The past few months have seen talk turn to legal action as both Clemson and Florida State are attempting to leave the Atlantic Coast Conference for a more lucrative conference, that being either the Southeast Conference or the Big 10 Conference.
Financially, the tv money would be better in either conference than the ACC. Historically though, how has Clemson fared against the schools in the SEC in football?
Obviously, games long ago carry far less meaning and bearing on modern contests so we’ll also look at how current Tigers head coach Dabo Swinney has done against SEC teams as well as what Clemson fans may expect when they make some of those marquis SEC road trips which have been a lot more frequent than Big 10 road trips.
ALABAMA – From January 11, 2016, to January 7, 2019, the Clemson Tigers faced the Crimson Tide four times, three times to decide the national champion for the 2015, 2016 and 2018 seasons. Clemson would win the national championship for 2016 and 2018 by the scores of 35-31 and 44-16 and lose 45-40 in the 2015 national title game. The other meeting was a 24-6 win for Alabama in the 2018 Sugar Bowl.
Clemson won the first three meetings between the two schools back in 1900, 1904 and 1905. From 1909 to 2008, Alabama won the next 12 regular season match-ups. Overall, Alabama has a 14-5 edge over Clemson but under Dabo Swinney the series is tied 2-2.
ARKANSAS – Clemson has never faced the Arkansas Razorbacks.
AUBURN – In a battle of Tiger mascots, Auburn has been a semi-regular opponent for Clemson having met 51 times with Auburn leading the series 34-15-2 with the first meeting in 1899, an Auburn 34-0 win in Auburn, and Clemson winning the last meeting 14-6 at Clemson in 2017. Swinney is 4-1 against Auburn having won the last four meetings.
FLORIDA – It’s been longer than a half-century since Clemson played Florida with the last meeting between the Florida Gators and the Clemson Tigers being a 21-17 Florida win in Gainesville in 1961. The Gators won the first match-up between these two schools in 1911 as well. Clemson has not fared well against the Gators having a 3-9-1 series record, and no trip to the Swamp is an easy one.
GEORGIA – Clemson opens the 2024 season on August 31st with a game against the mighty Bulldogs in Atlanta. Georgia won the last meeting 10-3 in Charlotte in 2021 and the first meeting back in 1897 24-0. Georgia leads the series 43-18-4. Swinney’s record against the Bulldogs is 1-2 with a 38-35 win at Clemson in 2013.
KENTUCKY – The Wildcats hold an 8-6 series edge over the Tigers, however since Swinney has been coaching Clemson, the Tigers have won the two meetings with the most recent being the exciting 38-35 comeback victory in the 2023 Gator Bowl and a 21-13 win in the 2009 Music City Bowl. The first time Clemson faced Kentucky was in 1925 as the Wildcats would win the first four games between the two schools.
LSU – In a battle of Tigers and Death Valleys, on August 30th, 2025, LSU will visit Clemson’s Death Valley. It will be the first time the two schools will have faced each other in the regular season, and on September 5th, 2026, Clemson will visit LSU’s Death Valley and one of the great atmospheres in college football.
The moniker of Death Valley was attached to Clemson’s Memorial Stadium in 1948 by Presbyterian College Head Coach Lonnie McMillian because his teams couldn’t win there. Shortly thereafter, Clemson players, coaches and fans began referring to it as Death Valley, and in 1966, head coach Frank Howard was given a rock (Howard’s Rock), which sits atop The Hill from Death Valley, California.
Tiger Stadium has been referred to as Death Valley after the 1959 Sugar Bowl in the two schools first meeting when LSU beat Clemson 7-0 at Tulane Stadium in New Orleans. Prior to that, Tiger Stadium had been referred to as Deaf Valley because of how loud it got inside of the college football stadium.
The most recent meeting between Clemson and LSU was for the 2019 national championship and LSU came away with a 42-25 win. The only other time Swinney faced LSU was in the 2012 Peach Bowl that Clemson won 25-24. The two also met in the 1996 Peach Bowl that LSU won 10-7.
MISSISSIPPI – Of all the SEC schools Clemson has faced, Mississippi is the only one the Tigers haven’t defeated. Clemson is 0-2 against Ole Miss with both games in Mississippi, a 26-7 loss in 1928 and a 13-0 loss in 1933. The Grove at Ole Miss is one of the legendary tailgating traditions and sites in college football.
