Six weeks from today Clemson will kick off the 2015 football season at Clemson Memorial Stadium.

On that day, Sept. 5, the Tigers will host Wofford for a 12:30 p.m. kickoff on the ACC Network. Clemson will more than likely be ranked in the top 10 that afternoon and will be a heavy favorite.

“They’re all tough. There are just no easy Saturdays, despite what some people may think,” Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney said. “When you do this for a living, there’s no easy Saturday.”

Coincidently, the Tigers will be hosting Wofford on the same day they hosted the Terriers at the start of the 1981 National Championship season. Clemson went on to win that game, 45-10, its first of 12 victories in its run to a national championship.

“Every week you better be all in and fully prepared, and have great respect for the opponent that you’re playing,” Swinney said. “That’s just what we try to do. We like to tell our guys, ‘We’re playing Clemson 12 times. Let’s take care of Clemson.’ We’re going to prepare each and every week for whoever the opponent is. Let’s take care of Clemson. Let’s be committed to how we prepare, the effort that we apply, and our commitment on and off the field.

“Those are the things that we talk about. You can pull out any of them, any opponent on our schedule.”

After the Wofford game, Clemson will host Appalachian State before hitting the road for the first time five days later. The ACC favorites will visit Louisville on Thursday, Sept. 17, to start the conference season.

“I think we’re really comfortable (as the favorites),” Clemson defensive tackle D.J. Reader said. “We have this saying that we play Clemson 12 times a year on our schedule. If we can control the things we can control, execute our plan, we can live with any outcome we get.

“We don’t really focus on being the targets. We know we’re going to get everybody’s best shots.”

And that includes Notre Dame, who invades Death Valley for the first time since Hall of Fame quarterback Joe Montana brought his Irish to Clemson in 1977. Montana rallied Notre Dame from a 10-point fourth quarter deficit to beat the Tigers, 21-17. Notre Dame went on to win the national championship six weeks later.

The Tigers will host Notre Dame on Oct. 3.

“They’re going to get our best because we know we’re going to get their best for sure,” Swinney said. “I’m excited about Notre Dame in particular just because as a college football fan, as well, I never had the opportunity to go to Notre Dame, play Notre Dame, and coach against Notre Dame. That’s exciting to be a part of that game at Clemson.”

If the Tigers can get through Louisville and Notre Dame then the next game against Georgia Tech on Oct. 10 could be a preview of the ACC Championship Game. The Yellow Jackets are the preseason pick to win the Coastal Division.

Clemson then host Boston College before traveling to Miami and to NC State. Win those three games, and the Tigers are hosting three-time defending ACC Champion Florida State for the Atlantic Division title on Nov. 7.

“Really I just think we have to approach it as any other game,” Clemson left guard Eric Mac Lain said. “Once you start measuring games differently, putting a different value on different games, that’s when you start worrying about them, that is when you lose.

“I really think this year we need to focus on Clemson each and every game. Once we take care of our business, we’ll be just fine.”

And win those games then it can set up a matchup with rival South Carolina in Columbia, where the Tigers could be playing for more than just bragging rights.

“Our guys realize over the next 46 days we got a lot of work to do to have a chance to do just that. So we’re looking forward to it,” Swinney said. “We got a lot of people to replace, those types of things. I love our team. I love our roster. I definitely think we have as good a shot as anybody out there.”

In six weeks we are going to find out.