Clemson locks in nonconference opponent for 2020. Schedule now complete

Clemson’s 2020 football schedule is now complete.

The Tigers will face The Citadel in their home opener on Sept. 19, it was announced Wednesday afternoon. Clemson’s schedule previously had a nonconference opponent to be determined for that date.

The matchup with the Bulldogs will take place the week after Clemson opens the season at Wake Forest on Sept. 12.

“We are extremely excited that we were able to keep The Citadel on our schedule for 2020, as annually hosting an FCS opponent from the state of South Carolina remains a key point of our scheduling philosophy,” Tigers athletics director Dan Radakovich said in a statement. “We are grateful to both the ACC and The Citadel for their interest and hard work in preserving this non-conference game for our student-athletes, the Clemson community and the state of South Carolina.”

The Citadel will make $450,000 for the game against the Tigers. The matchup was originally decided upon in 2017. However, with the Southern Conference postponing fall sports amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Clemson had been noncommittal on who its nonconference opponent would be this season until now.

Even with the SoCon postponing fall sports until the spring, the league is allowing its teams to play up to four nonconference games this fall. The Citadel AD Mike Capaccio told The State last week that the Bulldogs are planning to play four football games this fall, with one of those being against Clemson. The Citadel on Wednesday also announced it will host Eastern Kentucky on Sept. 26.

Clemson and other ACC teams are playing 10 league games and one out of conference game this fall.

CLEMSON 2020 FOOTBALL SCHEDULE

Sept 12: at Wake Forest

Sept. 19: The Citadel

Sept. 26: Open

Oct. 3: vs. Virginia

Oct. 10: vs. Miami

Oct. 17: at Georgia Tech

Oct. 24: vs. Syracuse

Oct. 31: vs. Boston College

Nov. 7: at Notre Dame

Nov. 14: Open

Nov. 21: at Florida State

Nov. 28: vs. Pitt

Dec. 5: at Virginia Tech

This story was originally published August 19, 2020 at 1:15 PM.

Matt Connolly

The State

Matt Connolly is the Clemson University sports beat writer and covers college athletics for The State newspaper and TheState.com. Connolly graduated from USC Upstate in Spartanburg in 2011 and previously worked for The (Spartanburg) Herald Journal covering University of South Carolina athletics. He has been with The State since 2015. Connolly received an APSE top 10 award for beat reporting for his coverage of Clemson in 2019. He has also received several SCPA awards, including top sports feature in 2019. Support my work with a digital subscription