MISSISSIPPI STATE – I don’t imagine any visiting head coach to Starkville exclaims, “Needs more cowbell.” Clemson’s last meeting against Mississippi State was a 17-7 loss in the 1999 Peach Bowl. Clemson has a 1-1-1 record against the Bulldogs. The first meeting was a 21-7 win on the road for Clemson in 1948 and a 7-7 tie in 1949 at Clemson.
MISSOURI – In another battle of Tiger mascots, Clemson holds a 3-1 series edge against Missouri with the last match-up taking place in 2000 that resulted in a 62-9 home win for Clemson. The first meeting was in the 1949 Gator Bowl that resulted in a 24-23 Clemson victory.
OKLAHOMA – Clemson holds a 3-2 series record against the Sooners with Swinney having a 2-0 record defeating the Sooners 37-17 in the 2015 Orange Bowl and 40-6 in the 2014 Russell Athletic Bowl. The Sooners won both games in Norman in 1963 and in 1972. In 1989, Clemson defeated Oklahoma for the first time 13-6 in the 1989 Florida Citrus Bowl.
SOUTH CAROLINA – Obviously, the SEC school Tiger fans are most familiar with is in-state rival South Carolina. Clemson has a 73-43-4 record against the Gamecocks winning nine of the last 15 meetings since Dabo Swinney has been head coach. Clemson won the last meeting in 2023 in Columbia by the score of 16-7.
The first 57 meetings between the two schools from 1896-1958 were all in Columbia and then finally, in 1960, they faced each other for the first time at Clemson.
TENNESSEE – Every year, when USC and UCLA face each other on the gridiron, they both agree to wear their home color jerseys and it looks great. If Clemson and Tennessee both wore their orange jerseys, imagine the chaos.
Clemson is 6-12-2 versus the Volunteers with Tennessee winning the most recent match-up 31-14 that took place in the 2022 Orange Bowl. The first time the Tigers and Volunteers faced off resulted in a 6-6 tie in 1901 in Knoxville. The Volunteers have won the last seven meetings in Knoxville before Clemson beat Tennessee 27-14 in the 2004 Peach Bowl.
TEXAS – The burnt Orange Texas Longhorns have never gone against the Clemson Tiger’s Orange on the gridiron.
TEXAS A&M – Home of the 12th man, the series between the Aggies and Tigers is all tied at three-all with Clemson winning the last three meetings and most recently 24-10 in 2019. Swinney is 2-0 vs Texas A&M. The first time these two schools faced each other was in 1973 and the Aggies came away with a 30-15 victory in Clemson. Texas A&M won the next two games held in College Station and it’s been all Clemson since then.
VANDERBILT – Perhaps shockingly, Vanderbilt holds a 3-1 edge against Clemson with the last meeting in 1960, a 22-20 victory for the Commodores. The first game between the two schools was in 1905 which Vanderbilt won 41-0.
Having faced Alabama, Auburn, Georgia and Tennessee in recent years, Clemson fans know how passionate SEC fans are about their teams and college football.
All told, Clemson is 132-178-14 against current SEC schools and under Dabo Swinney since 2008, the Tigers are 23-13 against the SEC.
The addition of Oklahoma and Texas certainly made the SEC even a stronger football conference and the Big 10 got stronger adding Oregon, USC and Washington. The SEC would provide shorter road trips for Clemson fans to make and not have to worry about taking a winter coat for those games unlike games in November against Big 10 schools. Either conference will be a financial boost for Clemson but also a much tougher schedule than playing in the ACC. In the SEC, it just means more.
John Baranowski is a sports historian and contributor to newspapers, sports publications, and sports websites. This and other articles written by him can be found on his blog: https://johnbaranowski.wordpress.com/
Clemson/Auburn Program Photo Credit: Clemson Digital Library on VisualHunt
Georgia Sanford Stadium Photo Credit: ikwildrpepper on Visualhunt.com
LSU Tiger Stadium Photo credit: Sean Davis on Visualhunt.com
Clemson/South Carolina Program Photo Credit: Clemson Digital Library on VisualHunt
Tennessee Neyland Stadium Photo Credit: kmoliver on Visualhunt
You may enjoy reading this Clemson-related article: https://johnbaranowski.wordpress.com/2024/04/30/how-has-clemson-football-fared-against-the-big-10/
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