CLEMSON – It is game day in Death Valley where Clemson hosts Stanford in an ACC showdown.
The Tigers look to move to 2-0 in the conference with a win over the Cardinals.
Location: Memorial Stadium (Death Valley)
Kickoff: 7 PM
Television: ESPN
Announcers: Mark Jones, Roddy Jones, Quint Kessenich
2024 Record: Clemson 2-1, Stanford 2-1
ACC Record: Clemson 1-0, Stanford 1-0
Series History: Clemson leads series 1-0
Last Meeting: Clemson won 27-21 on December 27, 1986
The Clemson Tigers will face the Stanford Cardinal for the second time in history and for the first time as ACC colleagues on Sept. 28 on Homecoming at Death Valley. Kickoff at Memorial Stadium in Clemson is scheduled for 7 p.m. ET.
Clemson Head Coach Dabo Swinney will be chasing ACC history on Saturday. He enters the contest with a career head coaching record of 172-44 and is one victory shy of Bobby Bowden’s conference record for career total victories leading an ACC program. Of Bowden’s 377 NCAA-recognized career head coaching victories, 173 of his wins came during Florida State’s
membership in the ACC.
Swinney will also be chasing his 100th career win at Memorial Stadium. The Tigers are 99-9 at home under his leadership, including a national-best-tying 67-3 mark at home in the College Football Playoff era.
Clemson has ridden its suddenly red-hot starting offense to blowout victories in each of its last two games, running out to first quarter leads of 35-0 and 28-0 in victories against Appalachian State and NC State, respectively. Clemson quarterback Cade Klubnik has guided Clemson’s offense on 17 drives over the last two games before giving way to his backups. Clemson
has scored on 16 of Klubnik’s 17 drives, including 15 touchdowns and one field goal.
WHAT TO WATCH FOR THIS WEEK
– Clemson (800-473-45) attempting to earn its 801st victory all-time and potentially tie Auburn (801) for the 13th-most in FBS history. (Note: Auburn can move to 802 with a win against Oklahoma at 3:30 p.m. ET Saturday).
– Head Coach Dabo Swinney (172) attempting to tie Bobby Bowden (173 during Florida State’s tenure in the ACC) for the most career head coaching victories leading an ACC program.
– Swinney (172) attempting to earn his 173rd career win to pass the career win total of College Football Hall of Famer Dan Devine (172-57-9) and match the career win totals of College Football Hall of Famers Robert
Neyland (173-31-12) and Frank Solich (173-101).
– Swinney (99-9) attempting to become the first coach in Clemson history to win 100 career home games. Frank Howard ranks second in school history
with 81.
– Swinney (99) attempting to join Mack Brown (156), Kirk Ferentz (121) and Brian Kelly (103) as the only active FBS coaches to win 100 career home
games, according to Stats Perform.
– Clemson attempting to improve to 68-3 at Death Valley in the College Football Playoff era. At 67-3, Clemson is tied with Alabama for the nation’s best home record in that time frame.
WELCOME TO HOMECOMING
Saturday will be Clemson’s 100th Homecoming game on record since the first celebration in 1922. Clemson has an overall record of 77-19-3 in its previous 99 Homecoming games. That includes a 46-4-2 record (.904) in Homecoming games since the 1971 season.
Though the university tradition began in 1914, the first dedicated homecoming football game at Clemson was in 1922, a 21-0 loss to Centre that kicked off an 0-4-1 stretch through Clemson’s first five homecoming games.
Clemson defeated Auburn in 1927 by a 3-0 score for its first homecoming victory.
There is no record of a homecoming game in 1930 or 1938, but the event was held in conjunction with a football game in 81 straight seasons from 1939-2019, even through the war years. That streak concluded in 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic precluded Clemson from formally hosting the annual event.
PRIME TIME IN DEATH VALLEY
Clemson’s 7 p.m. ET kickoff against Stanford will be Clemson’s second night game of the 2024 season and its 62nd night game since the start of the 2015 season. In that time, Clemson is 50-11 in night games, including a
29-8 mark since the start of the 2018 season.
Clemson has won its last 21 night games in Death Valley, a streak that dates to the middle of the 2013 season. Overall, Clemson is 24-3 under the Death Valley lights in Dabo Swinney’s tenure.
TCI Predictions
Robert – Clemson 52, Stanford 17
Will – Clemson 38, Stanford 14
JP – Clemson 45, Stanford 17
Gavin – Clemson 48, Stanford 24
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