TV channels, kickoff times set for Clemson football’s first 3 games of 2023 season
The ACC announced kickoff times and channel designations for all of its schools including Clemson, for the first three weeks of the 2023 football season.
Here’s how the Tigers’ opening slate looks:
Sept. 4 (Mon): at Duke, 8 p.m. (ABC)
Sept. 9: vs. Charleston Southern, 2:15 p.m. (ACC Network)
Sept. 16: vs. Florida Atlantic, 8 p.m. (ACC Network)
Clemson, which came in at No. 9 in ESPN’s post-spring Way-Too-Early Top 25, is hoping to maintain its status as ACC champion while returning to the College Football Playoff stage it’s missed out two years in a row behind rising star quarterback Cade Klubnik.
The Tigers, who went 11-3 last year while winning their seventh ACC championship in eight years and appearing in the Orange Bowl, will open their season on Labor Day for the second straight season and in primetime for the fifth straight season.
Their opponent, Duke, also has plenty to brag about. The Blue Devils were widely expected to be one of the ACC’s worst teams in 2022, but they went 8-4 in the regular season behind dynamic quarterback Riley Leonard and ACC Coach of the Year Mike Elko.
After opening their season and conference play at Duke, the Tigers return home on a short week to play FCS Charleston Southern in their home opener at Memorial Stadium.
Charleston Southern was a late addition to Clemson’s 2023 schedule: The program had been scheduled to play Wofford in that spot until Pittsburgh added a game with Wofford to its schedule for the same weekend last fall.
It’ll be the first ever meeting between Clemson and Charleston Southern, which went 2-8 last season. The Tigers are 37-0 against FCS teams (with 36 double-digit wins) since 1978.
Finally, Clemson wraps up the opening “quarter” of its season with a home game against Florida Atlantic of Conference USA. The Owls were 5-7 in 2022.
That game fits into the Tigers’ general non-conference scheduling philosophy of playing one in-state FCS school, one Group of Five school and one Power Five school (this year, it’s Notre Dame) alongside its annual rivalry game with South Carolina.
Two scheduling notes: This is the first year of a divisionless ACC scheduling model, which eliminates the old Atlantic and Coastal Divisions and instead pits the top two teams (based on conference winning percentage) in the league’s championship game in Charlotte. It’s also the last year of a four-team CFP before that playoff expands to 12 teams for the 2024 season.
Clemson football 2023 schedule
Sept. 4 (Mon): at Duke, 8 p.m. (ABC)
Sept. 9: vs. Charleston Southern, 2:15 p.m. (ACC Network)
Sept. 16: vs. Florida Atlantic, 8 p.m. (ACC Network)
Sept. 23: vs. Florida State
Sept. 30: at Syracuse
Oct. 7: vs. Wake Forest
Oct. 14: OPEN
Oct. 21: at Miami
Oct. 28: at N.C. State
Nov. 11: vs. Georgia Tech
Nov. 18: vs. North Carolina
Nov. 25: at South Carolina
