Clemson will open the 2027 season with a home game against Georgia State, marking a notable shift from the kind of heavyweight Week 1 matchup Dabo Swinney has usually preferred.
The Tigers are set to host the Panthers in Memorial Stadium on Aug. 28, according to a Thursday report first surfaced by FBSchedules.com. That makes Georgia State Clemson’s first season-opening opponent from outside a Power Four conference since 2018.
For much of the Swinney era, Clemson has leaned into big early tests to set the tone. The Tigers have opened recent seasons against teams such as LSU and Georgia, and even ACC opponents like Duke, Georgia Tech and Wake Forest have given them trouble, with the Blue Devils particularly causing issues in 2023.
That’s part of why this change stands out. Clemson has lost five of its last six season openers, dating back to the 2021 defeat to Georgia in Charlotte. The only Week 1 win in that stretch came in 2022 against Georgia Tech, which finished at the bottom of the ACC.
The Tigers’ most recent opener was a lopsided loss to LSU by more than 40 points, a result that quickly knocked them off the path they wanted to start on. The 2027 opener, at least on paper, gives Clemson a much cleaner runway.
Georgia State is the final piece of Clemson’s non-conference setup for that season. The Tigers will also open a home-and-home series with Notre Dame next season, a series that runs through 2037. That matchup is expected around the end of October and will be played at home.
Clemson’s schedule also includes Wofford and, of course, South Carolina in the Palmetto Bowl, though that game will be played at Williams-Brice Stadium.
The Panthers have only faced Clemson once before, with the Tigers winning that meeting in 2014.
In Other News...
Brian Kelly Had One Tough LSU Admission During Clemson Week 1
Brian Kelly spent plenty of years living the grind from the sideline, so his move into the broadcast booth has come with an adjustment he did not sugarcoat. In a Sirius XM interview, the former LSU head coach said it was hard to watch college football games as an observer after decades of coaching, a reminder of how strange the week-to-week shift can feel for someone who only recently left the headset behind. Now working as a college football analyst for CBS Sports, Kelly is also part of the networks Mountain West coverage this season.
His comments landed with a little extra weight during LSUs recent game against Clemson, where the Tigers were front and center in one of the early matchups of the year. Kelly also made clear he was impressed with LSUs showing under Lane Kiffin in that game, a notable admission from someone who spent so long inside the programs own coaching world. For Clemson fans, it adds another layer to a matchup that already carried plenty of attention, with a familiar SEC voice now watching the sport from a very different angle. [Read more 🡒]
Clemsons 2027 Opener Just Raised A Bigger ACC Schedule Issue
Clemsons 2027 football season now has a strange little footnote before it even begins. The Tigers will open at home against Georgia State on Aug. 28, 2027, after a contract amendment moved the game up from Nov. 6, and the adjustment gives Clemson the earliest kickoff in program history. It is a sign of how much the sports calendar is shifting around the Tigers as the NCAA prepares to roll out a new 14-week regular season structure starting next season.
For Clemson, the date change is more than just a scheduling curiosity. It shows how future nonconference games may need to be reshaped as the ACC and the broader college football calendar keep changing, and it puts another layer of planning on a program that already has to manage league play, travel and the long-range demands of its schedule. The Georgia State matchup is settled, but the bigger question is how many more Clemson dates will have to be nudged to fit the sports new rhythm. [Read more 🡒]
Clemson Home Opener Carries A Historic Chance After Last Weeks Mess
After last weeks rough showing against LSU, Clemson gets a quick chance to steady itself when Georgia Southern comes to Death Valley for the home opener. The matchup carries a little extra weight because the Tigers have been so reliable in these early-season games, and the setting should help them get back to the level most people expected from them entering the year.
There is also a bit of history hanging over the afternoon, with Clemson having beaten Georgia Southern in a previous meeting back in 2018. The betting line reflects how lopsided this one is expected to be, but the bigger backdrop is Clemsons long habit of taking care of business when it opens at home, which is exactly why this game feels like more than just a tune-up. [Read more 🡒]