Generally speaking, Clemson has been a fairly tough out at home during most of the Dabo Swinney era.

At one point, the Tigers won 40 straight games inside the friendly confines of Memorial Stadium, a streak that was snapped when South Carolina beat Clemson on its home field to cap off the 2022 regular season.

However, recently, Swinney’s team hasn’t performed up to the standard when playing at Death Valley. Clemson dropped two games at home during the 2024 season, with Louisville and the Gamecocks knocking off the Tigers on their home turf. The Cardinals actually won rather convincingly.

Last season, things got even worse. LSU beat the Tigers at Death Valley to kick off the season. Three weeks later, Syracuse came into Clemson and thumped the Tigers. SMU and Duke also handed Swinney’s team home defeats, as Clemson was just 1-4 against Power-4 teams at home in 2025.

Swinney has stated on multiple occasions now that one of the goals this year is to get back to winning at home, and the team is off to a solid start, having beaten Georgia Southern and North Carolina at Memorial Stadium.

This week, the Tigers get another opportunity to play in front of the orange-clad faithful, with No. 6 Miami coming to town on Saturday. But this home game is a little different.

“That is a big, big goal of mine,” the head coach said recently. “It is always a big goal, but especially coming off last year. Getting back to making sure we handle our business at home.”

After some early offseason lines favored the Hurricanes by a touchdown, Miami officially opened as a 17.5-point favorite. It’s been quite some time since Clemson was that kind of underdog on its home field. More than two decades, in fact.

The last time the Tigers were that kind of underdog at home, Tommy Bowden was the head coach. In 2003, Florida State came into Clemson as a 17-point favorite. The Tigers would go on to win that one 26-10.

Both Miami and Clemson come into the contest unbeaten in ACC play, so this one could end up being pivotal when it comes to how the standings play out.

However, these two programs are not currently viewed as equals. Miami is one of the biggest spenders on the market, and played in the national title game a season ago. Despite the Tigers’ 3-1 start, the program is still being viewed as one on the decline.

This will mark just the fourth time in the Swinney era that Clemson is a double-digit underdog, but all of those games were away from home. The most recent was the opener against LSU when the Bayou Bengals opened as a 10.5-point favorite. As we all remember, Swinney’s team did not fare so well that night.

ESPN gives Clemson a measly 14.8% chance at pulling off the upset, so this is a big opportunity for this Clemson team. An opportunity to start shifting the narrative and one that would put the Tigers in the driver’s seat to lock up a spot in Charlotte.

Again, it has been more than 20 years since Clemson was this kind of substantial underdog at home. We will see if this team can do what that one in 2003 was able to do by pulling off what will be considered a massive upset.

Photo courtesy of Bart Boatwright/The Clemson Insider