Dabo Swinney and the Clemson Tigers are one win away from returning to the College Football Playoff as ACC champions for the first time since 2020. Standing in their way is an SMU Mustangs program in their first season in the conference.
SMU officially joined the league along with California last summer during the latest wave of conference realignment. The Ponies have made quite an impression in their first season as a league member, going 11-1 overall to reach the ACC Championship Game.
Clemson (9-3 overall, 7-1 ACC) advanced to the conference title game when the Miami Hurricanes fell 42-38 to the Syracuse Orange. The Tigers would clinch a berth in the playoff with a win over the Mustangs Saturday night at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte.
Kickoff for Clemson vs. SMU is set for 8 p.m. ET. The game will be televised on ABC, with Sean McDonough and Greg McElroy calling the action. Molly McGrath will report from the sidelines.
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But what uniforms will Clemson wear for its first ACC Championship Game appearance in two years?
Well, the Tigers are the designated visiting team for Saturday’s game. Visiting teams typically wear their road white jerseys, though schools designated as the home team have the option to wear white — a “Right of First Refusal” of sorts for teams at neutral-site venues.
As a Clemson official who spoke to Clemson Wire reminded us Tuesday, the Tigers typically wear their orange pants in the ACC Championship Game regardless of home or away status.
As the designated away team, Clemson wore its white jerseys over orange pants in 2020 when the Tigers defeated Notre Dame 34-10 in the ACC title game. That was Notre Dame’s lone season as a conference member in football, a result of the coronavirus pandemic.
Clemson also wore white jerseys over orange pants in the 2018 ACC title game against Pitt and in the 2016 conference championship game vs. Virginia Tech. They wore orange jerseys over orange pants in the 2019 ACC title game vs. Virginia, as well as in 2017 (vs. Miami) and 2015 (vs. North Carolina).
If the past is any indication, the Tigers will take the field Saturday night in Charlotte in their white jerseys over orange pants. If so, it will mark the first time since last year’s 38-35 Gator Bowl win over Kentucky that Clemson has worn its white jersey/orange pants uniform combination.
As of Tuesday, neither team had officially announced uniform combinations for Saturday’s game.
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