Thursday, Feb. 19, 2009

TCU may play Clemson in '09

CLEMSON — The first month of Dabo Swinney’s inaugural season as Clemson’s full-time coach is about to get exponentially more challenging.

TCU has agreed in principle to fill a vacated home game on the Tigers’ 2009 schedule, multiple sources told The State today.

A contract is expected to be signed Friday, and an announcement could come shortly thereafter. Clemson officials declined comment until an announcement is made. TCU finished last season ranked No. 7 and posted an 11-2 record, with its only losses coming at the hands of No. 2 Utah and No. 5 Oklahoma. Horned Frogs coach Gary Patterson was also considered a possible candidate for Clemson’s job.

Central Michigan was listed as the Tigers’ Sept. 26 opponent when the ACC released schedules last week, but school officials have been searching for a replacement since before the 2008 season kicked off. Clemson had agreed to allow Central Michigan to back out of its contracted game if the MAC helped find a replacement.

The Tigers were negotiating with Idaho to plug the hole, but that deal is believed to have fallen through because the Vandals have been unable to make the other switches on their schedule necessary to play Clemson on that date.

Idaho went 2-10 last season, and TCU represents a vast extreme in terms of strength of schedule. While the Horned Frogs lose seven starters from the nation’s top-ranked defense, they do retain defensive end Jerry Hughes, who led the country with 15 sacks.

It will be TCU’s second ACC road game in a matter of three weeks; it travels to Virginia to play Sept. 12 as well.

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