2018 FOOTBALL SCHEDULE RELEASED

CUTrevor 2018-01-17 13:49:27


 

Clemson, S.C. — Clemson plays eight bowl teams who finished with winning records in 2017 according to the 2018 football schedule released by the Atlantic Coast Conference Wednesday. The slate also includes a pair of non-conference games against SEC teams for the eighth time in the last nine years.

 

The schedule is unusual in that Clemson will not have consecutive home games until the last two games of the season, the first time that has happened since 1986 when the Tigers had just five home games. The schedule alternates home and away games for the first 11 games of the season, a first in school history.

 

Dabo Swinney’s Tigers will play all 12 of their regular season games on Saturdays for the first time since 2015 and for just the second time in the last seven years.    The open date is on October 13, squarely in the middle of the schedule.

 

Clemson opens the season against Furman on September 1. The Paladins are Clemson’s oldest football rival, as the schools met in Clemson’s first football game in 1896. It will be the first meeting between the institutions since 2012.


The Tigers then go on the road to face Texas A&M at Kyle Field, a venue that holds over 100,000 fans. It will be Clemson’s first trip to Texas A&M since 2004 when the Aggies defeated the Tigers, 27-6. Clemson won the last meeting 25-24 at Death Valley on a last second field goal by Jad Dean.


Clemson returns home the following Saturday for its third-straight non-conference game against Georgia Southern in the first meeting between the two schools. 


The league schedule opens on September 22 at Georgia Tech, the sixth straight year Clemson has had its first league game on the road. Clemson has won at Georgia Tech just once since 2003 and the victory took place in 2016 during Clemson’s National Championship season.


Clemson faces Syracuse in its first ACC home game on September 29th.  The Orange upset the Tigers last year in New York in Clemson’s only regular season loss. 


Clemson then travels to Wake Forest for the first game of October on the sixth of the month. The Tigers have won 10 straight games dating to 2011 in the state of North Carolina, including three ACC Championship games played in Charlotte.


After the open date, Clemson returns home to face NC State.  The Tigers have won consecutive games by seven points or less over the Wolfpack, the only ACC opponent to be within a touchdown of the Tigers each of the last two seasons.


Clemson and Florida State meet in Tallahassee on October 27 in a battle of the schools that have won each of the last nine Atlantic Division championships.  Clemson has won each of the last three meetings, including last season’s 31-14 victory which clinched the division title.


Three of Clemson’s four games in November will be at home and the month begins against Louisville on November 3.  The Tigers have defeated Louisville all four years the Cardinals have been in the ACC, but three of the wins have been by a touchdown or less.


Clemson’s final ACC road game will be at Boston College on November 10.  It will be Clemson’s latest trip to Boston on the calendar since the Eagles joined the ACC in 2005. Clemson has won seven straight over the Eagles.


Swinney’s Tigers conclude their ACC slate on November 17 with a home game against Duke, the first meeting between the two schools since 2012, and Duke’s first trip to Death Valley since 2008 when Swinney was the interim coach. Duke has not won at Clemson since 1980.


The regular season schedule concludes on November 24 when South Carolina comes to Clemson. The Tigers have won the annual state rivalry game four consecutive years.


 

2018 CLEMSON FOOTBALL SCHEDULE

Date         Opponent

Sept. 1     FURMAN

Sept. 8     at Texas A&M

Sept. 15  GEORGIA SOUTHERN

Sept. 22  at Georgia Tech

Sept. 29 SYRACUSE

Oct. 6      at Wake Forest

Oct. 20    NC STATE

Oct. 27   at Florida State

Nov. 3     LOUISVILLE

Nov. 10   at Boston College

Nov. 17  DUKE

Nov. 24  SOUTH CAROLINA

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CUTrevor 2018-01-17 13:50:11


I love it! No Thursday or Friday night games for the first time since 2011. Dabo, of course, won his first ACC Title that year.

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CUTrevor 2018-01-17 14:09:24


GREENSBORO, N.C. (theACC.com) – The Atlantic Coast Conference announced the 2018 football schedule Wednesday, and once again, it includes arguably the most challenging non-conference competition among the Power 5 conferences.

  • ACC teams will play more games (19) against Power 5 competition (including Notre Dame) than any of their peers. 
  • ACC teams will play more games against non-conference teams (13) ranked in last year’s final Associated Press Top 25 than any other Power 5 conference. 
  • The ACC has the highest percentage (.232) of games against teams ranked in the final AP poll of any of its peer conferences. 
  • ACC teams will play 27 games against non-conference opponents that participated in bowl games last season, the highest total among Power 5 conferences. 
  • ACC teams will play 13 non-conference games against teams in ESPN’s 2018 Way-Too-Early Top 25, which is the most among their peers.
  • ACC teams’ non-conference opponents had the highest combined winning percentage (.558) in 2017 of any of the Power 5 leagues.

“The 2018 ACC Football schedule provides our schools and programs the opportunity to build upon the numerous football successes that have been achieved in recent years,” said ACC Commissioner John Swofford. “Once again, our teams will be facing both a daunting conference schedule and what is collectively the most challenging non-conference schedule in the country. There will be no shortage of excitement for fans on a weekly basis.”

ACC teams will play two neutral site games on the opening weekend of the season, including Louisville facing defending national champion Alabama in the Camping World Kickoff in Orlando, Florida, on Saturday, Sept. 1. Miami and LSU will meet in the AdvoCare Cowboys Classic in Arlington, Texas, on Sunday, Sept. 2.

The ACC’s traditional Labor Day Monday game features Virginia Tech at Florida State.

The ACC will have four games nationally televised by ESPN or ESPN2 on Thursday nights, including Boston College at Wake Forest (Sept. 13), North Carolina at Miami (Sept. 27), Georgia Tech at Virginia Tech (Oct. 25) and Wake Forest at NC State (Nov. 8). The league also has five Friday night games, including Georgia Tech at Louisville (Oct. 5), Miami at Boston College (Oct. 26), Pitt at Virginia (Nov. 2), Louisville at Syracuse (Nov. 9) and Virginia at Virginia Tech (Nov. 23).

The schedule includes five games against Notre Dame, which finished No. 11 in the final 2017 AP Top 25 poll. Wake Forest hosts the Irish on Sept. 22, and Virginia Tech welcomes Notre Dame to Blacksburg on Oct. 6. Pitt (Oct. 13) and Florida State (Nov. 10) travel to South Bend. Syracuse and Notre Dame will meet in Yankee Stadium in The Bronx on Nov. 17.

In all, the schedule includes 56 regular-season conference match-ups over a span of 13 weeks and is capped off with the 14th annual Dr Pepper ACC Football Championship Game, which will be played on Saturday, Dec. 1, at Charlotte’s Bank of America Stadium.

About the Atlantic Coast Conference
The Atlantic Coast Conference, now in its 65th year of competition and 15 members strong, has long enjoyed the reputation as one of the strongest and most competitive intercollegiate conferences in the nation. ACC members Boston College, Clemson, Duke, Florida State, Georgia Tech, Louisville, Miami, North Carolina, NC State, Notre Dame, Pitt, Syracuse, Virginia, Virginia Tech and Wake Forest continue to build upon the cornerstones on which the league was founded in 1953 with a consistent balance of academics, athletics and integrity. The ACC currently sponsors 27 NCAA sports – 14 for women and 13 for men – with member institutions located in 10 states. For more information, visit theACC.com and follow @theACC on Twitter and on Facebook (facebook.com/theACC).

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CUTrevor 2018-01-17 15:33:21


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CUTrevor 2018-01-17 15:33:46


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