026 online football season ticket and parking application, all IPTAY donors must pledge and complete 50 percent of their IPTAY 2026 donation by Sunday, Feb. 15 at ClemsonTigers.com/IPTAY. IPTAY donors who have completed at least 50 percent of their pledge can request football season tickets and parking in early spring.
More information on ticketing for the 2026 Clemson Football season will be available at ClemsonTigers.com/FootballTickets or by calling 1-800-CLEMSON. Fans can also gear up for the 2026 football season online at the Clemson Tigers Store.
The team plans to hold its annual Spring Game at 1 p.m. on Saturday, March 28. More information on the 2026 Spring Game will be shared at a later date.
GAME-BY-GAME
SATURDAY, SEPT. 5 • AT LSU • TIGER STADIUM, BATON ROUGE, LA.
Clemson and LSU faced one another at neutral sites in postseason play four times before the two sets of Tigers met in Clemson in the 2025 season opener for their first regular season, on-campus meeting in series history. This season, Clemson will make its first trip to Baton Rouge on Saturday, Sept. 5, marking Clemson's first time opening a season in an SEC venue since opening its 2016 national championship season with a 19-13 win at Auburn.
SATURDAY, SEPT. 12 • VS. GEORGIA SOUTHERN • MEMORIAL STADIUM, CLEMSON, S.C.
Clemson will make its home debut a week later when the Tigers host the Georgia Southern Eagles on Saturday, Sept. 12. The two programs met for the first time in 2018 when the second-ranked Tigers compiled 595 yards and used a 21-point second quarter to earn a 38-7 victory amid Clemson's 15-0 national championship campaign.
SATURDAY, SEPT. 19 • VS. NORTH CAROLINA • MEMORIAL STADIUM, CLEMSON, S.C.
Clemson will open ACC play against the North Carolina Tar Heels on Saturday, Sept. 19. Last season, Clemson defeated North Carolina, 38-10, in what was only the second matchup in college football history of a head coach with multiple FBS national championships (Dabo Swinney) and a multi-time Super Bowl champion head coach (Bill Belichick). North Carolina's last visit to Clemson came in November 2023, when Clemson held 2025 NFL MVP candidate Drake Maye to the lowest passing efficiency rating of his collegiate career in a 31-20 Tiger win.
FRIDAY, SEPT. 25 • AT CAL • CALIFORNIA MEMORIAL STADIUM, BERKELEY, CALIF.
Clemson will play a conference game on the West Coast for the first time in school history on Friday, Sept. 25, when the Tigers face the Cal Golden Bears at California Memorial Stadium. The game will be Clemson's fourth all-time in the Golden State, joining road games at Pacific in 1951 and USC in 1966 in addition to Clemson's victory over Alabama in Santa Clara to secure the national championship for the 2018 season. It will be the second all-time meeting between Clemson and Cal; the teams' lone previous meeting came in the Citrus Bowl on New Year's Day in 1992.
SATURDAY, OCT. 3 • VS. MIAMI (FLA.) • MEMORIAL STADIUM, CLEMSON, S.C.
Memorial Stadium will host the two most recent ACC programs to qualify for the College Football Playoff when seven-time College Football Playoff participant (and two-time CFP champion) Clemson hosts last year's national runner-up Miami (Fla.) on Saturday, Oct. 3. The all-time series between the Tigers and Hurricanes is deadlocked at 7-7, but Clemson holds a 6-3 advantage in the series since Miami joined the ACC prior to the 2004 season.
SATURDAY, OCT. 17 • VS. CHARLESTON SOUTHERN • MEMORIAL STADIUM, CLEMSON, S.C.
After an open date on Oct. 10, Clemson will pause conference play for a midseason meeting with the Charleston Southern Buccaneers on Saturday, Oct. 17. The game against a Football Championship Subdivision foe is part of Clemson’s annual non-conference scheduling philosophy of facing two power conference opponents, a Group of Five conference opponent and an in-state FCS squad. Clemson is 40-0 against FCS opponents since Division I split in 1978, winning 39 of the 40 games by double digits.
SATURDAY, OCT. 24 • VS. VIRGINIA TECH • MEMORIAL STADIUM, CLEMSON, S.C.
