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Clemson Football: How did Tobacco Road teams conveniently miss the Tigers?

By Shawn Spencer

GREENSBORO, NORTH CAROLINA - MARCH 12: ACC Commissioner John Swofford speaks with the media prior to the quarterfinals round of the 2020 Men's ACC Basketball Tournament at Greensboro Coliseum on March 12, 2020 in Greensboro, North Carolina. Swofford addressed the Coronavirus (COVID-19) and the impact it will have on the remainder of the ACC Tournament. (Photo by Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images)
GREENSBORO, NORTH CAROLINA - MARCH 12: ACC Commissioner John Swofford speaks with the media prior to the quarterfinals round of the 2020 Men's ACC Basketball Tournament at Greensboro Coliseum on March 12, 2020 in Greensboro, North Carolina. Swofford addressed the Coronavirus (COVID-19) and the impact it will have on the remainder of the ACC Tournament. (Photo by Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images) /
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The Clemson football schedule will include just one team from Tobacco Road

The ACC announced its plan for the upcoming 2020 season earlier this week and had a brand new opponent list for Clemson football and the rest of the conference.

The Tigers, who were previously scheduled to play eight conference games with four non-conference games, are now slated to play 10 conference games– five home and five away- with one non-conference game.

The new opponent list, at least in some ways, should excite Clemson football fans.

The Tigers will get an opportunity to play Miami, Pittsburgh and Virginia Tech. All three of those ACC Coastal Division teams are programs that are rarely put on the Clemson football schedule and it gives the program a chance to take on a few challenges and see some unfamiliar faces.

That being said, there’s one interesting note on the 2020 Clemson football schedule that we need to make mention of: Tobacco Road conveniently misses the Tigers.

It seems a little too convenient that Wake Forest is the only team from the state of North Carolina to play Clemson football

If you want to talk about John Swofford’s ‘home-cooking,’ you have to look no further than Clemson’s schedule for this season in the new ACC model.

N.C. State, North Carolina and Duke all avoid having to play the Tigers. Though Wake Forest is considered a part of the Tobacco Road rivalry, no one really considers them to be on the ‘inside’ like the other three programs.

Leave it to Swofford- in his final football season as the ACC Commissioner- to find a way to give the three major programs from Tobacco Road an advantage.

I understand that it’s not all based in favoritism or anything of that matter, but it simply doesn’t make sense that Clemson will only play one team from the state of North Carolina and instead will play Miami, Pittsburgh and Syracuse. You would’ve at least thought the schedules would’ve been aligned to favor geographic opponents to some extent.

Next. ACC football accidentally stumbled upon brilliance. dark

But conveniently that doesn’t apply to Tobacco Road if it means having to playing the clear-cut best team in the conference.

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