How Clemson navigated Hurricane Helene’s impacts to play a college football game

Brad Senkiw
Travis Bell/SIDELINE CAROLINA

Hurricane Helene, a tropical storm when it reached South Carolina on Friday morning, didn’t derail Clemson’s gameday plans on Saturday.

It did cause plenty of challenges for both the Tigers and visiting Stanford a day after it ripped through the region.

High winds and major flooding caused widespread property damage in the Carolinas, multiple deaths and hundreds of thousands of power outages.

“It’s been a tough few days,” Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney said after the 40-14 win over Stanford on Saturday night. “A lot going on for everybody impacted by the hurricane. Thoughts and prayers are with them. We had a lot of people on our staff impacted, myself included.

“We’ve had a lot of players impacted. We had staff with trees through their house. I had trees down. Most of us had no power. We had a lot of kids from Florida that have been impacted. It’s a challenge for everybody.”

The ESPN broadcast team said Clemson’s team spent Friday night in their apartments, dorms, and homes instead of staying at a hotel together, which is usually the case the night before a game.

ESPN commentators also noted that the Tigers used local and regional buses instead of the ones they usually get from Asheville. Western North Carolina was especially hit hard by Helene.

“I don’t think anybody really expected the storm to hit us as bad as it did,” Clemson quarterback Cade Klubnik said. “It threw off our routine a little bit in terms of Friday and Saturday schedule.”

Swinney said defensive tackle coach Nick Eason was away from the team from Wednesday through Friday dealing with “family challenges” surrounding the storm. Eason returned for Saturday’s game.

“I’m just proud of our team because there was a lot of break in routine,” Swinney said. “There were a lot of things that were just different from a normal game prep. I’m just really proud of how they responded.”

The storm also affected Clemson’s opponent. Stanford was set to leave California on Thursday but couldn’t land in South Carolina until nearly 7 p.m. Friday, 24 hours before kickoff.

The Cardinal had no issue getting to the stadium on Saturday.

Shortly after the game started, poweroutage.us still reported more than 940,000 outages across the state, including over 500,000 in the Upstate.

Clemson announced around noon Friday that the university planned to proceed with original game plans after assessing the campus and surrounding areas.

“The decision to host Saturday’s game came after a detailed evaluation of the impacts of the storm, with a primary focus on the ability to safely host our opponents and fans on campus,” Clemson University said in a statement provided to The State. “City of Clemson and Clemson University officials, as well as first responders across the State have worked tirelessly in their recovery efforts thus far. We look forward to aiding in the community efforts for recovery.”

Parking lots opened at 10 a.m., two hours later than usual. That was the only real change in the gameday schedule.

And the fans, many without power in their homes, descended upon Clemson for a few hours of reprieve. Attendance for Saturday night was listed at 80,295.

Klubnik said it meant a lot to the players to see so many people show up to support them during a difficult time.

“In the midst of all the chaos we just wanted to put some smiles on some people today and I hope that we did that,” Klubnik said. “There are people on our team that lost houses. There are a lot of Clemson fans that have had a lot of hardships over the last couple of days.”

Clemson opens campus facilities to community

Clemson is making some of its on-campus buildings available Sunday “for anyone in the community members and city residents in need of respite following the destruction caused by Hurricane Helene,” the school announced in a news release.

“Additionally, the Hendrix Student Center will be open from 11 a.m. until 11 p.m. for community access to find a cool space, recharge electronics and have access to public WiFi,” the statement read.

Littlejohn Coliseum and Snow Family Outdoor Fitness and Wellness Complex will be open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday.

“Littlejohn Coliseum will have power stations, access to WiFi, limited food and drinks at select concession stands, and limited showers (6 total) available for members of the community,” according to Clemson. “The Snow Family Outdoor Fitness and Wellness Complex will have 4 showers available for family use, including for accompanied minors.”

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