Clemson football: Losing two rivalry games in 2020 is ridiculous

Clemson football loses two rivalry games in 2020.

Thanks to conference reshuffling, Clemson football will not play in either in two of their longest-running rivalry games in 2020. The Tigers lose out on the Textile Bowl versus NC State as well as the Palmetto Bowl against in-state rival South Carolina.

Both games being canceled makes absolutely zero sense.

The Textile Bowl

The Textile Bowl rivalry game between Clemson and NC State has taken place every year since 1971 and was played 39 times between 1899 and 1968. Since the 2000 season, Clemson football is 17-3 against the Wolfpack and owns the overall record 59-28-1.

The ACC deciding not to schedule traditional intra-conference rivalries is absolute garbage. While ACC commissioner John Swofford can claim everything was generated randomly, there is no reason not to make sure that traditional rivalry games are played – especially when teams are going to play 10 conference games for the first time ever.

There is no sensible reason that Clemson football can travel to Blacksburg, Virginia, or South Bend, Indiana but cannot travel up to Raleigh to play NC State. Matter of fact, there is no reason that Clemson plays just one of the four teams based in North Carolina.

If the ACC actually had the athlete’s health in mind, traveling to the state of North Carolina from one of its bordering states seems to be a much better idea than traveling to the state of Florida which is currently a hotbed for the COVID virus.

The Palmetto Bowl

The in-state rivalry game against South Carolina has been played every year since 1909, even World War I and World War II could not interrupt the series, however, after today’s decision by the SEC, this game will not be played for the first time in more than 100 years.

Unfortunately, the Tigers may never get to see Will Muschamp on the South Carolina sideline. It will be tough for Muschamp to keep a job after the Gamecocks go 2-8 playing a 10 game SEC schedule in 2020. No cupcake games for the Gamecocks means no bowl game for the second straight year under a head coach that was nearly fired a year ago.

This begs the same question we asked earlier, why is it theoretically okay for South Carolina to travel to Gainesville, Florida, or College Station, Texas but they cannot take a bus two hours up the road to play one of the longest-running rivalry game in college football?

While the conferences should do what they think is safest for their athletes, but the plan should make sense and nothing that the ACC or SEC has done makes any sense and instead is going to cost Clemson football two of its biggest rivalry games in the process.