Who are Clemson’s Rivals? This List Might Surprise You
By: Will Vandervort July 5, 2026

CLEMSON — There is one key factor in what makes someone a rival.

What is it?

It is simple, really. You dislike them.

You dislike everything about them. Their look. Their attitude. Their demeanor.

Rivalries are what make college football so much fun. If you go to school at “School A” then you inherently dislike everything about “School B.”

Throughout history, Clemson Football has been a part of some great rivalries in college football.

Below are some of Clemson best rivalries. This list is not just based on the Tigers’ current rivals, but teams they had a lot of beef with and played in a lot of big games that decided bragging rights, conference championship implications and more.

  1. South Carolina: This goes without saying, right? The Clemson-South Carolina rivalry is one of the more intense in-state rivalries in college football. The two campuses stand 132 miles apart. The hate runs deeper than football and sports in general. The fan bases cannot stand each other. There have been four brawls in the 122 games. It was suspended for six years (1903-1908) because lawmakers thought the two student bodies might kill each other. In 1952, lawmakers wrote the game into law when the Southern Conference threatened to suspend the series due to its stance on members playing in postseason bowl games, something the Tigers did by playing in the 1952 Gator Bowl. There have been major pranks (see the 1961 game), along with memorable plays, games and heroes that leave the fan bases talking for decades. In South Carolina, you are born a Tiger or a Gamecock. There is nothing in between, which is what makes the Clemson-Carolina rivalry one of the best and most intense rivalries in all of college football. Clemson wins 62 percent of the time in the rivalry and has a 74-44-4 lead in the 122 meetings.
  2. Georgia: If these two schools played more often, the Clemson-Georgia rivalry might be more intense than the South Carolina game. Clemson fans hate Georgia and the Bulldog fans feel the same way. With 73 miles separating the campuses in Athens, Ga., and Clemson, S.C., this is a true border war. Clemson and Georgia recruit the same players, more so than Clemson and South Carolina do. In the late 1970s and throughout the 1980s, Clemson and Georgia met 11 times. Clemson won 5, Georgia won 5 and there was one tie. The average margin of victory in those 11 meetings was three points. The games played a big role in the national picture, as well. Georgia won the 1980 National Championship, with Clemson claiming the 1981 National Championship. Georgia also played for the 1982 National Championship. From 1983-1987, four of the five meetings were decided on a last second field goal. Those 11 years were commonly referred to as the 11-Year War. In recent years, Georgia has dominated Clemson since the series went away from playing every year in 1988. Since 1990, Georgia has won 8 of the last 10 meetings, including a victory two years ago in Atlanta to start the season. The two have met 66 times with Georgia holding a 44-18-4 edge in the rivalry.
  3. Georgia Tech: Like South Carolina and Georgia, the two campuses are not far apart. Georgia Tech’s campus in Atlanta is just a two-hour bus ride from Clemson. The Yellow Jackets own a 52-36-2 record in the series, but Clemson owns a 25-18 mark since Tech joined the ACC in 1979. For six straight years (1996-2001), every game was decided by exactly three points. Clemson won the 2002 game by five points. The two played for the ACC Championship in 2009, a 39-34 Georgia Tech victory. It is the only time a Dabo Swinney coached Clemson team has lost in the ACC Championship game.
  4. Florida State: When the Seminoles first joined the ACC, this was not much of a rivalry. FSU won the first 11 meetings after joining the ACC in 1992. However, things began to change following Clemson’s 26-10 victory in 2003 to snap the long losing streak. Since then, Clemson has won 15 of the last 22 meetings, including nine of the last 10. The winner of this game played for the ACC Championship every year from 2009-2021. The two have combined to win 13 of the last 15 ACC Championships. FSU leads the all-time series 21-17, but the Tigers have dominated the series as of late. The rivalry is just not a part of the ACC Championship, but it has been a part of the national title race as well. FSU won the 2013 National Championship and made the CFP in 2014, while Clemson won national championships in 2016 and 2018 and played for the national championship in 2015 and 2019, while making the making the CFP seven times.
