ACC Announces 2022 Football Conference Schedule

As they’ve been doing in recent years, the ACC signaled their seriousness about football by rolling out their conference football schedule early with the full-slate dropping on Monday, January 31st. Let’s start by looking at Clemson’s just-released full schedule.

Clemson 2022 Football Schedule

1. Monday, Sept. 5 (Labor Day) - Clemson vs. Georgia Tech (Mercedes-Benz Stadium - Atlanta, GA)
2. Saturday, Sept. 10 - Furman at Clemson
3. Saturday, Sept. 17 - Louisiana Tech at Clemson
4. Saturday, Sept. 24 - Clemson at Wake Forest
5. Saturday, Oct. 1 - NC State at Clemson
6. Saturday, Oct. 8 - Clemson at Boston College
7. Saturday, Oct. 15 - Clemson at Florida State
8. Saturday, Oct. 22 - Syracuse at Clemson
9. Saturday, Oct. 29 - Open Date
10. Saturday, Nov. 5 - Clemson at Notre Dame
11. Saturday, Nov. 12 - Louisville at Clemson
12. Saturday, Nov. 19 - Miami at Clemson
13. Saturday, Nov. 26 - U of SC at Clemson

The Tigers start off with their lone weekday game of the season on Labor Day (Monday). Clemson last played the Labor Day game in 2007 when they hosted and defeated Florida State. The 2022 Labor Day game will be played in the beautiful home of the Atlanta Falcons — the Mercedes-Benz Stadium. The venue, and last year’s closer-than-expected result, give this game a ton of intrigue.

Clemson then gets two relatively weak opponents: Furman and Louisiana Tech. This should work well for Clemson as they can get young players playing time. Tiger fans should get a look at QB Cade Klubnik in these games. New wide receivers Antonio Williams and Adam Randall could see action here too.

The Tigers follow those easier contests with a tough back-to-back against their two biggest threats in the Atlantic Division, Wake Forest and NC State. Both teams bring back a lot of their roster and should be tough once again. Wake Forest gets Clemson in Winston-Salem, but I’m not sure they have the size to hold up in the trenches with Clemson. NC State seems to be a tougher matchup, but winning in Death Valley is a big ask.

Ken Ruinard / staff via Imagn Content Services, LLC

The Tigers travel to Chestnut Hill to face the BC Eagles on October 8th before the weather cools too much. They follow that road trip with the rivalry game at Florida State. Both of those road games could be tricky, but the Tigers really should be the much better team.

Clemson hosts Syracuse in week 8 and gets their open date in week 9. The open date comes a bit late, but the timing is good because it will give them the rest and recuperation they need before their toughest stretch of the year.

On November 5th Clemson travels to Notre Dame for their biggest game of the year. If Clemson doesn’t have their offense fixed by this point, they could be underdogs on the road. The last time they traveled to South Bend they lost in a double-overtime heartbreaker.

The Tigers end the season with their three best home games — aside from NC State — on the schedule. In week 11, they host Louisville and speedy QB Malik Cunningham. They won with a goal-line stand in Louisville last year. Although the Cardinals have yet to beat Clemson, there have been some excellent games in the series.

Next, they get Miami in a cross-divisional matchup. There’s no telling what Miami will look like in 2022, but they have high-upside. Frank Ladson will also be facing his old teammates. Finally, Clemson hosts U of SC for the first time since 2018 to conclude their regular-season schedule.

Outside of Clemson, the ACC has plenty of other interesting games.

Week 1:

Florida State vs. LSU (SUN) (Mercedes-Benz Superdome - New Orleans, LA): Two marquee programs looking to pull themselves out of the doldrums face off in what should be a fun matchup.

Notre Dame at Ohio State: Although Notre Dame is back to being a partner rather than a member, I’d be remiss to not mention one of the biggest games of the season. The Irish will face the Buckeyes in the Horseshoe! Notre Dame only plays four ACC games this year: UNC, Syracuse, Clemson, and Boston College.

Week 2:

Tennessee at Pittsburgh: Pitt went into Neyland Stadium and won last year. Can they hold serve at home and take both sides of the home-and-home?

Week 3:

Miami at Texas A&M: The Aggies have a ton of momentum coming into this season on the heels of the top recruiting class in the country. They should be favored against Miami. A Miami win in that environment at Kyle Field would be huge for Coach Cristobal and the Hurricanes.

Texas Tech at NC State: NC State traditionally schedules very soft non-conference schedules. Their lone non-conference P5 game in 2021 was Mississippi State. They lost handily. Texas Tech is their only P5 non-conference opponent this year.

Week 4:

West Virginia at Virginia Tech: The Mountaineers get their second ACC opponent of the year. The Hokies lost at West Virginia last year. They’ll seek redemption.

Notre Dame at North Carolina: Notre Dame travels to Chapel Hill in what may be a must-win game. Notre Dame should be favored in every game between Ohio State and Clemson and can’t afford to lose any if they start with a loss to the Buckeyes.

Week 5:

Virginia Tech at North Carolina: The two biggest disappointments in the Coastal Division last year square off in Week 5. New Hokies Head Coach Brent Pry wants to start his tenure with positive momentum and winning this contest will be a big part of that. Meanwhile, Mac Brown continues to recruit and get positive reviews despite sub-standard results. When will the positivity fade and apathy set in up in Chapel Hill?

Wake Forest at Florida State: Does Wake Forest have staying power? Is FSU on the way back. We will find out.

Week 6:

North Carolina at Miami: This is simply a big matchup in the always wide-open Coastal division race.

Florida State at NC State: Clemson will have already faced Wake Forest and NC State by this point. This contest may play a big role in determining the path to the Atlantic Division title.

Week 7:

Virginia Tech at Miami: These are two of the most prestigious programs in the Coastal Division, but they have not been at the level the ACC needs them to be for several years.

Week 8:

Virginia at Georgia Tech (TH): This will be a weekday game and a good chance to see Coach Elliott’s program in action.

Pittsburgh at Louisville: This could be a very interesting QB battle between Kedon Slovis and Malik Cunningham.

Week 9:

Virginia Tech at NC State (TH): This is an interesting cross-division weekday matchup between teams that have passionate fan followings.

Week 10:

Wake Forest at NC State: Wake Forest ripped the heart out of NC State fans last year. Both should be strong contenders in the ACC once again. They will have already faced Clemson by this point so hopefully, this one doesn’t have the same implications it did in 2021, but it will be big nonetheless.

Week 11:

North Carolina at Wake Forest: They played in a non-conference contest last season. Now they play in an ACC game.

Week 12:

Coastal Carolina at Virginia: Coastal Carolina is a tough non-conference opponent. A Virginia win doesn’t impress people much, but a loss is a black eye.

Week 13:

Florida at Florida State (Fri): It is the first time these rivals have played on a non-Saturday since they faced off in a Sugar Bowl.

Louisville at Kentucky: The Cardinals need to earn some respect after flopping in this rivalry game last year.

What do you think of Clemson’s schedule? Which road games are you planning to attend? Let us know in the comments section below.