CLEMSON, S.C. — The Atlantic Coast Conference announced its updated 2020 football schedule on Thursday, and Clemson will now kick off its 125th season on Saturday, Sept. 12, when the team opens the season on the road at Wake Forest.
2020 Clemson Football Schedule:
(Home games bolded; All games on Saturday)
Sept. 12: at Wake Forest
Sept. 19: NON-CONFERENCE OPPONENT TBA
Sept. 26: Open Date
Oct. 3: VIRGINIA
Oct. 10: MIAMI (FLA.)
Oct. 17: at Georgia Tech
Oct. 24: SYRACUSE
Oct. 31: BOSTON COLLEGE
Nov. 7: at Notre Dame
Nov. 14: Open Date
Nov. 21: at Florida State
Nov. 28: PITTSBURGH
Dec. 5: at Virginia Tech
Game-by-Game
SEPT. 12 • AT WAKE FOREST • BB&T FIELD, WINSTON-SALEM, N.C.
Clemson will face Wake Forest on Sept. 12 in Winston-Salem, where the Tigers posted one of their most prolific rushing games in history in their most recent visit in 2018. In a 63-3 win at Wake Forest in 2018, Clemson rushed for 471 yards and averaged 11.8 yards per carry, breaking the previous school record for yards per carry set on Oct. 17, 1903 against Georgia Tech (11.2). Running backs Travis Etienne, Lyn-J Dixon and Adam Choice all helped Clemson record the first game in school history in which three different Clemson players exceeded 125 rushing yards in a single game.
SEPT. 19 • NON-CONFERENCE OPPONENT TBA • MEMORIAL STADIUM, CLEMSON, S.C.
Clemson will play its home opener on Sept. 19 against a non-conference opponent still to be finalized. Even though 2020 represents the 125th season of Clemson football, Clemson has had just 119 home openers in its history as a function of the five seasons in which Clemson did not play a game at home. In 119 home openers, Clemson has a 94-17-8 record against 38 different opponents. Clemson will be looking to add to its 23-game regular season winning streak against non-conference opponents, dating to 2014.
OCT. 3 • VIRGINIA • MEMORIAL STADIUM, CLEMSON, S.C.
Clemson will face Virginia on Oct. 3 in a rematch of the 2019 ACC Championship Game. Clemson is 39-8-1 against Virginia all-time, including opening the series against the Cavaliers with a 29-game winning streak across the 1955-89 seasons. That previous 29-game winning streak is tied for the sixth-longest winning streak in FBS history for one team over another, trailing Notre Dame over Navy (43), Nebraska over Kansas (36), Oklahoma over Kansas State (32), Florida over Kentucky (31), Penn State over Temple (31) and matching Nebraska over Kansas State (29).
OCT. 10 • MIAMI (FLA.) • MEMORIAL STADIUM, CLEMSON, S.C.
Clemson added a home date with the Miami Hurricanes on Oct. 10, representing the teams' first regular season meeting since 2015. That year, Clemson handed Miami its worst loss in program history, a 58-0 road victory for the Tigers. The teams would go on to meet in the 2017 ACC Championship Game, as Clemson earned its 17th all-time ACC title with a 38-3 victory in Charlotte.
OCT. 17 • AT GEORGIA TECH • BOBBY DODD STADIUM, ATLANTA, GA.
In a unique ACC season without divisional play, Clemson retained its annual matchup with usual cross-division foe Georgia Tech, as the Tigers and Yellow Jackets will face each other in Atlanta on Oct. 17. The Tigers are in the midst of a five-game winning streak against Georgia Tech for the first time in series history and will attempt to win a third straight game at Georgia Tech for the first time in program annals.
OCT. 24 • SYRACUSE • MEMORIAL STADIUM, CLEMSON, S.C.
Syracuse will make its first trip to Death Valley since Clemson's memorable 27-23 come-from-behind victory that helped propel Clemson to a 15-0 record and a national championship in 2018. Clemson is 6-2 against Syracuse all-time, including a 3-0 home record. Clemson has been ranked in the AP Top 25 in all eight all-time contests against Syracuse, including a Top 3 ranking in six of the last seven matchups with the Orange.
OCT. 31 • BOSTON COLLEGE • MEMORIAL STADIUM, CLEMSON, S.C.
Last season, Clemson produced one of its most dominant performances of 2019 against Boston College, outgaining the Eagles, 674-177. The 497-yard differential was Clemson’s largest yardage differential against an ACC opponent since the conference’s founding in 1953, surpassing a 464-yard advantage against Wake Forest in 2000.
NOV. 7 • AT NOTRE DAME • NOTRE DAME STADIUM, NOTRE DAME, IND.
In a battle of historic programs, Clemson and Notre Dame will meet for the fifth time all-time and for the third time in a six-year span when the teams clash. After dropping the teams' first meeting in 1977, Clemson has won each of its last three games against Notre Dame, including a 16-10 win in South Bend in 1979, a memorable 24-22 win in torrential rain in Clemson in 2015, and a 30-3 win in the College Football Playoff National Semifinal at the Cotton Bowl Classic in 2018.
