While the ACC won’t officially release the 2027 football schedule until January, we may already know Clemson’s season-opening opponent.

Last week during the ACC Kickoff, NC State head coach Dave Doeren made an appearance on the OG Podcast and appears to have revealed who the Tigers will open the 2027 season against.

“Next year, we open with Clemson, so we’ll have back-to-back openers this way,” Doeren said on the podcast while answering an unrelated question about playing a Week 0 game and opening the season against an ACC opponent. The Wolfpack travel to Virginia on August 29 for a Week O matchup against the Cavaliers in a game that was originally scheduled to be played in Brazil.

Doeren’s answer did not mention where the potential 2027 opener might be played. According to Clemson’s website the 2027 NC State matchup is scheduled to be played an away game.

Back in June of 2024, ACC commissioner of football Michael Strickland mentioned to Clemson Athletic Director Graham Neff in an email that was made public that Clemson was scheduled to open the season against the Wolfpack on Labor Day in 2027.

The two teams do not meet this year, marking the second consective season the programs will not play. The two schools have split the past four meetings, with the most recent one being a 59-35 Clemson home win in 2024.

Clemson does have four non-conference games already on the 2027 slate. The Tigers are set to host FCS-foe Wofford on September 11, Notre Dame on October 30, Georgia State on November 6 and will finish with a road game against the rival Gamecocks on November 27.

The last time Clemson opened against an ACC opponent was in 2023, when the Tigers fell at Duke 28-7. Since then, Dabo Swinney’s program has had back-to-back openers against SEC programs. In 2024, Clemson fell to Georgia 34-3 in Atlanta and then last season LSU came into Death Valley and knocked off the Tigers 17-10.