Clemson's 2023 Football Schedule Released

CLEMSON, S.C. — The Atlantic Coast Conference announced its 2023 football schedule on Monday, unveiling Clemson's 2023 slate on The Huddle: 2023 Football Schedule Reveal on ACC Network. For the second straight season, Clemson will open on Labor Day when the Tigers face the Duke Blue Devils at Wallace Wade Stadium in Durham, N.C., before returning to Memorial Stadium for Clemson's home opener against Charleston Southern on Saturday, Sept. 9.

Clemson's 2023 campaign will include seven home games and five road contests as Head Coach Dabo Swinney chases College Football Hall of Famer Frank Howard in pursuit of becoming the winningest head coach in program history. Through 14-plus seasons, Swinney enters 2023 with a 161-39 career record, four victories shy of Howard's 165 wins leading Clemson from 1940-69.

Clemson's full 2023 schedule is included below.

2023 Clemson Football Schedule:
(Home games BOLDED; all games on Saturday unless otherwise noted)

Sept. 4 (Monday): at Duke

Sept. 9: vs. CHARLESTON SOUTHERN

Sept. 16: vs. FLORIDA ATLANTIC

Sept. 23: vs. FLORIDA STATE

Sept. 30: at Syracuse

Oct. 7: vs. WAKE FOREST

Oct. 14: Open Date

Oct. 21: at Miami (Fla.)

Oct. 28: at NC State

Nov. 4: vs. NOTRE DAME

Nov. 11: vs. GEORGIA TECH

Nov. 18: vs. NORTH CAROLINA

Nov. 25: at South Carolina

The team plans to hold its annual Spring Game at 1 p.m. on Saturday, April 15. The game will stream live in its entirety on ACC Network Extra and re-air on ACC Network during the spring. Gameday designations for the 2023 season will be announced at a later date.

In order to receive the 2023 online football season ticket and parking application, all IPTAY donors must pledge and complete 50 percent of their IPTAY 2023 donation by Wednesday, 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 2023 Clemson Football season will be available at ClemsonTigers.com or by calling 1-800 CLEMSON. Fans can also gear up for the 2023 football season online at the Clemson Tigers Store.

SEPT. 4 (MONDAY) • AT DUKE • WALLACE WADE STADIUM, DURHAM, N.C.

For the second straight year, Clemson will open a season on Labor Day. Clemson defeated Georgia Tech, 41-10, on Labor Day night in 2022, and this year, the Tigers will travel to Durham, N.C. to face the Duke Blue Devils on Monday, Sept. 4. The game will mark Clemson's fifth consecutive season opener to be played in prime time dating to its 2019 season debut against Georgia Tech in the first live game broadcast in ACC Network history.

SEPT. 9 • VS. CHARLESTON SOUTHERN • MEMORIAL STADIUM, CLEMSON, S.C.

Clemson will host its home opener on Saturday, Sept. 9, when the Tigers face the Charleston Southern Buccaneers at Memorial Stadium. Clemson is 97-17-8 in home openers against 38 different opponents all-time, and the Tigers are 37-0 against FCS opponents since Division I split in 1978, winning 36 of the 37 games by double digits. The game will be the first all-time meeting between Clemson and Charleston Southern and 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.
 

SEPT. 16 • VS. FLORIDA ATLANTIC • MEMORIAL STADIUM, CLEMSON, S.C.

Clemson and Florida Atlantic will meet for the second time in series history on Saturday, Sept. 16 at Memorial Stadium. The teams' only other meeting came in the 2006 season opener when Head Coach Tommy Bowden's Tigers defeated Howard Schnellenberger's Owls, 54-6. Though that game represents the teams' only previous meeting, fans in Death Valley have more recently watched a dramatic re-interpretation of Clemson facing Florida Atlantic, as Disney filmed scenes of its film Safety on Frank Howard Field at halftime of Clemson's 52-10 win against Charlotte on Sept. 21, 2019, depicting safety Ray Ray McElrathbey's appearance in that 2006 contest against Florida Atlantic.

SEPT. 23 • VS. FLORIDA STATE • MEMORIAL STADIUM, CLEMSON, S.C.

On Sept. 23, the two programs that combined for 13 of 17 Atlantic Division titles in the ACC's divisional era will meet for the first time since the conference's dissolution of divisional play. Clemson has won seven straight games in its series with Florida State, dating to 2015. With a win in this contest, Clemson would pull within one of the 1968-76 Florida Gators for the longest winning streak against the Seminoles in Florida State history (nine).

SEPT. 30 • AT SYRACUSE • JMA WIRELESS DOME, SYRACUSE, N.Y.

