The toughest stretch on the 2019 Clemson football schedule falls right at the beginning. The Tigers will have two big-time games back-to-back.
The Clemson football program is going to be featured nationally for the first month of the season.
The Tigers are the reigning National Champions and will open up the season with a lot of exposure as a result.
Clemson will be featured on the newly-launched ACC Network to open up the 2019 season at home against the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets on a Thursday night. After the game against the Yellow Jackets, the Tigers will play what most consider to be the most difficult stretch of the season.
Clemson will play a home game against Texas A&M at 3:30 p.m. for Week 2.
The Aggies return QB Kellen Mond and some talented options at wide receiver. Led by Jimbo Fisher, Texas A&M will be looking to take a step forward after an 8-4 regular season. The Aggies are expected to start out inside the top-15 in the nation and could potentially develop into a top-10 team if things fell their way. They finished second in the SEC West last season, and will look to follow that up with another second-place division finish this season.
After Texas A&M, Clemson football will take on the Syracuse Orange in the Carrier Dome. The game will be nationally televised and is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. on ABC. Syracuse has already designated this one as their homecoming and the Orange are looking to knock off the Tigers for a second-straight year at home.
Syracuse has played Clemson tight in the past few meetings and it’s clear that this is the ‘Super Bowl’ for them. Dino Babers and Co. will pull out all the stops attempting to come away with an upset.
The Tigers are clearly the more talented team in both games, but playing these two back-to-back this early in the season could be a tough stretch. The offense typically doesn’t kick into full-gear until a month into the season and the defense has several inexperienced players that will be making their first few starts in those games.
The overarching talent and skill of the coaching staff will get Clemson football through these games, in my opinion. If the Tigers can get through that two-game stretch, they are pretty much home free. Things will start to fall into place across the board and they’ll be set up to make another run back to the CFB Playoff.