For the fourth time this season, the Clemson Tigers may have to navigate some bad weather during one of their football games. Their first three games of the season versus LSU, Georgia Southern, and North Carolina all had multi-hour lightning delays. While Saturday night's home game versus Miami might avoid the thunderstorms, expect for it to be a soupy mess in Death Valley right around kickoff.
As of Friday afternoon, the weather could be worse than expected coming in. Per Weather.com, thunderstorms are slated to hit the area around 12:00 p.m. ET and continue through the 7:00 p.m. ET hour. Right now, opening kickoff is still at 7:30 p.m. ET, which may might be impacted by the weather. That being said, rain will be part of Saturday night's forecast, well into the early afternoon on Sunday.
The State's Chapel Fowler reported on Friday afternoon that "The school is 'monitoring potential inclement weather' for Saturday's game vs. No. 4 Miami, as heavy rain and thunderstorms are in the forecast. There are NO changes to kickoff time as of now (still 7:30 p.m. Saturday), but if anything changes, they'll announce it." The big key has everything to do with the countdown to kickoff clock.
If lightning delays the countdown clock from starting at 6:00 p.m. ET, we could be in for a late night.
Per Clemson: The school is "monitoring potential inclement weather" for Saturday's game vs. No. 4 Miami, as heavy rain and thunderstorms are in the forecast. There are NO changes to kickoff time as of now (still 7:30 p.m. Saturday), but if anything changes, they'll announce it
— Chapel Fowler (@chapelfowler) October 2, 2026
Dabo Swinney should use Week 5's bad weather to Clemson's advantage
Even if it could be another miserable night in the elements for the fans, this weather report actually favors Clemson quite a bit. Bad weather always favors the less talented team. Clemson's strengths as a team are on defense, in the running game, and in winning time of possession. More importantly, the Tigers are comfortable being uncomfortable. Miami has not had to play in games with bad conditions.
For Swinney to get the biggest regular-season win of his Clemson coaching career, he needs every slight advantage the Tigers have to come up aces for them. Admittedly, there is not much margin for error coming in. This is merely par for the course when it comes to taking on the best team in your league. Fortunately for Clemson, Swinney's team seems to have a good amount of grit this season.
If Clemson is going to win this one, it must win the mental game. Tait Reynolds cannot fumble the ball like he did a week ago at Cal. Even though Miami has to be sharp to come out of Death Valley alive, we are long overdue for a Mario Cristobal special of a performance out of the Hurricanes. Miami is good for about one of these a year under their head coach's guidance. It is coming, but when will it occur?
Simply put, Clemson cannot worry about the things it cannot control, and that includes the weather. Frankly, the Tigers should embrace the game devolving into a rock fight in the mud. If that is the case, then the scales may tip ever so slightly onto Clemson's side of the balance to potentially pull off this home upset. Swinney has never won a game like this before, but there is a first time for everything...
Right now, Clemson will have its to chance rewrite the narrative of its season on Saturday night. A win would take Clemson from the doghouse in Week 1, to shockingly, the team to beat in the ACC after Week 5. A loss may knock Clemson down a peg to that of an ACC title bout pretender. That is what is at stake in this game. If there was ever a time for Swinney to put it all together again, this would be it.
As long as Clemson is willing to get its hands dirty, it will have a shot to end Miami's perfect season.
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