Clemson will travel to Central New York to face Syracuse at the JMA Wireless Dome on Sept. 30. Clemson holds a 9-2 record in its all-time series with Syracuse, including a 9-1 mark under Dabo Swinney. However, since Clemson blanked Syracuse, 54-0, in 2016, four of the teams' six most recent meetings have been decided by six or fewer points, including Clemson's eventual 15-0 national championship squad earning a 27-23 come-from-behind win against the Orange in 2018 and last year's ACC title-winning team overcoming a 14-point deficit for a 27-21 victory.

OCT. 7 • VS. WAKE FOREST • MEMORIAL STADIUM, CLEMSON, S.C.

Clemson will host the Wake Forest Demon Deacons on Oct. 7. A year ago, the teams played one of the most memorable games of the 2022 season, combining for 96 points and more than 1,000 yards of offense as Clemson earned a 51-45 double-overtime victory against the Demon Deacons in Winston-Salem. Since being elevated to Clemson's head coaching role following a 12-7 loss to Wake Forest in 2008, Dabo Swinney is 14-0 against Wake Forest. A 15th consecutive win in the series would be Clemson's sixth all-time streak of 15 or more consecutive wins against a single opponent in school history.

OCT. 21 • AT MIAMI (FLA.) • HARD ROCK STADIUM, MIAMI GARDENS, FLA.

Clemson and Miami will meet in back-to-back seasons for the first time since 2004-05 when the Tigers face the Hurricanes at Hard Rock Stadium in South Florida on Oct. 21. Clemson has won four straight in the series, including two wins in Clemson in 2020 and 2022, a win in the 2017 ACC Championship Game in Charlotte, and a 58-0 win in the Tigers' most recent road game at Miami in 2015. Clemson has outscored the Hurricanes by an aggregate score of 178-30 in that span.

OCT. 28 • AT NC STATE • CARTER-FINLEY STADIUM, RALEIGH, N.C.

Last season, Clemson and NC State played the highest-ranked game in the teams' 90-game series history, as the fifth-ranked Tigers topped the 10th-ranked Wolfpack, 30-20, at Death Valley in front of a prime-time national television audience. This year, the teams will meet on Oct. 28 in Raleigh, where the Tigers are 7-2 in their last nine games despite a double-overtime loss in their last visit in 2021.

NOV. 4 • VS. NOTRE DAME • MEMORIAL STADIUM, CLEMSON, S.C.

On Saturday, Nov. 4, Clemson will host Notre Dame at Memorial Stadium for the teams' fifth meeting since 2018. Notre Dame collected regular season victories against Clemson in 2020 and 2022, but Clemson earned decisive postseason victories in the College Football Playoff Semifinal at the Goodyear Cotton Bowl in 2018 and the 2020 ACC Championship Game. This game will represent the Irish's first visit to Clemson since a memorable 2015 contest in which Clemson stopped a late Irish two-point conversion attempt to earn a 24-22 prime-time victory amid the remnants of Hurricane Joaquin.

NOV. 11 • VS. GEORGIA TECH • MEMORIAL STADIUM, CLEMSON, S.C.

Clemson will carry its eight-game series winning streak against Georgia Tech into Memorial Stadium on Nov. 11. The game will be Clemson's first against new Georgia Tech Head Coach Brent Key, who became the first interim coach at an ACC institution elevated to a full-time head coaching role since Dabo Swinney accomplished the feat at Clemson in December 2008. New Georgia Tech head coaches are 2-6 in their first game against Clemson since 1974, including Clemson defeats of Yellow Jacket head coaches Pepper Rodgers, Bill Curry, Bobby Ross, George O'Leary, Chan Gailey and Geoff Collins.

NOV. 18 • VS. NORTH CAROLINA • MEMORIAL STADIUM, CLEMSON, S.C.

On Nov. 18, Clemson's Memorial Stadium will be the site of a rematch of the 2022 ACC Championship Game between Clemson and North Carolina. Last December, Clemson claimed its seventh ACC title in eight years by virtue of a 39-10 victory over the Tar Heels at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte. That victory gave Clemson a postseason win in 12 consecutive seasons, the longest streak in major college football history.

NOV. 25 • AT SOUTH CAROLINA • WILLIAMS-BRICE STADIUM, COLUMBIA, S.C.

After its seven-game winning streak in the series concluded last season, Clemson's opportunity to seize back in-state bragging rights against South Carolina will come on Saturday, Nov. 25. Clemson enters the game with a 72-43-4 all-time record in one of college football's most-played rivalries, a series Clemson has led since 1898. A win would give the Tigers five straight road wins against South Carolina for the first time since defeating the Gamecocks in Columbia six straight times across the 1989-99 seasons.

