Clemson Football: Ten schools the Tigers should add to the schedule

I have always enjoyed seeing Clemson Football play rival teams, but I also enjoy when they play teams we don’t see very often, or never at all.

The Tigers have their out-of-conference games set for the next five years or so, then beyond that most seasons still have some openings.

Here are ten schools I would love to see Clemson Football schedule in the future.

Florida Gators

Clemson hasn’t played the Gators since 1961, which is surprising considering they aren’t that distant. Most Clemson fans could travel to Gainesville by car for an away game, and vice versa for Florida fans. It’s not a short trip but it also isn’t prohibitive. The Swamp has become one of the more iconic stadiums in college football.

There is also a small bit of Clemson history that indirectly involves the Gators. Charley Pell was hired as the defensive coordinator for the Tigers in 1976. Clemson was 17-25-2 under head coach Red Parker, and at the end of the 1976 season, he was let go. Pell was elevated to head coach.

Pell changed Clemson’s fortunes quickly. The Tigers went 8-2-1 in 1977 and earned a Gator Bowl invite. They then went 10-1 in 1978, winning the Atlantic Coast Conference. They rose into the Top 10 by the end of the regular season and were again invited to the Gator Bowl.

Pell’s stature improved significantly, and he parlayed that into a new job with Florida. He left the Tigers before they played their bowl game.

The good news is that Clemson ended up elevating a guy named Danny Ford to head coach, who would eventually become the youngest head coach in history to lead a program to a national championship when Clemson finished undefeated in 1981.

The bad news is that it was eventually discovered that several NCAA violations had occurred during Pell’s tenure, and Clemson ended up on probation for two years. There were similar violations at Florida and Pell was fired.