CLEMSON, S.C. — Eighteen years after taking over an interim role on the same sideline against the exact same opponent, Dabo Swinney reaches a rare coaching milestone on Saturday when Clemson hosts Georgia Tech on Senior Day at Memorial Stadium.
Riding a two-game Atlantic Coast Conference road winning streak, the Tigers (6-3, 4-2 ACC) enter Death Valley looking to keep their conference title hopes alive, avenge last season’s last-second defeat in Atlanta, and extend a pair of dominant multi-decade streaks against a struggling Yellow Jackets squad (2-7, 1-5 ACC).
How to Watch and Listen
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Matchup: Georgia Tech (2-7, 1-5 ACC) at Clemson (6-3, 4-2 ACC)
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Date: Saturday, Nov. 14, 2026
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Kickoff Time: 12:30 p.m. ET
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Location: Memorial Stadium (capacity 81,500) in Clemson, S.C.
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Television: The CW. Thom Brennaman (play-by-play), Jason Cabinda (analyst), and Wes Bryant (sideline) will call the action.
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Radio: Clemson Athletic Network. Don Munson (play-by-play), Jeff Scott (analyst), and Tim Bourret (sideline) have the local broadcast.
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Satellite Radio: SiriusXM Channel 178 or Channel 235.
Key Storylines to Watch
1. Swinney’s Full-Circle 250th Game
Saturday marks Swinney’s 250th game as Clemson’s head coach, joining College Football Hall of Famer Frank Howard (295) as the only coaches in program history to reach that benchmark. In a fitting symmetry, Swinney’s head coaching tenure began inside Memorial Stadium against Georgia Tech on Oct. 18, 2008, when he debuted on an interim basis.
With 193 career victories already in hand, Swinney will officially qualify for the NCAA FBS leaderboard for most wins through a coach’s first 250 games upon Saturday’s kickoff—ranking third all-time behind only Joe Paterno (212) and Tom Osborne (212), and ahead of Bo Schembechler (190). A victory over the Yellow Jackets would also give Swinney 194 wins, pulling him within one victory of Osborne (195) for the most wins through the first 20 seasons of a head coaching career in FBS history, despite 2026 being Swinney’s 19th season.
2. Senior Day and Streaks on the Line
Clemson will honor its 2026 senior class with traditional runs down the Hill prior to kickoff. The four-year senior class enters Saturday with a 32-17 record—the fourth-highest win total in the ACC over the past four seasons—alongside an ACC championship and a 2024 College Football Playoff appearance, while the fifth-year group holds a 43-20 mark since 2022.
Beyond Senior Day emotion, significant streaks hang in the balance. A victory would secure Clemson’s seventh win of the season, extending its streak of consecutive seven-win campaigns to 16 straight years. Furthermore, Clemson enters having won 38 consecutive games against opponents with a losing record at kickoff—the third-longest active streak in the nation—having not lost to a sub-.500 team since 2010.
3. Revenge and Death Valley Dominance Over Georgia Tech
While Georgia Tech leads the all-time series 52-36-2, Clemson holds a 25-18 advantage since the Yellow Jackets joined the ACC prior to the 1983 season. Last year in Atlanta, Georgia Tech snapped Clemson’s nine-game series winning streak when Aidan Birr drilled a 55-yard field goal as time expired for a 24-21 upset. Under Swinney, Clemson has posted a 27-14 record in rematches against opponents that won the previous meeting.
At Memorial Stadium, however, the matchup has been thoroughly one-sided. Clemson has won eight consecutive home games against Georgia Tech dating back to 2010, outscoring the Yellow Jackets 304-152 (an average score of 38.0-19.0) during that run. The Tigers are 17-6 all-time at home against Georgia Tech and have won 12 straight home contests against programs from the state of Georgia.
4. Nolan Hauser Chasing School, ACC, and NCAA History
Placekicker Nolan Hauser has been Clemson’s most reliable weapon all fall and enters Week 11 leading the nation with 27 made field goals on 29 attempts (93.1%), six clear of second place. After booting four field goals in last week’s 18-13 win at Syracuse, Hauser tied Greg Huegel’s single-season school record set in 2015.
Hauser needs just one field goal on Saturday to claim sole possession of the Clemson single-season record and extend his streak of consecutive games with a made field goal to 19, breaking another school-record tie with Huegel. Larger milestones are also within reach: three field goals would tie Syracuse’s Andre Szmyt (30 in 2018) for the ACC single-season record, while four would match the NCAA FBS single-season record of 31 shared by Georgia’s Billy Bennett (2003) and Ole Miss’ Lucas Carneiro (2025). Hauser (1,076 field goal yards) also sits 71 yards shy of Carneiro’s FBS single-season record for cumulative made field goal yardage (1,146) and needs just two points to reach 300 career points.
5. Red-Zone Execution vs. Opportunistic Defense
Clemson escaped Syracuse last Saturday without scoring an offensive touchdown—marking the program’s first ACC road win without an offensive touchdown since 1997—due to persistent red-zone stalls. The Tigers have converted just 11 of 30 red-zone trips (37%) into touchdowns this season, placing pressure on true freshman quarterback Tait Reynolds (1,446 passing yards, four touchdowns, four interceptions; 310 rushing yards) to finish drives against a Georgia Tech defense riding a four-game losing streak. Wide receivers Bryant Wesco Jr. (44 catches, 511 yards) and T.J. Moore (37 catches, 368 yards, 36-game reception streak) lead the perimeter, while running back Jarvis Green (85 rushing yards at Syracuse) headlines the ground attack.
Defensively, Clemson has carried the load. Defensive end Jahiem Lawson returned a fumble forced by Kourtney Kelly 22 yards for the decisive touchdown at Syracuse, and defensive end Will Heldt enters tied for third in the ACC with 7.0 sacks. In the secondary, cornerbacks Ashton Hampton (14 passes defended, second in the FBS) and Elliot Washington II (five interceptions, tied for second nationally) will look to disrupt Georgia Tech quarterback Alberto Mendoza and running backs Justice Haynes and Malachi Hosley.
The Wild Full-Circle Twist in Clemson’s Clash With Georgia Tech