CLEMSON — In recent trips to Chapel Hill, N.C., Clemson has not played too well.
The Tigers hope that trend does not continue next week when they visit the Tar Heels for a noon kick on ESPN.
The last time the Tigers played at Kenan Stadium was in 2019. Trevor Lawrence connected with Tee Higgins on a 38-yard touchdown pass with 9:54 left in the game and then the defense got a two-point stop with 1:17 to play to survive a 21-20 victory.
Clemson’s previous visit to Kenan Stadium resulted in 21-16 loss to UNC back in 2010.
Overall, the Tigers are 10-5-1 in Chapel Hill since 1977, so it has not treated them too bad. Clemson has actually won three of the last meetings between the two teams there, dating back to 2000.
The 2000 game is marked as one of the greatest comebacks in Clemson history, and the Tigers did it without starting quarterback Woodrow Dantzler, who was injured in the second quarter.
Instead, redshirt freshman quarterback Willie Simmons entered the game in relief and rallied the Tigers from a 17-0 deficit to a 38-24 victory. Simmons completed 10 of 18 passes for 228 yards and four touchdowns, three of which were to All-American Rod Gardner.
Simmons threw a 29-yard TD pass to Jackie Robinson and then connected with Rod Gardner for scores of 20, 43, and 25 yards. His 43-yard TD pass gave Clemson the lead for good.
Of course, the most famous game in the rivalry occurred in 1981, when No. 2 Clemson beat the eight-ranked Tar Heels in the first ever battle of two top 10 teams in ACC history.
“10-8acious” was the headline in The Greenville News the next morning, as the Upstate newspaper recognized how physical and how hard both teams played in the epic showdown.
Bill Smith, now on Clemson’s Board of Trustees, was the unsung hero from the 1981 game. The play everyone remembers is Jeff Bryant having the presence of mind to jump on what appeared to be an incomplete pass with 57 seconds to play.
The pass was ruled a lateral, and by jumping on the loose football Bryant secured Clemson’s 10-8 victory in front of a then record crowd at Kenan Stadium. But what people don’t recall is who actually caused the fumble, and that was Smith.
In 1983, Clemson shocked the 10th-ranked Tar Heels, 16-3, in Chapel Hill and prevented them from winning the ACC title. The Tigers, due to NCAA and ACC sanctions, were ineligible to win the ACC crown in 1983, but there was little doubt who the best team in the league was. Clemson finished the year 7-0 in ACC games.
The two teams meet again in 1986 and in 1987 with the ACC Championship on the line. The Tigers won both times, including a 13-10 thriller at Chapel Hill in 1987. David Treadwell made a game-winning field in the final minutes to help the Tigers win another ACC Championship.
Another big Clemson win in Chapel Hill came in 1991, when DeChane Cameron led the 15th-ranked Tigers to a 21-6 victory over an upstart UNC team on their way to another ACC Championship.
There will be no ACC Championship on the line next Saturday when the Tigers visit Kenan Stadium, but the Tigers need to play like there is because they desperately need a win, so they don’t fall to 1-4 on a season.