Kickoff time, TV channel set for Clemson vs. Florida State football game

The DJ Uiagalelei rematch is set.

The ACC announced on Monday a kickoff time and TV channel for the highly anticipated game between the Clemson football team and Florida State, which features former Tiger Uiagalelei as its starting quarterback, on Oct. 5 in Tallahassee.

Clemson and FSU will kick off at either 7:30 p.m. on ABC or 7 p.m. on ESPN from the Seminoles’ Doak Campbell Stadium, the ACC announced.

The conference will set a formal kickoff time and TV channel for the game after the conclusion of this week’s games. Either way, it’ll be in prime time under the lights, marking Clemson’s third night game of the season across its first five contests.

This meeting, which was billed in the preseason as a battle of ACC heavyweights, has lost a bit of its luster during the first month of the season.

Clemson (2-1, 1-0 ACC) has been impressive, with quarterback Cade Klubnik and the No. 17 Tigers reeling off consecutive high-scoring wins.

But FSU (1-3, 1-2 ACC) has struggled mightily. The Seminoles, who were undefeated in conference play last year and won the ACC championship game, were picked No. 1 in the league’s preseason media poll and debuted at No. 10 in the preseason AP poll.

But Florida State lost its first three games (two of them conference games) to Georgia Tech, Boston College and Memphis, becoming the first team in a non-pandemic season to go from preseason top 10 to 0-3 in 36 years (1988 Texas A&M).

Still, the matchup of Uiagalelei against his former team is intriguing. A former five-star recruit from California, Uiagalelei dazzled in his first two career starts as a true freshman in 2020 and was widely viewed as someone who could step right in for Clemson star Trevor Lawrence and lead the Tigers to another championship.

But Uiagalelei had an up-and-down Tigers career, going 22-6 as a starter and losing his job to current Clemson starter Klubnik in the 2022 ACC championship game. Uiagalelei entered the transfer portal two days after that game in Charlotte.

Clemson coach Dabo Swinney has been publicly complimentary of Uiagalelei, 23, who played the 2023 season at Oregon State before transferring to Florida State last December to play for coach Mike Norvell.

Before their matchup next Saturday, the Tigers play Stanford at home this Saturday (7 p.m., ESPN) and Florida State plays on the road at SMU (8 p.m., ACCN).

ACC Week 6 games

Friday, October 4

• Syracuse at UNLV – 9 p.m. ET on FS1 – previously announced

Saturday, October 5

• Boston College at Virginia – Noon ET on ACC Network

• Wake Forest at NC State – Noon ET on The CW

• SMU at No. 15 Louisville – Noon ET on either ESPN or ESPN2

• Pitt at North Carolina – Noon ET on either ESPN or ESPN2

• Virginia Tech at Stanford – 3:30 p.m. ET on ACC Network

• No. 17 Clemson at Florida State – 7:30 p.m. ET on ABC or 7 p.m. ET on ESPN

• Duke at Georgia Tech – 8 p.m. ET on ACC Network

• No. 7 Miami at California – 10:30 p.m. ET on ESPN

Clemson football 2024 schedule

• Aug. 31: vs. Georgia in Atlanta, L 34-3

• Sept. 7: vs. App State, W 66-20

• Sept. 14: OPEN

• Sept. 21: vs. NC State, W 59-35

• Sept. 28: vs. Stanford, 7 p.m. (ESPN)

• Oct. 5: at Florida State, 7 p.m. (ESPN) OR 7:30 p.m. (ABC)

• Oct. 12: at Wake Forest

• Oct. 19: vs. Virginia

• Oct. 26: OPEN

• Nov. 2: vs. Louisville

• Nov. 9: at Virginia Tech

• Nov. 16: at Pitt

• Nov. 23: vs. The Citadel

• Nov. 30: vs. South Carolina