On Monday night, the ACC released its schedule for all 17 teams for the 2025-26 season. For the Clemson Tigers, their title defense will provide many challenges to receive back-to-back conference titles and another chance at the College Football Playoff.
The Tigers will open up their highly-anticipated campaign with a top opponent out the gates, hosting the LSU Tigers on Aug. 30. The matchup will be the first of a home-and-home series in both respective Death Valley locations, with the second game taking place in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, to open the 2026-27 season.
Following another home game against Troy a Saturday later, head coach Dabo Swinney and the team will take a short trip to Atlanta to face Georgia Tech in the team’s first ACC and away contest of the season on Sept. 13.
A contest with Syracuse will take place on Sept. 20 at home.
October sees two road trips: one to North Carolina on Oct. 4 and one to Boston College on Oct. 11. Swinney will face off against two former NFL head coaches over this span: six-time Super Bowl winning head coach Bill Belichick with the Tar Heels and Bill O’ Brien with the Eagles. After that, Oct. 18 will see a rematch of the 2024 ACC Championship, where the team will host the SMU Mustangs at Memorial Stadium.
The Duke Blue Devils come to Tigertown on Nov. 1 for the first time since the team upset Clemson in Week 1 of the 2023 season, where the Tigers will look to get revenge. A week later, the team will host the Florida State Seminoles.
The Tigers finish the season with two of the last three games being away games. The first is a Friday game against the Louisville Cardinals, who gave the Tigers their only ACC loss this season, doing it in Memorial Stadium in early November. The game will also be the team’s final in-conference game of the season, potentially having championship game implications.
After a senior day game against Furman to finish out the home schedule, the team will go to Columbia, South Carolina, for the annual Palmetto Bowl game against the Gamecocks. With the impact of how the 12-team playoff affected many teams during Rivalry Week, especially the state rivals, the game could hold a spot for an at-large bid for postseason hopes if it turns out being that way once again.
Similarly to this past season, there are difficult opponents to begin the schedule, and the Tigers will have to finish strong to see a back-to-back College Football Playoff appearance. However, with a plethora of returning starters, transfers and a new defensive coordinator in Tom Allen, the team has the potential to do so.
