Clemson–Georgia Tech football rivalry

The Clemson–Georgia Tech football rivalry is an American college football rivalry between the Clemson Tigers football team of Clemson University and Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets football team of Georgia Tech. Both schools are members of the Atlantic Coast Conference. Since conference expansion in 2005, Clemson represents the Atlantic Division while Georgia Tech plays in the Coastal Division, and they are official cross-divisional rivals which play every year.

Clemson–Georgia Tech football rivalry
Clemson Tigers
Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets
First meetingNovember 24, 1898
Clemson, 23–0
Latest meetingOctober 17, 2020
Clemson, 73–7
Next meeting2021 in Clemson
Statistics
Meetings total86
All-time seriesGeorgia Tech leads, 50–33–2[1]
Largest victoryClemson, 73–0 (1903)
Longest win streakGeorgia Tech, 15 (1908–1934)
Current win streakClemson, 6 (2015–present)
Locations of Clemson and Georgia Tech

Clemson won the first four games of the rivalry, but Georgia Tech leads the all-time series 51–32–2. There have been two lengthy win streaks, as the Yellow Jackets went 15–0 against Clemson from 1908 to 1934 and 10–0 against Clemson from 1953 to 1968. Football legend John Heisman coached both teams and went undefeated in the rivalry. Heisman coached (and won) two games for Clemson against Georgia Tech before switching sides and going 12–0–1 for Georgia Tech against Clemson. From 1902 to 1973, all games were played in Atlanta near the campus of Georgia Tech. The home-and-home ACC series has been hotly contested at 21–17 (in favor of Clemson) since it began in 1983. The rivalry was played twice in a single year when Georgia Tech defeated Clemson in September 2009 and repeated the feat when they faced off again in the 2009 ACC Championship Game three months later.

The rivals have seen large and similar amounts of high-level success, as Georgia Tech claims four national championships (1917, 1928, 1954, 1990) and Clemson three (1981, 2016, 2018). Moreover, Georgia Tech (25–19) and Clemson (24–20) have each played in 44 bowl games, while Clemson and Georgia Tech have 744 and 735 all-time wins, respectively, as of the conclusion of the 2018 season.[2]

These two ACC members also coincidentally have more of a science, technology, engineering, and mathematics focus than their sibling flagship university state schools from the SEC — with which they also have intense rivalries: Georgia Tech's Clean, Old-Fashioned Hate rivalry with the Georgia Bulldogs, and Clemson's Palmetto Bowl game against the South Carolina Gamecocks.

Series history
The teams take the field at the 2007 Clemson–Georgia Tech game at Bobby Dodd Stadium

Through 2019, the teams have played 85 times, with Tech leading the series 50–32–2, with 60 games played in Atlanta, and only 20 games played in Clemson's Memorial Stadium.[3] The teams first met in 1898, when Clemson's third-year program defeated Georgia Tech 23–0 to finish with a 3–1 record. The following year, the Tigers beat Tech again, 41–5.[4] In 1904, Georgia Tech lured away Clemson's head coach, John Heisman (namesake of the Heisman Trophy), with the prospect of $450 pay raise ($12,805 adjusted for inflation), which was a 25% salary increase.[5]

In 1977, Georgia Tech, a year before it joined the ACC, decided to end its series with Clemson. George Bennett, a Clemson athletics booster, was determined to preserve the game, as the trip to Atlanta provided a unique experience for the Tigers players and fanbase who had not been to a bowl game since 1959. In what was supposed to be the final game in Atlanta, upon Bennett's suggestion, thousands of Clemson supporters paid their expenses with two-dollar bills stamped with the shape of a tiger paw. This demonstrated the large amount of money that the Clemson fanbase regularly pumped into the local economy because of the game.[6]

The series resumed in 1983 when Georgia Tech began playing football in the ACC. This has become one of the most competitive rivalries in the ACC with a record of 17-16, with Clemson currently leading the series by one game (excluding the vacated 2009 ACC Championship Game won by Tech). These games have often been decided at the last minute and by small margins.[7] Nine of the games between 1996 and 2006 were decided by five points or less.[8]

When the Atlantic Coast Conference- ACC- reorganized in 2005 to form divisions for the sport of football, Clemson and Georgia Tech were designated as cross-division rivals.[9] This means that their football teams meet every season, unlike games between each team's other non-divisional conference opponents, which are played less often on a rotational basis.

