Clemson’s next trip to Death Valley now comes with a noon start.
The program announced Monday afternoon that its Oct. 17 matchup with Charleston Southern will kick off at 12 p.m. and air on ACC Network. The Tigers will return home after their lone bye week of the 2026 season, giving them an open date to reset before hosting the Buccaneers two Saturdays from now.
This will be just Clemson’s second daytime game of the year. The Tigers have already played LSU, Georgia Southern and Miami at 7:30 p.m., while the Week 4 game at Cal started at 10:30 p.m.
ET because it was played in Berkeley. The only other noon kickoff came in Week 3 against North Carolina, Clemson’s ACC opener, though that game stretched nearly six hours because of a two-and-a-half-hour weather delay.
Clemson enters the open week at 3-2 overall and 2-1 in ACC play. Both of its losses have come against ranked opponents, with defeats to No.
11 LSU and No. 4 Miami.
The Miami game came Saturday night in primetime on ABC, two days before the kickoff announcement.
Charleston Southern is 2-3 and 0-2 in conference play. Its losses have come against Lindenwood, Georgia Southern - the same team Clemson beat 22-7 in Week 2 - and Gardner-Webb.
The Tigers and Buccaneers have met only once before, in Week 2 of the 2023 season. Clemson rolled to a 66-17 win that day, with quarterback Cade Klubnik throwing for 315 yards and four touchdowns. Klubnik is now with the New York Jets.
This year’s meeting still looks like a steep climb for Charleston Southern. Georgia Southern handled the Buccaneers 31-0 in Week 1, and Clemson will also be coming off a bye.
The game is also listed as a buy game for Clemson, the second such matchup on the schedule this season. The Tigers paid Georgia Southern $1.5 million and extended 2,500 complimentary tickets. Charleston Southern is set to receive $450,000 and 500 complimentary tickets.
Clemson’s future buy games include Georgia State and Wofford at home in 2027, Troy and The Citadel at home in 2028, and Furman at home in 2029.
In Other News...
Clemsons Bye Week Exposed A Problem That Could Define The Stretch Run
Through the first five weeks, Clemson has settled into an uneven but still workable place at 3-2 overall and 2-1 in ACC play, with wins over Georgia Southern, North Carolina and Cal and losses to LSU and Miami. The bye week gave the staff a chance to step back and sort through the first half of the season position by position, from quarterbacks and receivers to the defensive front, but the review did not take long to find the area creating the most concern.
The offensive line has emerged as the clearest weakness, and it is the one unit that could shape how the rest of the season unfolds. Coach Matt Luke has already acknowledged the staff tried to bring in transfer offensive linemen, only for those efforts to fall short, leaving Clemson to navigate the stretch run with the group it has and a problem it still has to solve. [Read more 🡒]
Clemson's Offensive Line Issues Are Fueling A Bigger Roster Debate
Clemsons offensive line problems have become one of the defining issues of the season, and the numbers explain why. The Tigers have been far too inconsistent up front, giving up too many sacks and landing near the bottom nationally in sacks and tackles for loss allowed. Dabo Swinney and line coach Matt Luke have both pointed to inexperience as a major factor, and the staff has spent plenty of time trying to sort through a group that has not yet found much rhythm.
The bigger wrinkle is what those struggles say about the rest of the roster and how quickly Clemson can patch things together. The staff did explore the transfer market for help up front, but the answer there was no, leaving the Tigers to keep building with the young players already in the program. For now, the confidence remains that development will come with time, even if the current version of the line still has to prove it can hold up week after week. [Read more 🡒]
Miami Now Has A New O-Line Concern Clemson Fans Will Notice
Miami left its matchup with Clemson with one more thing to monitor up front, as starting right guard Max Buchanan exited with a leg injury before eventually returning to the game. For a Hurricanes offensive line that has already had to manage its share of moving parts, any question at guard matters, especially with Clemsons front having a way of exposing shaky protection and forcing opponents to make quick adjustments on the fly.
The concern only grew after Buchanan posted a photo from a hospital bed, a sign that pointed to a potentially longer recovery even though Miami has not said anything officially about his status. If he is unavailable going forward, the Hurricanes will have to sort through their current options and decide how to reshuffle the interior line, which is exactly the kind of development Clemson fans will notice the next time these teams are in the same conversation. [Read more 🡒]