For quite some time, the optimistic view of Clemson's 2020 season was that the numbers of infections in South Carolina would continue to go down, perhaps even be mostly knocked out by the warmer temperatures, allowing for a return to a semi-normal home-field setting at Death Valley.

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Other teams in other regions would have to worry about dealing with hot spots and answering questions about whether to have fans. Clemson was a relative oasis because virus numbers in and around the college town were exceptionally low. And the numbers in the Palmetto State as a whole seemed manageable.

That has all changed, unfortunately.