NOV. 21 • AT FLORIDA STATE • DOAK CAMPBELL STADIUM, TALLAHASSEE, FLA.
Clemson will attempt to earn a sixth consecutive victory against Florida State and continue its recent run of hot starts in the series when the Tigers face the Seminoles in Tallahassee. The Tigers carried a 28-0 lead into halftime in both Clemson's 59-10 win in Tallahassee in 2018 and 45-14 win in Clemson in 2019. In the last two games between the two programs, Clemson has combined to post a 56-0 edge in points, a 614-128 advantage in total yards and a 35-10 advantage in first downs in the first half.
NOV. 28 • PITTSBURGH • MEMORIAL STADIUM, CLEMSON, S.C.
Pittsburgh will make its first trip to Clemson since 2016 on Nov. 28, when the Tigers host the Panthers. A victory would even the all-time series between the two programs at 2-2, as Pitt collected victories in the 1977 Gator Bowl and the 2016 regular season, while Clemson won the teams' most recent meeting with a 42-10 victory in the 2018 ACC Championship Game in the midst of Clemson's 15-0 national championship campaign.
DEC. 5 • AT VIRGINIA TECH • LANE STADIUM, BLACKSBURG, VA.
The altered 2020 schedule produced an unexpected return trip to Blacksburg for Clemson. The Tigers and Hokies most recently met in 2017, when the Tigers earned a 31-17 road victory against the Hokies in a contest that was the feature contest on ESPN's College GameDay. Clemson has won each of its last five meetings with Virginia Tech, dating to 2011, a year in which the Tigers earned two victories against the Hokies, including a 23-3 home win and a 38-10 victory in the 2011 ACC Championship Game.
Schedule Notes and Oddities
After opening against Georgia Tech last season, Clemson will open the season against Wake Forest this year, representing the first time Clemson has opened with an ACC foe in back-to-back years since a five-season stretch of in-conference season openers across the 1965-69 seasons.
With a 10-game conference schedule, a first in school history, Clemson will once again play 10 Power Five teams in 2020. Clemson has won 76 games against Power Five opponents since 2013, seven more than any other program in the country.
Clemson enters the season with an active winning streak against every team on its schedule. Clemson has active winning streaks against Wake Forest (11), Virginia (four), Miami (two), Georgia Tech (five), Syracuse (two), Boston College (nine), Notre Dame (three), Florida State (five), Pitt (one) and Virginia Tech (five).
Clemson is scheduled to host a six-game home slate. In the College Football Playoff era (since 2014), Clemson is 41-1 at home, the most home wins and top home winning percentage in the country. Clemson will get a rematch of the lone home loss in that span when it faces Pitt in November.
Clemson will play four home games in the month of October. It will represent the seventh time Clemson has played four home games in a single month, joining the 1920, 1987, 1989, 1993, 2008 and 2011 campaigns. In all six of the previous instances, Clemson posted a winning record in those contests.
Clemson will open the season on the road for the first time since 2016, when second-ranked Clemson defeated Auburn, 19-13, at Jordan-Hare Stadium to kick off an eventual national championship campaign.
Clemson will open the season against an ACC opponent for only the 14th time since the conference’s founding in 1953. Clemson is 10-2-1 against ACC opponents in Week 1 contests all-time, including a 52-14 home win against Georgia Tech last season.
The 2020 season marks the seventh time in eight years that Clemson has opened conference play on the road. Clemson has won each of its last five conference openers since 2015, tied for the longest conference-opener winning streak in school history (five from 1980-84).
Every game on Clemson’s regular season schedule will be played on Saturday. Clemson has won 43 consecutive Saturday games, with its only three losses since the start of the 2017 season coming on a Friday and two Mondays.
One year after playing the earliest game in school history (Aug. 29, 2019 vs. Georgia Tech), Clemson's Sept. 12 season opener in 2020 will represent its latest season debut since opening the 1986 campaign against Virginia Tech on Sept. 13, 1986.
Clemson's Dec. 5 regular season finale will represent Clemson's latest regular season finale since joining the ACC in 1953, including only its second regular season contest in December in that span. Clemson closed the 2001 regular season with a 59-31 win against Duke on Dec. 1, 2001. It is the program's second-latest regular season finale all-time, behind a Dec. 8, 1928 finale against The Citadel.
Clemson has won its last meeting with every active ACC team, every former ACC team (Maryland and South Carolina) and Notre Dame. Clemson's smallest margin of victory in its last meeting with each of the 10 teams presently on the schedule is 14, a 31-17 at Virginia Tech in 2017. Clemson has won its last meeting against nine of these opponents by 27 or more points.
Though many of the series predate ACC membership, Clemson defeated Wake Forest, Virginia, NC State, Georgia Tech, Miami, Syracuse and Louisville in its first meeting with those programs as ACC foes. Clemson will seek an eighth such victory when it faces Notre Dame in ACC play for the first time this season.
Clemson faces only one of the four other ACC charter members from the 1953 football season still in the conference (Duke, North Carolina, NC State and Wake Forest). The 2020 season will represent the first time Clemson has not played at least one of the trio of Duke, North Carolina or NC State since 1955.