Virginia Tech will make its first trip to Clemson since 2012 when the Tigers host the Hokies on Saturday, Oct. 24. Clemson is 6-0 against Virginia Tech during Dabo Swinney's head coaching tenure dating to his first matchups with the Hokies in 2011 when Clemson secured two victories against highly ranked Virginia Tech squads, one on the road and one in the 2011 ACC Championship Game.
SATURDAY, OCT. 31 • AT FLORIDA STATE • DOAK CAMPBELL STADIUM, TALLAHASSEE, FLA.
Clemson will visit Tallahassee on Saturday, Oct. 31, as the Tigers will seek to extend their current road winning streak at Doak Campbell Stadium to five games when they face the Florida State Seminoles. A victory in the Halloween contest would make Clemson only the third program ever to win five or more consecutive road games at Florida State, joining Florida (six from 1966-76) and Miami (five from 1957-77). Clemson is 9-1 in its last 10 games overall against the Seminoles, including its 4-0 mark in Tallahassee in that span.
FRIDAY, NOV. 6 -OR- SATURDAY, NOV. 7 • AT SYRACUSE • JMA WIRELESS DOME, SYRACUSE, N.Y.
Clemson and Syracuse will square off for the 13th time in the last 14 years on either Friday, Nov. 6 or Saturday, Nov. 7, when the former Atlantic Division foes face one another at the JMA Wireless Dome in Syracuse. The contest is subject to flex scheduling; the chosen game date of the two options will be announced by the ACC at a later time. Clemson holds a 10-3 edge in its all-time series with Syracuse, including a 5-1 mark on the road.
SATURDAY, NOV. 14 • VS. GEORGIA TECH • MEMORIAL STADIUM, CLEMSON, S.C.
Last September, Georgia Tech defeated Clemson in Atlanta on a dramatic 55-yard walk-off field goal to snap Clemson's nine-game winning streak in its series with the Yellow Jackets. On Saturday, Nov. 14, Georgia Tech will make a return trip to Death Valley, where Clemson has won each of its last eight games against the Yellow Jackets, dating to 2010. It will be Georgia Tech's first trip to Clemson since 2023, when four different Clemson freshmen picked off quarterback Haynes King in a 42-21 Clemson win.
SATURDAY, NOV. 21 • AT DUKE • WALLACE WADE STADIUM, DURHAM, N.C.
Clemson will attempt to improve its all-time record against Duke to 38-18-1 on Saturday, Nov. 21 when the Tigers face the Blue Devils at Wallace Wade Stadium in Durham, N.C. Last season, Clemson dropped a 46-45 heartbreaker to the eventual ACC champion Blue Devils, as a fourth-down penalty called on Clemson in the final minute extended Duke's drive that culminated with a game-winning touchdown run and two-point conversion. Clemson is 8-3 against reigning ACC champions since 2003, including a 5-2 mark during Dabo Swinney's head coaching tenure.
SATURDAY, NOV. 28 • VS. SOUTH CAROLINA • MEMORIAL STADIUM, CLEMSON, S.C.
Palmetto State bragging rights will once again be on the line on Saturday, Nov. 28, when the Tigers host the South Carolina Gamecocks at Memorial Stadium. Clemson has won nine of the last 11 games in the series and has outscored the Gamecocks by an average margin of 18.3 points per game in that span. South Carolina earned victories in its last two trips to Clemson by a combined four points, but the Tigers hold a 19-12-1 all-time edge at Death Valley amid their 74-44-4 all-time advantage in the series.
NOTES AND ODDITIES
Clemson is once again scheduled to play 10 power conference opponents. Clemson has played more games against power conference teams than any team in the nation since 2011 (176), and Clemson's 139 wins against power conference teams in that span rank second nationally.
The 2026 season will be Clemson’s 25th consecutive year facing at least 10 power conference opponents.
Clemson is scheduled to once again host its customary seven-game home slate in 2026. Clemson has staged at least six games at Death Valley every year since 2000. In the College Football Playoff era (since 2014), Clemson is 73-9 at home, the nation’s fourth-best home record in that span.
