CLEMSON — Though Clemson’s opportunity to play for another ACC Championship is not likely this season, the Tigers do have something to play for when they head to Raleigh, N.C. on Saturday.

The Tigers (4-3, 2-3 ACC) will have an opportunity to keep the famed Textile Bowl Trophy, which Clemson and NC State have played for every year since 1981.

“It’s the Textile Bowl,” Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney said. “A lot of people forget that, this is actually one of those games where the winning team gets a trophy.”

NC State (4-3, 1-2 ACC) hosts the Tigers for a 2 p.m. kick at Carter-Finley Stadium.

For more than three decades, the Clemson-NC State game was dubbed the Textile Bowl. The textile industry had a major economic impact on both South Carolina and North Carolina for more than a century and both universities boasted renowned textile colleges for years.

Clemson beat the Wolfpack, 17-7, the first year the game was called the Textile Bowl and then went on to win the 1981 National Championship. Since gaining possession of the Textile Bowl Trophy in 1981, the Tigers have controlled possession of the trophy 30 times, including 16 of the last 18 years.

“It is the same trophy, but it travels,” Swinney said. “It either comes back to Clemson or stays in Raleigh. It is a game that I think has meant a lot to a lot of people for a long time.”

Since the game was dubbed the Textile Bowl, Clemson owns a 30-11 record. Before NC State downed the Tigers in 2021, Clemson had won eight straight in the series from 2012-’19.

The Tigers won seven straight in the series from 2004-’10. With last year’s 30-20 victory at Memorial Stadium, Clemson has won 16 of the last 18 meetings between the two rivals.

Overall, Clemson owns a 60-29-1 lead in the series.

The series dates to 1899 when Clemson won the first game in Rock Hill, S.C. The two played each other every year since 1971 until 2020, when the ACC did not place NC State on Clemson’s adjusted schedule amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Prior to a double-overtime road loss in Raleigh in 2021, Clemson’s eight consecutive victories against NC State from 2012-19 represented the longest winning streak by either team in the all-time series, surpassing Clemson’s seven-game streak from 2004-10.

NC State’s longest winning streak in the series is six from 1971-’76. Since 1977, Clemson has won 32 of the last 45 matchups.

The Wolfpack was Clemson’s nemesis from 1986-’88. The Tigers won the ACC Championship each year under Danny Ford, but never beat the Pack in the process, losing all three seasons. It was Clemson’s only ACC loss in each of those years.

From 1978-2003, Clemson and NC State each won seven meetings when the game was played at Carter-Finley Stadium in Raleigh. However, since 2005, Clemson has won eight of the last 10 meetings in Raleigh.

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