Clemson coach Dabo Swinney holds the trophy after Clemson defeated North Carolina in the Atlantic Coast Conference championship game in the NCAA college football game Saturday, Dec. 3, 2022, in Charlotte, N.C. (AP Photo/Jacob Kupferman).
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Clemson’s 2023 football schedule is official.
The ACC released the Tigers’ entire 12-game schedule on Monday night’s two-hour telecast, laying out a schedule that should keep coach Dabo Swinney in the national conversation next fall.
Defending ACC champion Clemson will play on Labor Day for the second straight year when it opens the 2023 season at Duke on Monday, Sept. 4. The full schedule, starting times and TV channels, will be announced in the coming days:
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September 4 (Monday): at Duke
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September 9: vs. Charleston South
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September 16: vs. Florida Atlantic
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September 23: vs. Florida State
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September 30: at Syracuse
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October 7: with Wake Forest
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October 14: Unlocked.
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October 21: Miami
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Oct. 28: at NC State
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Nov. 4: vs. Notre Dame
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Nov. 11: vs. Georgia Tech
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November 18: vs. North Carolina
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November 25: at South Carolina
Clemson is coming off an 11-3 season that featured plenty of highs — an 8-0 record in conference play, its seventh ACC title in eight years — but also some notable lows.
The Tigers missed the College Football Playoff for the second straight time after making six straight from 2015 to 2020 and are 0-3 against Conference Power Five opponents in 2022.
Those losses to Notre Dame, South Carolina and Tennessee (in the Orange Bowl) highlighted some lingering offensive issues and prompted Swinney to fire offensive coordinator Brandon Streeter after one season and replace him with former TCU OC Garrett Riley.
Riley will be expected to unleash the full potential of sophomore quarterback Cade Klubnik, a former five-star recruit who replaced DJ Yougalley late in the season and — amid some growing pains — flashed undeniable star power in the ACC title game and Tennessee’s win over UNC.
In the year Among the notable returning players for Clemson in 2023: first-team All-ACC running back Will Shipley, first-team All-ACC defensive tackle Tyler Davis, second-team AP All-American linebacker Jeremiah Trotter Jr., defensive end Ruck Orohoro, linebacker Barrett Carter and wide receiver Antonio Williams.
The Tigers have been ranked as high as No. 8 in 11 outlets’ “very early” 2023 Top 25 rankings, but have repeatedly fallen into the No. 11 to 15 range — a relegation for the program. AP preseason Top 5 team for seven consecutive seasons since 2016.
No more division.
The 2023 season will be the ACC’s first under the new divisionless 3-5-5 schedule approved by the league’s athletic directors last June.
That model would eliminate the old Atlantic and Coastal divisions, which have been in place since 2005, and put all 14 member schools into one division. The top two teams based on conference winning percentage will compete in the ACC Football Championship Game.
In the new format through 2026, Clemson will play Florida State, Georgia Tech and NC State as three “major affiliates.”
The Tigers face the conference’s other 10 teams twice in a four-year cycle: once at home and once on the road.
The opposition is set to 2026, although the dates are not official. Clemson has four ACC home games and four ACC road games for 2023 from last summer.
In 2024, Clemson will play Louisville, Miami, NC State and Virginia in ACC home games and travel to Boston College, Florida State, Georgia Tech and Virginia Tech for ACC road games.
Clemson spring game information
Clemson’s annual Orange and White spring game will begin Saturday, April 15 at 1 p.m. on ACC Network Extra, the conference announced Monday.
This gives fans a first look at the full 2023 roster and several early enrollee freshmen from Clemson’s 11th-ranked 2023 signing class, including former five-star defensive recruit Peter Woods and former four-star quarterback Christopher Vizzina.
This story was originally published January 30, 2023 7:50 p.m.
Chappell Fowler has covered Clemson football for the state since June 2022, among other topics. He is a Denver, NC, native, 2020 UNC-Chapel Hill graduate and pick-up basketball aficionado at the Fayetteville (NC) Observer and Chatham (NC) News + Record. His work has been honored by the Associated Press Sports Editors, the North Carolina Press Association and the Associated College Press.