Clemson holds a winning all-time record against seven of the 12 teams on its schedule, including Georgia Southern (1-0), North Carolina (41-19), Charleston Southern (1-0), Virginia Tech (24-12-1), Syracuse (11-2), Duke (37-18-1) and South Carolina (74-44-4).
Clemson can even its all-time series record against Cal at 1-1 and can break a 7-7 tie in its all-time series against Miami.
Clemson will attempt to respond to losses in its most recent meeting with five of its 2026 opponents: LSU (2025), Cal (1991), Miami (2023), Georgia Tech (2025) and Duke (2025). Clemson is 26-12 under Dabo Swinney when he faces opponents against whom he lost his most recent meeting in the series.
Clemson enters the 2026 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. Clemson can keep that streak alive with wins in 2025 against LSU, Georgia Tech and Duke programs that defeated Clemson in 2025.
Clemson will open its season away from home for the sixth time in the last seven years. Before hosting its season opener last year, Clemson’s five straight season openers away from home from 2020-24 matched Clemson’s longest streak of season openers away from home all-time (1959-63).
If Clemson’s opener against LSU is selected by broadcast rightsholders for an evening kickoff, Clemson would have an opportunity to attempt to improve to 20-7 in season-opening night games all-time and give Dabo Swinney an 8-3 mark in prime-time season openers.
With games against LSU and South Carolina once again bookending the regular season, Clemson will face multiple SEC opponents in a season for the 20th time in the last 21 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 (120-27 vs. the ACC, 3-0 vs. the Big 12, 3-2 vs. the Big Ten and 21-17 vs. the SEC) enters the season alongside Alabama, LSU and Georgia as one of four teams nationally to have a winning record against all four power conferences since 2009.
Clemson will attempt to improve upon its 95-27-8 all-time record in season openers, including a 12-5 mark under Dabo Swinney.
Even though 2026 represents the 131st season of Clemson Football, Clemson has had just 125 home openers in its history as a function of the five seasons in which Clemson did not play a game at home. Clemson has a 99-18-8 all-time record in 125 home openers and can earn its 100th win in a home opener in school history with a win against Georgia Southern on Sept. 12.
Clemson’s home game against Miami (Fla.) on Oct. 3 will come in advance of an open date on Oct. 10. Since joining the ACC as a charter member in 1953, Clemson is 43-23-2 in games preceding regular season open dates, including a 16-4 mark in those games since 2012.
Clemson's game against Charleston Southern will come following that open date. Clemson has played 68 regular season games following open dates since 1953 and has a 45-23 mark in those contests and a 16-5 record in those games since 2011.
At least 10 of Clemson’s 12 regular season contests will be played on Saturdays. An 11th could be played on a Saturday depending on ACC flex scheduling for Clemson's November road game at Syracuse.
Entering its game against Cal on Friday, Sept. 25, Clemson is 34-26-5 all-time in Friday games including a 27-20-5 mark in Friday regular season games. Clemson is 3-1 in Friday regular season games under Dabo Swinney, including wins at Boston College in 2016, at Syracuse in 2021 and at Louisville in 2025.
A win in a Friday game against Cal (or a potential Friday game against Syracuse) would give Clemson a Friday win in back-to-back seasons for the first time since 1938-39. In those seasons, Clemson defeated Wake Forest on Friday, Oct. 28, 1938 and George Washington on Friday, Nov. 3, 1939.
Clemson will play three home games in the month of October, matching the combined number of October home games Clemson played over the previous three seasons. Clemson had only one October home game in each of the last three seasons from 2023-25.
Clemson is slated to face four head coaches for the first time: LSU's Lane Kiffin, Georgia Southern's Clay Helton, Virginia Tech's James Franklin and Cal's Tosh Lupoi. Clemson is 172-77-3 since 1950 when facing an opposing head coach for the first time including a 55-11 mark since 2011.
Barring a postseason matchup with a team it has never previously faced, the 2026 season will be Clemson's second straight year facing no new opponents. Prior to the 2025 and 2026 seasons, Clemson ended its 2024 campaign by facing two opponents for the first time in school history (SMU and Texas). Of the 110 different opponents Clemson has faced all-time, the Tigers carry an active unbeaten streak in 76 of those 110 series, and no opponent has an active winning streak against Clemson that exceeds three games.
