Yahoo Sports Update on Clemson-Florida State football game status after Hurricane Helene
Around this time last week, Florida State’s chances of holding its Oct. 5 home football game against Clemson as regularly scheduled seemed … iffy.
Hurricane Helene was approaching the Southeastern United States and had been forecast for days to directly hit Tallahassee, the capital city of Florida where FSU’s campus and open-air football stadium are located.
But, after what one weather expert called a “miraculous” change of fortune, Hurricane Helene and its 140-mph winds instead made landfall in Taylor County, Florida, about an hour south of Tallahassee, late Thursday night.
That means this week’s Clemson-Florida State game at Doak Campbell Stadium is on as scheduled — with no changes — after both teams dealt with hurricane impacts last week. The No. 15 Tigers kick off against the Seminoles at 7 p.m. Saturday on ESPN.
“There are no changes or alterations to anything for this Saturday and none of our football-related facilities incurred any significant damage,” Doug Walker, a Florida State athletic department spokesman, told The State via email on Tuesday.
Earlier Tuesday, Clemson coach Dabo Swinney said during his weekly news conference that he hadn’t heard anything from Florida State about potential damages or delays. A team spokesman said the same thing.
“I think they were more fortunate than most in that area,” Swinney said. “So, no issues that I know of. Hotel, planes, trains, automobiles – I think everything’s a go.”
The city’s good fortune happened primarily because of a cold front that “progressed east at a fast enough rate that it pushed (Helene) a little further east and spared Tallahassee in this case,” a National Weather Service meteorologist told the Tallahassee Democrat newspaper.
The Clemson and Florida State football programs — like many across the Southeast — were both impacted by Hurricane Helene last week.
FSU flew out of Tallahassee a day early ahead of its ACC road game at SMU in Dallas, and Clemson had dozens of players and/or coaches who lost power and had damage at their homes (or their families’ homes) because of Helene’s impact on Upstate South Carolina and beyond.
Clemson’s opponent, Stanford, also had to delay its cross country flight from California by a day because of inclement weather and didn’t arrive in South Carolina until about 24 hours before kickoff last Friday night. Clemson university leaders opted to host their home football game as scheduled last Saturday night, a decision that has prompted local and national criticism.
According to Weather.com, Tallahassee is expected to be cloudy and receive “occasional rain showers” throughout the afternoon but no drastic rain during the Clemson-FSU game this Saturday night.
FSU stadium capacity
Although there are no changes to Florida State’s Saturday gameday because of Hurricane Helene, Clemson will be entering a stadium that looks a little different from the team’s last trip to Tallahassee in 2022.
FSU is currently in the middle of a project to modernize and renovate Doak Campbell Stadium, which started immediately after the 2023 season and won’t be completed until the 2025 home opener.
Because of construction, there’s a reduction in seating for the 2024 season.
FSU’s sellout capacity last year was 79,560 fans. But due to ongoing construction on the west side of the stadium, the venue can only hold a maximum of 55,107 fans this season, an FSU spokesman confirmed.
That’s a 24,453 seat reduction, or a roughly 30% change, for all home games this season, including the Tigers’ trip on Saturday (their first true road game of the year).
Clemson is generally one of the top draws on Florida State’s home schedule when the one-time ACC Atlantic Division rivals play. In 2022, 71,098 fans attended No. 4 Clemson’s 34-28 win over FSU. Attendance at Doak Campbell Stadium for Clemson-FSU games was 68,403 fans in 2018 and 78,025 fans in 2016.
Despite Florida State’s struggles this season under coach Mike Norvell, the university has reported a capacity crowd of 55,107 at each of its first three home games against Boston College, Memphis and California.
Next Clemson football game
Who: No. 15 Clemson (3-1, 2-0 ACC) at Florida State (1-4, 1-3 ACC)
When: 7 p.m. Saturday
Where: Doak Campbell Stadium in Tallahassee, Fla.
TV: ESPN
Line: Clemson by 14.5 points
