Swinney says no to Tigers playing the Gamecocks on Friday this season

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CLEMSON – Clemson athletic director Graham Neff approached head coach Dabo Swinney and asked if there was any desire in an ACC/ESPN plan for them to play arch-rival South Carolina on a Friday night.

No, no, and no. Sometimes you have to do what’s best for Clemson.

The ACC asked if Clemson would consider moving the rivalry game this season to Friday night for a primetime matchup on ESPN. In that proposed plan, the game scheduled for November 30th would be moved to November 29th.

Neff decided to ask Swinney for his input.

“He did ask my opinion on that, and I was against it for several reasons. I said, I'm happy to go do it in Columbia if that's what they want to do,” Swinney said. “But I was against it because I don't think it's what's best for Clemson. I think sometimes we forget to do what's best for Clemson, and I think it's not what's best for this town. It's not what's best for this community. This is not some big city. The people in this town, I mean, they make their hay off of those Saturdays. And I think our students, for them coming back here because they're off, and for them being able to come back on Friday after Thanksgiving with their family and be able to be here and create the type of atmosphere that we want.”

The league and ESPN agreed to several concessions regarding Clemson’s future scheduling in the proposal:

1. November 23 game versus The Citadel scheduled at noon.

2. Confirmed prime time game time for the Friday, November 29 game.

3. Agreement to switch the scheduled 2027 Labor Day Monday conference game featuring Clemson (at NC State) to a Clemson home ACC game.

4. Limit of two (2) road ACC games in 2024 played in prime time.

5. Agreement that the University of South Carolina would reciprocate with hosting a future Clemson vs. South Carolina game on “Black Friday”.

Swinney still said no.

“I've been here going on 22 years, so that's my perspective and what's best for our students, what's best for this town, what's best for our fans, and what's best for recruiting because now that's usually a big official visit weekend for us,” he said. "And that is a big recruiting weekend, and now you're trying to get recruits here to leave their homes on Thanksgiving, that's hard to do. And some of them are playing on Fridays, and so that was my thoughts on it, just my opinion.

“And Graham, I'm thankful that he supported that, and I'm glad it is where it is, but if they want us to go down there and play on Friday night next year, we will do it. But these Saturdays in the Valley are special, and they mean a lot to the fan base here. And again, if it was a normal week and we're in school and things like that, maybe it could have been a little bit of a different conversation, but that wasn't something that I was for.”

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