The ACC released its teams' football schedules Wednesday for the 2018 season, which features a seven home, five road game slate for Clemson.
More: Clemson football schedule announced: In 2018, Tigers open with Furman, face 2 SEC foes
The Tigers' opponents next season went a combined 81-71 in 2017, including a pair of nine-win teams in South Carolina and North Carolina State, and present a few interesting challenges this fall.
Most Interesting Game: at Texas A&M - Sept. 8, 2018
The Aggies went 7-6 in 2017 but their on-field performance isn't what makes this one of Clemson's marquee games of the season. A&M's Kyle Field is one of the largest venues in the country with a capacity of nearly 103,000 and it will be sold out to witness the first big game of the Jimbo Fisher era.
The Clemson game is the first of two incredibly difficult opponents Fisher will face in his first four games in College Station; A&M plays at defending national champion Alabama two weeks later.
Toughest Stretch: Oct. 6 to Nov. 10
This stretch takes up half the season and it's not as daunting of a stretch as the Auburn-Louisville-Boston College-Virginia Tech it played last season, but if Clemson loses a regular season game it'll likely happen during a five-game stretch at Wake Forest, vs NC State, at Florida State, vs Louisville and at Boston College. With the exception of Louisville, each of these teams gave Clemson a fight in 2017 and should do the same this season.
Wake Forest returns one of the conference's top receivers in Greg Dortch, NC State returns the ACC's best quarterback in Ryan Finley, Florida State should be revitalized by new head coach Willie Taggart and the return of quarterback Deondre Francois, and Boston College returns one of the nation's best running backs in A.J. Dillon.
In short, these won't be pushover games.
Notes:
- Only 10 teams have played Clemson more than its season-opening opponent Furman. The Paladins make their first trip to Death Valley since 2012, where they haven't won since 1936. Clemson owns a 30-game win streak against Furman, the last non-Tiger victory occurring in 1937 — a 0-0 tie.
- Clemson plays Georgia State for the second time, the first being a 28-0 Tiger win in 2014.
- The Duke Blue Devils make their first trip to Clemson since Nov. 15 2008, when they became the first team newly-appointed head coach Dabo Swinney ever beat at home.