  5. Maryland: I know some of you might be surprised to see Maryland on this list, but in the late 1970s and throughout the 1980s, this was the premier rivalry in the ACC. From 1974-1988, Clemson and Maryland combined to win 12 ACC Championships. Five times, the two played for the championship with Clemson winning four of those and the other ending in a tie. The 1983 game pitted an undefeated Clemson team and an undefeated Maryland team inside ACC play meeting at Memorial Stadium in Clemson. However, Clemson was on probation in 1983 and was ineligible to win the conference title. The Tigers beat Maryland 52-27 that afternoon in Death Valley, but Maryland was awarded the championship that season. The Tigers finished 7-0 in ACC play that year. Perhaps the best game between the two came in 1978 when a Steve Fuller led Clemson team rallied to beat the Terps 28-24 in College Park, Md. Clemson was ranked No. 12 in the AP Poll heading into that game, while Maryland was No. 11, it was the first top 15 matchup between two ACC teams. The win clinched an ACC Championship and Gator Bowl berth for the Tigers. It is still considered one of the greatest games in ACC history. Clemson leads the all-time series 34-26-2.
  6. North Carolina: When you look at the all-time series lead, this does not appear to be much of a rivalry. Though Clemson leads the series against the Tar Heels 40-19-1, the two have played in some of the best and most physical games in ACC history. The majority of these great battles came in the 1970s and ‘80s. Most of the games had major implications on the ACC Championship race. In 1977, the two tied, which ultimately cost the Tigers an ACC Championship that season. In 1980, Clemson had a first-and-goal at the UNC one late in the game, but Lawrence Taylor stopped Homer Jordan on four straight plays to secure a 24-19 UNC win in Death Valley, clinching the Tar Heels’ last ACC Championship. In 1981, the two met in Chapel Hill. Clemson was No. 2 in the country and undefeated, while the Tar Heels were No. 8 and had just one loss. It was the first meeting between two ACC top 10 teams. The Tigers won 10-8 that afternoon and went on to win the ACC and National Championship. It is still considered to be one of the more physical games ever played in the history of the ACC, as both suffered significant injuries that afternoon in Chapel Hill. From 1975-’82, seven of the eight meetings were decided by five points or less with Clemson posting a 5-2-1 record in those games. From 1977-’83, each game had major ACC Championship implications. The 1986 and ’87 games also played a role in who won the league title in those seasons. The two played for an ACC Championship in 2015, which Clemson won, and then the Tigers survived a late UNC rally in 2019 to beat the Tar Heels 21-20 on their way to another appearance in the CFP National Championship Game.
  7. NC State: This game is known as the Textile Bowl. Clemson owns a 61-30-1 record in the all-time series. The Tigers have won 16 of the last 19 meetings dating back to 2004. However, there have been some interesting games in this classic ACC rivalry. In 1967, the Clemson players painted their shoes orange to counter NC State’s famous “White Shoes” defense. The Wolfpack came into the game ranked No. 10 in the country, but the Tigers pulled off a 14-6 upset enroute to winning their third straight ACC Championship. It marked the highest ranked win in Frank Howard’s 30-year career at Clemson. The 1983 game was infamous because Danny Ford ran onto the field after the game and accused Wolfpack head coach Monte Kiffin (Lane Kiffin’s dad) of tipping off the NCAA about Clemson committing recruiting violations. Though Clemson won three consecutive ACC Championships from 1986-’88, the Tigers could not beat Dick Sheridan’s NC State Wolfpack. Each time Clemson was ranked, including a No. 7 national ranking in 1987, which cost the Tigers a chance at a national championship. Though Clemson has dominated the series, especially in the last 20-plus years, Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney and NC State head coach Dave Doren have had some interesting press conferences and postgame handshakes, including in 2017 when Doren accused Clemson of cheating after someone on his staff saw a social media person’s laptop on the Clemson sideline, which was against NCAA rules at the time.
  8. Notre Dame: These two first played classics back in the late 1970s. Notre Dame, led by Joe Montana, came to Death Valley for the first time in 1977. The 5th-ranked Irish rallied from 17-7 down in the fourth quarter to beat Clemson 21-17. In 1979, Clemson returned the favor and stunned Notre Dame in South Bend, as Billy Lott rallied Clemson from a seven-point halftime deficit with 13 unanswered points in the second half for a 16-10 victory. It marked just the second time in 43 years that the Irish lost at home on Senior Day. The two did not meet again until 2015, another classic. In a driving rainstorm at Death Valley, Clemson’s Carlos Watkins and Ben Boulware stopped the Irish short on a two-point try with seven seconds to play to secure a 24-22 victory. The two teams have met several times since, including in the 2018 CFP Semifinals and the 2020 ACC Championship Game. Clemson won both postseason games and has a 5-3 lead in the brief history of the series. Staring in 2027, these two teams will start a 12-year home-and-home series, which will only add to the history of this new rivalry.