CLEMSON -- Just 24 hours before kickoff, the night sky was illuminated with the screens of Death Valley -- the brightest light visible for miles into eastern Oconee County, where traffic lights and homes remained dark.
And as the Upstate recovers from what is now known as a historic and catastrophic storm, the one thing many locals struggle to understand is why Clemson University would invite 80,000 people to the eight-square-mile city and strain its resources while thousands are struggling to meet basic needs.
The area around campus recovered quickly from the storm, becoming a hub of traffic and activity as students and locals alike flocked to its stores and fast-food restaurants for meals, gas stations to fuel their generators and ice to keep groceries from ruin.
Those same resources -- ice and gas -- are tailgating staples for the tens of thousands of fans who flood campus during home games. Social media posts showed mile-long lines to get gas and people trying to refuel generators pulling up to empty stations after the tailgaters made their way to campus.
"Frankly, it's unconscionable that a land-grant university is willing to imperil thousands of people in its community for the sake of thousands of visitors to its football stadium," Central Mayor Andrew Beckner said via text message. "My neighbors are angry. I am angry."
From what Clemson City Administrator Andy Blondeau could tell from recovery conversations with Clemson University, it was clearly always, "Game on" for homecoming.
"We suggested putting it off a day, rescheduling, but they discussed how prepared and recovered they were on campus," Blondeau told The Post and Courier on Sept. 29. "I don't think they looked beyond the borders to see how we were doing over here."
Clemson Mayor Robert Halfacre said his energy would remain focused on helping the community. Asking why and how this happened is a conversation for after basic necessities have been restored.
"Do I love that we have tens of thousands of people descending on our city as we were trying to assess and repairs the damage from the storm? No, of course not," Halfacre said via text. "However, a lot goes behind those decisions, and I'm not going to pretend to understand what the university had to consider.
"Once our community has recovered, we begin the process of reassessing and planning ways to better manage these rate and disastrous situations."
Clemson University spokesman Joe Gailbraith said the decision to hold the 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."
The university, largely powered by Duke Energy, said it did not request priority service restoration. Its main service lines are largely underground, reducing issues if the substations that serve campus have power.
"After the storm, we assessed lines to our substation were still active, but two main breakers at the Duke substation had tripped. We notified the substation manager and power was restored shortly," Gailbraith said.
Allison Wells, a Clemson alumna who lives about a mile from campus in a neighborhood with one access road, was dumbfounded by the university's choice.
"The fact that they're having a football game when we don't have access to power or food is baffling," she said via text message on Sept. 28. "But by all means, let's bring tens of thousands of people in to use up what few resources are available -- ice, gas, hot food, electricity -- to play football.
"I never thought the university would do something so callous and rude to the people who have supported it so ardently."
Messages to Duke Energy, the city and Clemson Mayor Robert Halfacre went without response until late Sept. 28, she said. Crews showed up and told neighbors they were hopeful the road would be cleared Sept. 29, even if power wasn't restored for days after.
Ahead of the Sept. 28 homecoming game, the university announced on Facebook that it would open some of its facilities to the public for charging devices, hot meals and hot showers.
For most, especially the Meadow Rose residents who are trapped inside their neighborhood and cannot access these resources, it was a "too little, too late" effort to save face.
"(The university) mentioned the fans and not the community in their decision," one person commented. "And 'yeah I guess we'll help the peons AFTER the game' came through loud and clear. What a ridiculous statement."
"Not much of a statement," another said after reading the university's offer. "Of course it would have been weird to simply say the truth, 'it's all about the money!'"
Another compared Clemson University's response to its neighbors in western North Carolina.
"Gross. Just trying to save face. App State canceled their game AND opened their cafeteria to community members for free food and water."
Memorial Stadium reported 80,295 people in attendance at the sold-out game, according to athletics spokesman Jeff Kallin. Clemson University did not received money for hosting Stanford as it was a conference game, he said, but the school receives revenue from ticket sales, concessions, parking, apparel sales and media rights.
Memorial Stadium's seated capacity is 81,500. City of Clemson's population was just shy of 18,000 people in 2022, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.