In the 2009 season, both teams won their respective division in the ACC. For the first time in the series' history, the two teams met for a second time in a season on December 5, 2009 in the ACC Championship Game. The game marked the first ever December meeting between the two teams, as well as the first post-season meeting. It was also the first time the series has been played outside of Atlanta or Clemson since 1899. Georgia Tech won 39–34; however, the NCAA later vacated the last 3 games of Georgia Tech's 2009 season along with the ACC Championship. The NCAA determined that starting WR Demaryius Thomas should have been ruled ineligible ahead of the previous game for accepting $312 worth of clothing from a potential agent. While the offense was minor, and the individual never proven to be an agent and the clothing returned, the NCAA ruled that Georgia Tech's athletic department had prepared the players prior to submitting statements, and was generally uncooperative with the NCAA investigation. Therefore, all games following the alleged offense have been vacated, including the 2009 ACC championship game with Clemson.[10]

In the 2011 season, both teams started 6–0. Clemson had beaten previous national champion Auburn earlier in the season, and the match-up was highly anticipated until Georgia Tech stumbled losing two straight games, at Virginia and at Miami (FL). Clemson's Andre Ellington was injured, and after 4 Clemson turnovers, Georgia Tech went on to upset the #5 Tigers 31-17. Both teams went on to lose three games toward the end of the season, with the exception of Clemson's dominating performance over Coastal Division champion #5 Virginia Tech to clinch the 2011 ACC Championship.

Game results
Clemson victoriesGeorgia Tech victoriesTie gamesVacated win
No.DateLocationWinnerScore
1 November 24, 1898 Augusta, GA Clemson 23–0
2 November 30, 1899 Greenville, SC Clemson 41–5
3 October 18, 1902 Atlanta, GA Clemson 44–5
4 October 17, 1903 Atlanta, GA Clemson 73–0
5 November 5, 1904 Atlanta, GA Tie11–11
6 November 30, 1905 Atlanta, GA Georgia Tech 17–10
7 November 29, 1906 Atlanta, GA Clemson 10–0
8 November 28, 1907 Atlanta, GA Clemson 6–5
9 November 26, 1908 Atlanta, GA Georgia Tech 30–6
10 November 25, 1909 Atlanta, GA Georgia Tech 29–3
11 November 24, 1910 Atlanta, GA Georgia Tech 34–0
12 November 30, 1911 Atlanta, GA Georgia Tech 32–0
13 November 28, 1912 Atlanta, GA Georgia Tech 20–0
14 November 27, 1913 Atlanta, GA Georgia Tech 34–0
15 November 26, 1914 Atlanta, GA Georgia Tech 26–6
16 October 5, 1918 Atlanta, GA Georgia Tech 28–0
17 October 9, 1919 Atlanta, GA Georgia Tech 28–0
18 November 6, 1920 Atlanta, GA Georgia Tech 7–0
19 November 5, 1921 Atlanta, GA Georgia Tech 48–7
20 November 4, 1922 Atlanta, GA Georgia Tech 21–7
21 October 1, 1932 Atlanta, GA Georgia Tech 32–14
22 September 30, 1933 Atlanta, GA Georgia Tech 39–2
23 September 29, 1934 Atlanta, GA Georgia Tech 12–7
24 October 31, 1936 Atlanta, GA Clemson 14–13
25 November 6, 1937 Atlanta, GA Georgia Tech 7–0
26 November 20, 1943 Atlanta, GA #15 Georgia Tech 41–6
27 September 30, 1944 Atlanta, GA Georgia Tech 51–0
28 November 24, 1945 Atlanta, GA Clemson 21–7
29 November 7, 1953 Atlanta, GA #6 Georgia Tech 20–7
30 November 8, 1958 Atlanta, GA Georgia Tech 13–0
31 October 3, 1959 Atlanta, GA #7 Georgia Tech 16–6
32 September 22, 1962 Atlanta, GA Georgia Tech 26–9
33 September 28, 1963 Atlanta, GA #9 Georgia Tech 27–0
34 October 3, 1964 Atlanta, GA Georgia Tech 14–7
35 October 2, 1965 Atlanta, GA Georgia Tech 38–6
36 October 1, 1966 Atlanta, GA #9 Georgia Tech 13–12
37 October 7, 1967 Atlanta, GA Georgia Tech 10–0
38 October 5, 1968 Atlanta, GA Georgia Tech 24–21
39 October 4, 1969 Atlanta, GA Clemson 21–10
40 October 3, 1970 Atlanta, GA #15 Georgia Tech 28–7
41 October 2, 1971 Atlanta, GA Georgia Tech 24–14
42 October 7, 1972 Atlanta, GA Georgia Tech 31–9
43 September 29, 1973 Atlanta, GA Georgia Tech 29–21
44 September 28, 1974 Clemson, SC Clemson 21–17
No.DateLocationWinnerScore
45 September 27, 1975 Atlanta, GA Georgia Tech 33–28
46 September 25, 1976 Atlanta, GA Tie24–24
47 September 24, 1977 Atlanta, GA Clemson 31–14
48 September 24, 1983 Clemson, SC Clemson 41–14
49 September 29, 1984 Atlanta, GA #18 Georgia Tech 28–21
50 September 28, 1985 Clemson, SC Georgia Tech 14–3
51 September 27, 1986 Atlanta, GA Clemson 27–3
52 September 26, 1987 Clemson, SC #9 Clemson 33–12
53 September 24, 1988 Atlanta, GA #12 Clemson 30–13
54 October 14, 1989 Clemson, SC Georgia Tech 30–14
55 October 13, 1990 Atlanta, GA #18 Georgia Tech 21–19
56 September 28, 1991 Clemson, SC #7 Clemson 9–7
57 September 26, 1992 Atlanta, GA Georgia Tech 20–16
58 September 25, 1993 Clemson, SC Clemson 16–13
59 November 12, 1994 Clemson, SC Clemson 20–10
60 October 28, 1995 Atlanta, GA Clemson 24–3
61 October 19, 1996 Clemson, SC Clemson 28–25
62 September 27, 1997 Atlanta, GA Georgia Tech 23–20
63 November 12, 1998 Clemson, SC #22 Georgia Tech 24–21
64 November 13, 1999 Atlanta, GA #13 Georgia Tech 45–42
65 October 28, 2000 Clemson, SC Georgia Tech 31–28
66 September 29, 2001 Atlanta, GA Clemson 47–44
67 September 14, 2002 Clemson, SC Clemson 24–19
68 September 20, 2003 Atlanta, GA Clemson 39–3
69 September 11, 2004 Clemson, SC Georgia Tech 28–24
70 October 29, 2005 Atlanta, GA Georgia Tech 10–9
71 October 21, 2006 Clemson, SC #12 Clemson 31–7
72 September 29, 2007 Atlanta, GA Georgia Tech 13–3
73 October 18, 2008 Clemson, SC Georgia Tech 21–17
74 September 10, 2009 Atlanta, GA #15 Georgia Tech 30–27
75 December 5, 2009 Tampa, FL Georgia Tech‡ 39–34
76 October 23, 2010 Clemson, SC Clemson 27–13
77 October 29, 2011 Atlanta, GA Georgia Tech 31–17
78 October 6, 2012 Clemson, SC #15 Clemson 47–31
79 November 14, 2013 Clemson, SC #8 Clemson 55–31
80 November 15, 2014 Atlanta, GA #24 Georgia Tech 28–6
81 October 10, 2015 Clemson, SC #6 Clemson 43–24
82 September 22, 2016 Atlanta, GA #5 Clemson 26–7
83 October 28, 2017 Clemson, SC #7 Clemson 24–10
84 September 22, 2018 Atlanta, GA #3 Clemson 49–21
85 August 29, 2019 Clemson, SC #1 Clemson 52–14
86 October 17, 2020 Atlanta, GA #1 Clemson 73–7
Series: Georgia Tech leads 50–33–2[1]
‡ Georgia Tech vacated win as part of NCAA sanctions