SCHEDULE NOTES AND ODDITIES

Clemson is once again scheduled to play 10 Power Five Conference opponents. During Clemson's active 12-year streak of 10-win seasons, Clemson has played 142 games against Power Five foes — the most in the country — and leads the nation with 119 wins against Power Five teams in that span. The 2023 season will be Clemson's 22nd consecutive season facing at least 10 Power Five opponents.

Clemson is scheduled to once again host its customary seven-game home slate in 2023. Clemson has staged at least six games at Death Valley every year since 2000. In the College Football Playoff era (since 2014), Clemson is 59-2 at home, tied for the best home record in the country.

Clemson has won at least six home games for a national-best 12 straight seasons. Coastal Carolina holds the nation's second-longest such streak at three consecutive seasons.

Clemson will play two separate three-game homestands. They will be Clemson's 34th and 35th homestands of three or more games in school history (1911, 1920, 1922, 1949, 1959, 1962, 1969, 1974, 1979, 1982, 1983, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991 (2), 1993, 1998, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2011, 2012, 2014, 2015, 2020 and 2022).

The 2023 season will be Clemson's second time playing multiple three-game homestands in a season, joining the Tigers' 1991 ACC championship campaign in which Clemson went 3-0 in its season-opening homestand and 2-0-1 in a midseason homestand. Clemson also had a six-game homestand midseason in 1987.

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 Wake Forest (14), Georgia Tech (eight), Florida State (seven), Duke (five), North Carolina (five), Syracuse (five), Miami (four), Florida Atlantic (one) and NC State (one). Clemson will face Charleston Southern for the first time in 2023 and will have opportunities to respond to 2022 defeats by Notre Dame and South Carolina.

With the dissolution of divisions, Clemson will face Florida State, Georgia Tech and NC State as its permanent rivals according to the ACC's new 3-5-5 schedule model adopted for 2023. Clemson is 31-12 against those three programs under Dabo Swinney and has a combined 21-1 record against them since 2015.

Clemson will open the season in prime time for the fifth 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 will attempt to improve to 20-5 in season-opening night games all-time and give Dabo Swinney an 8-1 mark in those contests.

Clemson’s season opener on Labor Day will be Clemson’s 27th Monday game all-time but only its 11th regular season Monday game in school history.

Clemson is 15-11 all-time in Monday games, including a 7-3 record in Monday regular season games.

Clemson will attempt to improve to improve to 3-1 all-time on Labor Day including victories against Florida State in 2007 and against Georgia Tech in 2021.

Clemson is 95-24-8 all-time in season openers, including victories in 12 of its last 14 season debuts.
Clemson will open the season on the road for the fourth time since 2016, including wins at Auburn in 2016, at Wake Forest in 2020 and against Georgia Tech at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in 2022.

Clemson will open the season against an ACC opponent for the 16th time since the conference’s founding in 1953. Clemson is 12-2-1 against ACC opponents in Week 1 contests all-time but will be facing Duke in Week 1 for the first time in series history.

The 2023 season will mark the 10th time in 12 years that Clemson has opened conference play on the road. Clemson has won each of its last eight conference openers since 2015, the longest conference-opener winning streak in school history. It will be the third time Duke will be Clemson's first ACC opponent, joining the 1971-72 seasons.

After not playing on a five-day turnaround at any point from 2017-21, Clemson will play its second game of the season on a five-day turnaround for the second consecutive season. Clemson earned wins against Georgia Tech and Furman five days apart in 2022.

Clemson’s Oct. 21 game against Miami (Fla.) will come following an open date on Oct. 14. Since joining the ACC as a charter member in 1953, Clemson has played 63 regular season games following open dates. The Tigers are 43-20 in those contests.

For only the fourth time in the last 14 years, Clemson will not play multiple SEC opponents in the regular season. Clemson has played multiple SEC foes in regular season play every year since 2010 with exception of 2015, 2020, 2022 and 2023, all years in which Clemson's schedule included Notre Dame as part of the Irish’s ACC scheduling agreement.

Including postseason play, Clemson has faced multiple SEC opponents 16 times in the last 17 years, dating to 2006, with the lone exception coming in 2020 when the SEC opted out of non-conference play in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Clemson has a 13-7 record against the SEC in the College Football Playoff era (since 2014), and its .650 winning percentage against SEC opponents is higher than 12 of the conference's own 14 members, trailing only Alabama (.890) and Georgia (.775).

Clemson will face four head coaches for the first time: Duke's Mike Elko, Charleston Southern's Gabe Giardina, Florida Atlantic's Tom Herman and Georgia Tech's Brent Key.

Since 2011, Clemson is 42-6 against head coaches who are facing Clemson for the first time.