CLEMSON, S.C. — Clemson seeks to earn a home victory against an AP Top 5 opponent for the fifth time in Death Valley’s illustrious history tonight when the Tigers welcome the No. 4 Miami (Fla.) Hurricanes in prime time.

Kickoff at Memorial Stadium in Clemson is set for 7:30 p.m., on ABC.

The game will be a matchup of the ACC’s only two 2-0 teams in conference play. Eleven of the conference’s 17 teams have already drawn a conference loss this year, and of the league’s six teams that are undefeated in ACC play, only the Tigers and Hurricanes have played multiple conference games.

GETTING TOUGH ON DEFENSE

Clemson’s defense is still rebounding statistically from a tough season-opening performance at LSU.

Clemson surrendered 51 points and 644 yards in its opener but allowed an average of 12.3 points (and only 10.0 points when excluding a scoop-and-score by Cal’s defense) and 282.0 yards per game in the three games that followed.

Clemson’s defensive surge has been powered in part by its revamped secondary, which includes junior Thorpe Award candidate Ashton Hampton and three impact transfers in cornerback Elliot Washington II and safeties Corey Myrick and Jerome Carter III.

Last week, the unit held Cal’s then-13th-ranked pass offense to 145 passing yards, including a career-low 119 yards for quarterback Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele. Hampton is the only player in the country to record multiple games with three or more passes defended this season, and Washington has three interceptions over his last two games, including game-clinchers in the fourth quarter of both contests.

ONE OF THE BEST

Clemson Head Coach Dabo Swinney is one of two active coaches with double-digit career wins against AP Top 5 opponents. Swinney has been at the helm for 10 of Clemson’s 13 all-time wins against AP Top 5 teams.

A win against No. 4 Miami on Saturday would tie for the ninth-highest-ranked win according to the AP Poll in Clemson history. It would be Clemson’s ninth win against an AP Top 10 team at Memorial Stadium in the venue’s history and tie for Death Valley’s third-highest-ranked win all-time.

PRIME TIME IN DEATH VALLEY

Saturday’s game will be another installment of Clemson After Dark, which has become a theme early in the 2026 season.

The game will be Clemson’s fourth night game this season, making 2026 Clemson’s first time opening a season with four night kickoffs in its first five games of a season since 1951.

If Clemson’s game kicks off on time shortly after 7:30 p.m., it will be Clemson’s second-earliest kickoff of the season when standardized Eastern Time.

Pregame weather delays pushed Clemson’s first two games to roughly 9:30 p.m. ET starts, and Clemson’s fourth game was a 10:30 p.m. ET start at Cal. Clemson’s only game to kick off before 9:30 p.m. ET this year was a noon ET kickoff against North Carolina, but that game later featured a stadium-record two-hour-and-28-minute weather delay in the fourth quarter and ended just before 6 p.m.

Tonight’s contest will be Clemson’s 73rd night game since the start of the 2015 season. In that time, Clemson is 58-14 in night games, including a 37-11 mark since the start of the 2018 season.

At home, Clemson is 27-5 under the Death Valley lights in Dabo Swinney’s head coaching tenure. That record includes a 23-2 prime-time mark at Memorial Stadium in the College Football Playoff era.

–Story courtesy of Clemson Athletics