How the Rivalry Began

Timeline of the Clemson-USC Football Rivalry

Soon we will celebrate a fierce tradition of one of the biggest rivalries in the nation: the University of South Carolina versus Clemson University.  If you’re like me, you’re kind of curious on how all this hateration happened in this great state.  Here’s a timeline on how it all began:

1801– South Carolina College is founded to promote harmony and unify the state.

1861-1865- South Carolina College closes so students can fight in the war, causing politicians to make adjustments to the way they like it.

1865– The South Carolina College becomes University of South Carolina.

1865– Reconstruction Starts.  

1877– Reconstructions ends and Democrats return to power, and they want to close the university.  The state wants an agriculture college, so the school reorganizes as the South Carolina of Agriculture and Mechanical Arts.  

1880s– Benjamin Tillman appears on the political scene, demanding a separate school for agriculture.

1882– The college is renamed South Carolina College, which enrages farmers because they felt politicians were not putting enough emphasis on the importance of agricultural education.

1886– Thomas Green Clemson agreed to leave his Fort Hill estate in his will to be established as an agriculture college.

1888– Benjamin Tillman simply cannot wait for Clemson to kick the bucket, so he requests funds from the state for this new institution.  However, the state instead gives the money to South Carolina College, who changes their name again to the University of South Carolina (hopefully this one sticks), and expands their agriculture department.   Tillman decides to leaves the public life in January, but returns in April upon the death of Clemson.  Tillman struggles to open the institution and get funds.

1889- Clemson Agriculture College is founded.

1890– Tillman, hungry for power, becomes governor and gets revenges on all his haters, threatening to close USC and the Citadel, both of which he called a “dude factory”.

1892– USC plays its first football game against Furman on Christmas Eve.

1896– Clemson begins its football program coached by Walter Riggs.  The first match up of the USC and Clemson football teams happens on a Thursday morning in conjugation with the state fair.  USC wins 12-6.

1902– Gamecock mascot first appears, and a riot, which involves brass knuckles and other objects, breaks out before the game because of this picture:

1942– Cary Cox, a Clemson football player, signs up for the V-12 program and is placed at USC.  Cox is reluctant to play at the rivalry game, but his coach forces him to.  

1946– New York mobsters print and sell counterfeit tickets.  Needless to say, people were not too happy about being denied access to the game and a riot breaks out.  It takes US Secretary of State James F. Byrnes to settle the crowd.

1947– Carry Cox returns home after WWII and becomes captain of Clemson’s football team.  

1952– The Southern Conference forces Clemson to play no other league team other than Maryland as punishment for both schools for accepting bowl bids (which is against conference rules).  S.C. passes a law forcing the rivalry game to be played.  

1953– The Southern Conference tries to suspend Clemson for playing USC, causing seven leading member schools, including Clemson and USC, to leave and form the Atlantic Conference in May.

1960– The game, called “Big Tuesday” is moved from Columbia, to instead altering stadiums each year.

1961– Members of the USC fraternity Sigma Nu dress up as cheerleaders and run onto the field and start cheering, confusing everyone, including the band who starts playing the Tiger Rag (how did they not notice?).  Anyway, eventually everyone figured out that the cheerleaders were extremely less coordinated than usual and angrily left once they realized that a prank had been pulled.  The frat boys even had a sickly cow to bring out during halftime as the “Clemson Homecoming Queen”.  However, the cow was a little too sick, and died en-route to the stadium.  

1963– The game was set to be broadcasted on live TV, however, tragedy struck, and President JFK was killed.  Both schools still wanted to play, but the feds forced the schools to close.  Instead, the game was played on Thanksgiving Day.

1980– Tigers started wearing orange pants.  They were so inspired by their new threads, they won the rivalry game.

1981– Clemson wins the National Championship.

2001– As a 200th Anniversary present, USC wins against Clemson with a score of 20-15.

2003– Clemson defeats Carolina 63-17, setting the record for most points scored by either team in the rivalry series.

2004– A brawl breaks out between football players from both teams.  Each team had won a total of six games, making them bowl eligible.  However, both schools forfeited their postseason because of un-sportsmanship-like behavior.  

2005- Before the game, the two teams meet at mid-field to shake hands.  Clemson’s quarterback, Charle Whitehurst remains undefeated against USC in his 4 years at Clemson. The only USC quarterback to do so was Tommy Suggs, who led the USC to three victories in a row from 1968-1970.

2006– The game moves to the Saturday after Thanksgiving Day.

2007– Every year, each school engages in a traditional ritual involving the opposing team’s mascot.  USC holds the “Tiger Burn” and Clemson holds a funeral for the USC mascot, Cocky.  After twelve USC students and one Clemson student is involved in the Ocean Isle Beach house fire, (six from USC, and the Clemson student were all killed) the cocky funeral is canceled and the tiger burn is changed to the “Tiger Tear Down” for that year.  

2013– USC wins the game, marking the longest streak versus Clemson in the rivalry’s history.  

2015– Clemson football has their first undefeated regular season since 1981.  

Clemson holds a 67-42-4 lead in the series.  Which is why I predict, for the 2016 game, a big win for Clemson.  

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