Most likely bowl destinations for Clemson Football in 2023

DirectTV Holiday Bowl: Wednesday, December 27th at 8:00 PM in San Diego, California

I’m old enough that I still remember when the champion of the old WAC conference would annually play in the Holiday Bowl. It was one of the first big bowl games and was one of my favorites.

It doesn’t quite have the same pull these days because it wasn’t able to keep up economically with some of its traditional peers like the Peach Bowl and Cotton Bowl. Today it has an ACC affiliation, which seems odd until you remember that Stanford, California, and SMU are about to join the league. Nope, still seems odd.

The realist in me knows that this is not a bowl that Clemson fans who want to attend the game are excited about. Traveling to California is not cheap.

Otherwise, this wouldn’t be a bad destination. The game is at 8:00 PM, which is very viewable for fans. The Gator is at noon on the Friday before New Year’s Day. Maybe people have that day off, maybe they don’t. The Pop-Tarts Bowl starts at 5:45 PM, which works for most fans but wouldn’t leave a lot of time between the end of the traditional work day and the kickoff.

The old-school fan in me also knows that Clemson has never played in the Holiday Bowl. The inner Clemson geek in me wants the Tigers to go to San Diego, but I know it would take the Gator passing them by.

Likelihood: 20%

Possible opponents: The Holiday hosts the PAC-12, so Arizona, Utah and…wait for it….Oregon State are real possibilities here.