Clemson Football Finds Out Five Kickoff Times For 2026 Season

In addition to the LSU contest, the Clemson Tigers know what the next three weeks and a game in November will look like going into the 2026 season.

Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney now knows where he will be playing for every game in the month of September. | Jim Dedmon-Imagn Images

Clemson football has a program-changing 2026 ahead, and now the Tigers know where they will play in almost half of their games. 

The ACC revealed kickoff times and TV network designations for the first three weeks of the regular season, being the first conference to do so. In addition, all non-Saturday games were also listed with respective times and television stations. 

Here are the first three weeks for Clemson, as well as the non-Saturday games that it has, which is two, in 2026. 

Week 1: at LSU, Sept. 5 at 7:30 p.m. on ABC

This one was previously announced, as College GameDay will also be heading to Baton Rouge, Louisiana, for the debut of Lane Kiffin as head coach. It will be a tall task for the Tigers from the Upstate, playing the second game of the home-and-home series that began in 2024. 

If Clemson comes out victorious, it could be a program-altering win against the SEC opponent with high hopes in Kiffin’s first year. 

Week 2: vs. Georgia Southern, Sept. 12 at 7:30 p.m. on ACC Network

Clemson’s home opener will also be under the lights, with Memorial Stadium hosting the Tigers and the Eagles. Head coach Dabo Swinney will look to begin his home slate with a win over a Georgia Southern team that finished 7-6 last season in the Sun Belt. 

The two teams have only played once back in 2018 inside Death Valley. Clemson prevailed 38-7 on Sept. 15. This is also the third year in a row that the Tigers' home opener will be a night kickoff.

Week 3: vs. North Carolina, Sept. 19 at noon on ESPN

For the second straight season, the Tigers and Tar Heels will face off in a battle of two Hall of Fame head coaches. Swinney got the best of his counterpart, Bill Belichick, last October in a 38-10 beatdown in Chapel Hill last season. It was the program’s first ACC win of the season after losing to Georgia Tech and Syracuse. 

While North Carolina is looking to show more fight than it did last season, Clemson will have the opportunity at home to open its ACC schedule with a win. Especially because its next game will be an unusual one. 

Week 4: at California, Sept. 25 (Friday) at 10:30 p.m. on ESPN

The ACC’s Friday night game this week will head to Berkeley, with Clemson going to play the Golden Bears for the first time since joining the conference in 2024. The program has only played Cal once, back during the 1991-92 season, in the Florida Citrus Bowl in Orlando. 

Many consider this game to be a trap game for the Tigers, who have to go three time zones away with one day less of rest. A lot more elements will go into the travel and recovery for Clemson to look to claim a victory against a motivated Golden Bear squad under a new head coach in Tosh Lupoi. 

This is the latest game that Clemson will play since the 1982 season. Clemson and Wake Forest squared off in Tokyo, Japan, in a 1 p.m. kickoff that ended up being 11 p.m. ET.

Week 12: at Duke, Nov. 20 (Friday) at 7:30 p.m. on ESPN

In a battle between the last two champions of the ACC, Clemson’s final conference game will come against a team that it hasn’t had a win against since the 2018 season. 

Duke’s been victorious in 2023 and 2025, shutting down Swinney’s group at Wallace Wade and Memorial Stadium, respectively, in both low and high-scoring affairs. The Tigers might have one less day of rest in this instance, but preparing for South Carolina the following week will help with the rest of the weekend open after the Durham trip. 

Kickoff times and other network designations for the remainder of the games will be announced at a later date. All ACC contests with announced times can be found here.