The 5 Can't-Miss Games of the 2021 Season
Clemson is once again scheduled to play 10 Power Five Conference opponents, meaning there are a handful, if not more, of games that you do not want to miss. Today, we rank the games that you do not want to miss.
During Clemson’s active 10-year streak of 10-win seasons, Clemson has played 119 games against Power Five foes — the most in the country — and leads the nation with 102 wins against Power Five teams in that span. The 2021 season will be Clemson’s 20th consecutive season facing at least 10 Power Five opponents.
With both Georgia and South Carolina on Clemson’s schedule, Clemson will play multiple SEC opponents in the regular season for the 10th time in the last 12 years.
The only years in that span in which Clemson did not face two SEC opponents were in 2015 and 2020, years in which Clemson was scheduled to play Notre Dame in non-conference play (and the latter of which was altered by the COVID-19 pandemic).
Clemson enters the season 12-4 against SEC opponents in the College Football Playoff era, including a 10-1 mark in regular season play against SEC teams during that time frame.
No. 5: SEPT. 25 • AT NC STATE
Clemson had played NC State every year since 1971 prior to last year’s schedule change, and the Tigers and Wolfpack will renew their Textile Bowl series this year on Sept. 25. Clemson has won 15 of its last 16 games against NC State, including each of the last eight, the longest winning streak by either team in the all-time series. In the teams’ most recent meeting, Clemson clinched the ACC Atlantic Division in 2019 with a 55-10 prime-time win in Raleigh.
No. 4: NOV. 6 • AT LOUISVILLE
Clemson will resume its series with Louisville on Nov. 6, as Clemson will enter its 2021 matchup against Louisville boasting a 6-0 all-time record against the Cardinals, one of two current FBS programs against whom Clemson has won its first six all-time games. Before the series was interrupted last year, Clemson had scored 42, 47, 77 and 45 points in its last four meetings with Louisville, respectively, representing Clemson’s first time scoring 40-plus points in four straight games in a series with an ACC opponent.
No. 3: OCT. 30 • VS. FLORIDA STATE
Prior to the series’ interruption last season, Clemson and Florida State had met every season since the Seminoles joined the ACC in 1992. The teams will renew the series on Oct. 30, when Clemson will attempt to extend its winning streak against Florida State to six games. Clemson has won the last three meetings between the two teams by an average margin of 32.3 points per game, buoyed by fast starts in each of the last two games. Clemson combined to post a 56-0 edge in points, a 614-128 advantage in total yards and a 35-10 advantage in first downs in the first half of games against Florida State in 2018 and 2019.
No. 2: NOV. 27 • AT SOUTH CAROLINA
Clemson’s traditional regular season finale returns on Nov. 27, when Clemson will conclude regular season play against rival South Carolina. Last year’s interruption ended a streak in which the in-state rivals had faced another 111 consecutive years, dating to 1909, which had been the second-longest active streak in the FBS. The Tigers have won each of their last six contests against the Gamecocks, and another Clemson victory this season would match the longest winning streak in series history by either program (seven by Clemson from 1934-40).
No. 1: SEPT. 4 • VS. GEORGIA
Clemson and Georgia will meet for the first time since splitting a home-and-home series in 2013-14 after the programs met 24 times in a span of 26 years from 1962-87, playing one another every year with the exception of the 1966 and 1972 seasons. In back-to-back years in 1980-81, the winner of the Clemson-Georgia contest went on to win the national championship, as Georgia earned a 20-16 victory against Clemson and a national title in 1980, followed by Clemson defeating Georgia, 13-3, en route to a national title in 1981.
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