Three ACC teams we want to see added to the 2020 Clemson football schedule
It seems more and more likely that we’ll see the 2020 Clemson football schedule changed in some capacity before the season actually begins.
The Big Ten made a major announcement Thursday afternoon that they’d only be playing in-conference games during the 2020 fall season and that has sparked several reports that the other Power-5 conferences are expected to follow suit.
If we do see the ACC adopt a conference-only model for the 2020 season, here are three opponents we’d love to see Clemson football have on its schedule.
3. Miami Hurricanes
The first team we’d like to see added to schedule is the one that goes furthest down south.
The Miami Hurricanes have taken steps forward- though they are a long way from being a viable program again. It’s not necessarily that we believe this would be a great match-up or that Miami would compete heavily with Clemson, but it’s all got to do with that name recognition.
Even in their down years, Miami is still a recognizable program. Even though they haven’t been nationally relevant in quite a while, a match-up with ‘The U’ is still something we could look forward to.
2. Virginia Tech Hokies
Justin Fuente has slowly begun to build that Virginia Tech football program and they’re not that far off from being a top-25 type of program again.
Though Virginia Tech likely won’t achieve that mark this season, there’s still a certain excitement factor that comes with playing the Hokies.
For several years, Virginia Tech was one of the powerhouses in the ACC. Clemson got absolutely curb-stomped by the Hokies on a few occasions during the Tommy Bowden years. It’s always nice to repay the favor when the shoe is on the other foot, am I right?
1. North Carolina Tar Heels
While many would like to wait and see a Clemson-UNC match-up in the ACC Championship game, the truth is that this game makes too much sense to not be on a conference-only schedule.
Clemson and North Carolina are close in geographic proximity and are the clear-cut top two teams in the conference heading into the 2020 season.
After seeing the Tar Heels nearly beat the Tigers in 2019, Clemson football would be looking for revenge and this game could likely get recognition as one the nationally-featured game of the week with ESPN College GameDay, although it will be interesting to see how the show is conducted this season.
Having North Carolina on the schedule would certainly create some more excitement for Clemson football fans who are going to be dealing with many changes no matter how we look at it.