Clemson, SC - Clemson's football game with NC State at Clemson Memorial Stadium has been moved from Saturday, October 26th to Thursday, October 24th. The Thursday evening game will be televised nationally by ESPN and will kickoff at 7:45 PM. ESPN's Thursday night prime time crew of Mike Tirico, Lee Corso and Kirk Herbstreit will broadcast the game.

This will be just the second home Thursday night game at Clemson. In 1998 the Tigers played Georgia Tech in a Thursday night ESPN game. The announcement also means Clemson will have at least four of its first eight games televised nationally on ESPN. The network previously announced that the Clemson at Georgia game on August 31 and the Clemson at Florida State game set for Thursday, October 3, also would be on the network. The Clemson vs. Georgia Tech game on September 14th has also been chosen by ESPN.

Both Clemson and NC State will have the same amount of time to prepare for the October 24th game. Clemson will play host to Wake Forest the previous Saturday, October 19th, while NC State will play Duke at Carter-Finley Stadium.

In making the schedule change, Clemson was guaranteed by the ACC that its game with Georgia Tech on September 14th would start at 12:00 Noon and that its homecoming game with Wake Forest on October 19th would be an afternoon game, either 12:00 Noon, or 3:30 PM. This will allow Clemson fans to plan for an afternoon game on homecoming weekend.

"The exposure for Clemson University and the football program on the Thursday night ESPN package is second to none," said Clemson Head Coach Tommy Bowden. "This will give us four ESPN games within the first eight games of the season. That will be a big boost to recruiting.

"We know our administration, players, coaches and fan base prefer an early afternoon game. This agreement guarantees that our first four home games will be in the afternoon, allowing everyone to make their plans earlier than normal."