It’s no secret that the ACC and Clemson are butting heads, so when the conference asked for Clemson to move the Palmetto Bowl to Black Friday, they shouldn’t have been surprised when Clemson said, “No.”
On Tuesday, head coach Dabo Swinney fielded a question from the media about his response. “I was against it for several reasons,” said Swinney. “[Moving the game to Friday] is not what is best for this town. This is not what is best for this community. This is not a big city. People in this town make their hay off of Saturdays.”
Swinney then argues that the holiday would hurt attendance, especially for students who travel home for Thanksgiving. He said, “I think our students, who are off, are able to come back here on Friday after Thanksgiving with their family and are able to be here and create the type of atmosphere we want. I have been here for 22 years and that is my perspective.”
The program isn’t willing to give up any advantage to only make the conference money. Why would it? Clemson is trying to leave the conference. The request was always foolish, especially seeing how big of a weekend it is for recruits. “Now it is a big official visit weekend. We are trying to get recruits here and asking them to leave their homes on Thanksgiving, but that is hard to do. Some of them are playing on Friday,” said Swinney.
When it comes to playing in Columbia on Friday, Coach Swinney seemed to care less saying, “I am happy to go do it in Columbia if that is what they want to do. I was against it here because I do not think it is what’s best for Clemson.”
