TCI Game Day: Citadel
By Robert MacRae September 19, 2020 9:53 am Follow	@clemsoninsider
By Robert MacRae | September 19, 2020 9:53 am	Follow @clemsoninsider
It is Game Day in Death Valley as the Tigers hit the field at home for the first time this season. No. 1 Clemson hopes to continue the road to Miami with a victory over the Citadel.
Location: Memorial Stadium (Death Valley)
Kickoff: 4:00 p.m.
Television: ACC Network
Announcers: Eric Wood, Tom Luginbill, Anish Shroff
2020 Record: Clemson 1-0, Citadel 0-1
ACC Record: Clemson 1-0
Series History: Clemson leads 32-5-1
Last Meeting: Clemson won 61-3 on November 18, 2017
CLEMSON HOSTS THE CITADEL FOR 2020 HOME OPENER
Clemson will return to Death Valley for the first time in 2020 when the Tigers welcome The Citadel Bulldogs for Clemson's lone non-conference tilt of the 2020 regular season. Kickoff at Memorial Stadium is scheduled for 4
p.m. ET.
Clemson enters its 2020 home opener riding a schoolrecord 22-game home winning streak, the nation's longest active streak. Clemson's home crowds have seldom left disappointed in the College Football Playoff era, as the
Tigers are an FBS-best 41-1 at home since 2014.
Saturday's contest will be played 78 years to the date following Clemson's first game at Memorial Stadium, as the Tigers opened the facility that would later become known colloquially as Death Valley with a 32-13 defeat
of Presbyterian College on Sept. 19, 1942. Though the facility has since expanded to 81,500, current circumstances will result in Saturday's game being played in front of a comparable capacity to the stadium's 1942
configuration, as the stadium opened that year with capacity for about 20,000 spectators. An estimated crowd of approximately 5,000 attended the facility's debut.
WHAT TO WATCH FOR THIS WEEK
– Clemson playing its 120th home opener in school history in its 125th season, as there were five seasons in which Clemson did not play a game at home.
– Clemson attempting to improve to 95-17-8 record in home openers.
– Clemson attempting to win a 17th straight home debut. Clemson has won 16 straight home openers since a 30-0 home opener loss to Georgia in 2003.
It would tie Clemson's longest winning streak in home openers all-time, set across the 1944-60 seasons.
– Clemson playing its latest home opener in a season (Sept. 19) since opening the 1985 season on Sept. 21 against Georgia.
– Clemson attempting to improve to 33-5-1 in its alltime series with The Citadel since the teams' first meeting in 1909.
– Clemson entering the game having won the last 17 games in the series since 1932, the third-longest winning streak against a single opponent in Clemson history (31 vs. Furman, 1938-Present; 29 vs. Virginia from 1955-
– Clemson entering the game 34-0 against Football Championship Subdivision teams since the NCAA formed the division prior to the 1978 season.
HOME OPENERS
Even though 2020 represents the 125th season of Clemson football, Clemson has had just 119 home openers in its history as a function of the five seasons in which Clemson did not play a game at home. In 119 home openers, Clemson has a 94-17-8 record against 38 different opponents. Clemson has won 16 straight home openers with the last loss coming in Dabo Swinney's first year as an assistant coach, a 30-0 loss
to Georgia in 2003.
CLEMSON UNDEFEATED VS. FCS TEAMS
Entering this week's contest, Clemson is a perfect 34-0 against Football Championship Subdivision teams since the NCAA formed the division prior to the 1978 season (Southern Conference schools became I-AA in
1982.)
Clemson has outscored FCS teams by a 1422-239 margin all-time, an average victory margin of 34.8 points. Clemson has won 33 of the 34 games by double digits, including each of the last eight by at least 34 points.
Only one FCS squad has stayed within double digits of Clemson. Clemson defeated Wofford, 35-27, in 2011, with Wofford's 27 points standing as the most by an FCS school against Clemson,
MOST WINS SINCE 2015, SECOND-MOST SINCE 2011
Clemson's recent success has been particularly pronounced in the midst of Clemson's five-year streak of College Football Playoff appearances since 2015. Clemson leads Alabama for the most wins in the country in that span, while the teams have each earned two national championships in that time frame.
Clemson won 69 games during the 2015-19 seasons, the most in a five-year period in the AP Poll era (since 1936),
FIVE LEAGUE TITLES IN A ROW
Clemson won its fifth straight ACC championship in 2019, as the Tigers and the Oklahoma Sooners both became the first programs in an active FBS conference since the 1971-75 Alabama Crimson Tide to win five consecutive outright titles.
TCI Predictions
Robert – Clemson 65, Citadel 0
Will – Clemson 55, Citadel 3
Gavine — Clemson 62, Citadel 7
Citadel, Clemson football, Football
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