Clemson’s 2020 football schedule has dramatic changes
By: will-vandervort July 29, 2020

Though the ACC did not announce any formal dates to Clemson’s new 2020 football schedule on Wednesday, the league did announce it will go to a 10+1 model for the upcoming season.

As The Clemson Insider reported last Thursday, the Tigers will play 10 conference games this coming year, including at Notre Dame. The ACC said each conference member may also play one non-conference opponent as long as the game is played in its home state. That likely means the Clemson-South Carolina Game will continue its streak as the second longest uninterrupted series in college football.

“We appreciate the leadership of our ACC Board of Directors today on their direction forward,” Clemson athletic director Dan Radakovich said in a statement from the school. “This model gives the ACC the best chance to provide a safe environment for our coaches and student-athletes, while having a competitive season. There are still many more details to work out, and we must continue to be diligent in our testing and safety protocols.”

Below is what the ACC released as Clemson’s new ACC schedule:

  • Home games: Boston College, Miami, Pitt, Syracuse and Virginia
  • Away games: FSU, Georgia Tech, Notre Dame, Virginia Tech and Wake Forest

As you can tell Clemson picked up conference games against Miami, Pitt and Virginia Tech, while NC State and Louisville, which were home games, fell off from the original schedule. Also, Clemson’s road trip to Boston College was moved to a home game to give the Tigers five ACC home games. Clemson will play Miami and Pittsburgh at Death Valley as well.

The Tigers were previously scheduled to play home ACC games against Louisville, Virginia, NC State and Syracuse prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. Clemson was scheduled to play league road games at Georgia Tech, Boston College, Florida State and Wake Forest.

Notre Dame is added as a fourth conference road game, while the Tigers’ visit to Virginia Tech will replace their original trip to Boston College. The Irish, of course, was already on Clemson’s schedule as a non-conference foe.

ACC Football for the 2020 season:

  • The season’s first games will take place the week of Sept. 7-12
  • The 2020 scheduling model includes 11 games (10 plus one: 10 conference and one non-conference)
  • All non-conference game opponents, selected by the respective school, must be played in the home state of the ACC institution, and all non-conference opponents must meet the medical protocol requirements as agreed upon by the ACC
  • The 11 games will be played over at least 13 weeks with each team having two open dates
  • There will be one division
  • Notre Dame will also play a 10-game conference schedule and be eligible to compete in the 2020 ACC Football Championship Game
  • All television revenue for the 2020 season, including Notre Dame’s home games broadcast by NBC, will be shared equally by all 15 institutions
  • The ACC Football Championship Game will be played on either December 12 or 19 at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte, North Carolina, and will feature the top two teams based upon highest conference-game winning percentage
  • All 15 teams will continue to be part of the ACC’s bowl selection process; should Notre Dame win the ACC Football Championship Game they would be eligible for the Orange Bowl, if not selected as a College Football Playoff semifinal team
  • The 2020 ACC Football week-by-week schedule and television selections will be released in the future

   –ACC Communications contributed to this story

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