Clemson football: 2021 home slate might be the worst in Dabo Swinney era

The plan for this fall is for Clemson football to host fans at 100 percent capacity and it will absolutely be a sight to see when 80,000-plus Tiger fans are able to pack into Death Valley again.

A lot of joys were taken away over this past year and one of those was seeing a filled-to-the-top Death Valley with an army of orange packed inside ready to cheer on their Tigers.

While the excitement of seeing 80,000 Clemson fans back in Memorial Stadium this fall is something worth celebrating, the truth of the matter is that the slate of games on the schedule aren’t necessarily going to ‘move the needle.’

This will likely be the first time in the Dabo Swinney era in which Clemson football won’t host a Power-5 or ranked opponent

Over the course of the Swinney era, we’ve watched the Tigers take on plenty of ranked teams including NC State, Texas A&M, Miami, TCU, Florida State, South Carolina, Notre Dame, Louisville and Auburn to name a few.

This will be the first season, though, where a marquee opponent won’t be making their way to Death Valley.

Clemson always look to schedule well in the non-conference and that involves two Power-5 teams each season. The first is always in-state rival South Carolina and the second has rotated year-in and year-out. This season, the Tigers will open up with the Georgia Bulldogs but the game will be a neutral-site matchup in Charlotte. Clemson football will close with the Gamecocks, but the game will be played in Williams-Brice Stadium.

Typically, Clemson has scheduled itself so that the year in which they travel to Columbia, they’re hosting a marquee non-conference opponent. That got thrown off when they agreed to the neutral-site game with Georgia and South Carolina never considered allowing the Tigers to host this season, despite the SEC canceling the game between the two rivals during the 2020 season.

Clemson football will only have six home games- instead of the traditional seven- because of the neutral-site matchup and that takes this slate down a peg, as well.

Here’s a look at the home schedule:

• vs. South Carolina State
• vs. Georgia Tech
• vs. Boston College
• vs. Florida State
• vs. UConn
• vs. Wake Forest

What games really ‘move the needle’ at first glance?

To me, there are only two that have much potential and those are Boston College and Florida State. No one believes the Seminoles are going to be ranked, but you’ve got to believe the rivalry that has been in place for years now- and recently heated up during the 2020 season- will make this game one that Tiger fans will make sure not to miss.

Then, Boston College. The Eagles return a ton of pieces and they honestly have the potential to be a ranked team but it’s all going to depend on their run through the first portion of the season and early October might not be enough time for them to prove themselves as a top-25 ballclub.

Perhaps just being back in Death Valley and seeing 80,000 people will be enough, but the home slate still leaves something to be desired.

In the end, it’s all about being in Clemson and seeing the team play. Of course people are still going to show out for SC State and UConn, but the ‘extra juice’ that you feel on a big game day- and you know exactly what I’m talking about if you’ve been there- isn’t likely to be felt in 2021.