Opening Day will hit a little differently for Clemson this season.

For the past two decades, the Tigers have opened up the season at home in the friendly confines of Doug Kingsmore Stadium. This season, Clemson will travel to Arlington, Texas, to play in the Shriners Children’s College Showdown, one of the premiere events of the regular season.

No. 15 Clemson will be tested immediately, opening the showdown by facing off with No. 17 Oklahoma State on Feb. 14. The following day presents another ranked opponent with the Tigers taking on No. 21 Arizona. Clemson finishes the showdown on that Sunday against SEC foe Ole Miss.

“We wanted to challenge ourselves early,” head coach Erik Bakich told TCI. “I know it is something we haven’t done in a long time. It’s been 20 years.”

“We open up out of the chute with a nationally-ranked Oklahoma State, a nationally ranked Arizona, and then Ole Miss, who will probably be nationally ranked at some point as well. They are an outstanding program as everyone knows.”

Bakich believes there is an inherent advantage in playing that level of competition early on.

“It’s a combination of getting to challenge ourselves early,” he said. “Get punched in the mouth, which is a great opportunity to get exposed a little bit.”

“We want to win all of the games obviously. But find things you need to work on that you may not quite discover until you play really good teams and comparable teams.”

Over Bakich’s first two seasons with the Tigers, the program has drastically improved. Clemson won the ACC Championship in his first year and hosted a regional for the first time since 2018. Bakich then led the Tigers to a Super Regional for the first time since 2010 last season.

The next step would be to guide Clemson back to the College World Series. The Tigers have made it to Omaha 12 times in the history of the program but the last time came in 2010.

Making that kind of run will entail navigating a difficult ACC. The conference has seven teams ranked inside of the preseason Top 25. And opening up in that type of environment and against that kind of competition will only help prepare Bakich’s team for what lies ahead.

“Opportunity to get out of our comfort zone, travel as a team,” said Bakich. “Get challenged, find opportunities for growth and I think it will be great preparation for the ACC slate and the postseason after that.”