See also

References
  1. "Winsipedia - Clemson Tigers vs. Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets football series history". Winsipedia.
  2. Winsipedia: Clemson vs. Georgia Tech By the Numbers, accessed May 18, 2018
  3. "Clemson vs Georgia Tech, 1869–2013". Stassen College Football Information. Retrieved June 11, 2013.
  4. Kisco, Christopher (November 12, 1999). "Ga. Tech–Clemson rivalry steeped in tradition". The Tiger.
  5. "Carolina–Clemson: The Great Debate". The State. Knight Ridder. August 26, 2001. pp. C12. Retrieved September 4, 2019.
  6. "Tech Fits the Bill for Tigers". The State. Knight Ridder. September 16, 2003. pp. C1. Retrieved September 4, 2019.
  7. Associated Press (September 12, 2004). "Another crazy chapter written in Clemson–Georgia Tech rivalry". AccessNorthGa.com. Archived from the original on July 31, 2012. Retrieved July 29, 2009.
  8. Iacobelli, Pete (October 22, 2006). "Clemson jolts Georgia Tech 31–7, lands sixth win in a row". USA Today. Gannett. Retrieved September 4, 2019.
  9. Atlantic Coast Conference Football Divisional Tiebreaker Archived May 15, 2008, at the Wayback Machine, Atlantic Coast Conference, August 21, 2005.
  10. "NCAA places Georgia Tech on probation". ESPN. June 18, 2011. Retrieved September 4, 2019.
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