Clemson–Georgia Tech football rivalry

Clemson–Georgia Tech football rivalry
History
First Meeting	Clemson, 23–0 (1898)
Last Meeting	Clemson, 43–24 (2015)
Next Meeting	September 22, 2015
Number of Meetings	80
All-Time Series	Georgia Tech leads 50–28–2
Longest Streak	Georgia Tech, 15 (1908-1934)
Current Streak	Clemson, 1

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 are currently designated as cross-divisional rivals.

The ACC series between the schools, beginning in 1983 as a standard home-away series, has been very close and competitive, with Clemson currently leading the series 17-16.

Both schools also have intense in-state rivalries against larger schools which both happen to be in the SEC: 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

Halftime at the 2007 Clemson–Georgia Tech game at Bobby Dodd Stadium

Through 2015, the teams have played 80 times, with Tech leading the series 50–28–2, with 59 games played in Atlanta, and only 19 games played in Clemson's Memorial Stadium.^[1] 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.^[2] In 1904, Georgia Tech lured away Clemson's head coach, John Heisman (namesake of the Heisman Trophy), with the prospect of $450 pay raise ($11,852 adjusted for inflation), which was a 25% salary increase.^[3]

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.^[4]

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.^[5] Nine of the games between 1996 and 2006 were decided by five points or less.^[6]

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.^[7] 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 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.^[8]

In the 2011 season, both teams started 6–0. The match-up was highly anticipated until Georgia Tech stumbled losing two straight games, at Virginia and at Miami (FL). The game was 6–2 Georgia Tech hosting 8–0 #5 Clemson. This game was the 2011 Georgia Tech homecoming game and also the only time the two teams have ever met with the College Football Belt on the line. Clemson entered the game with the Belt after defeating previous national champion Auburn earlier in the year. Georgia Tech upset the Tigers 31–17 and claimed the College Football Belt for the first time in its history.^[9] After the game, Clemson fell out of the Top 10 and Georgia Tech became ranked, at #22.

Game results

Clemson victories are colored █ orange. Georgia Tech victories are colored █ gold. Ties are shown in white. Vacated is shown in █ grey."

References

External links

• Roy Martin, Clemson – Georgia Tech Preview, TigerNet.com, October 28, 2005.
• Ga. Tech – Clemson becomes heated rivalry, The State, p. C1, September 13, 2002.
• Scott Michaux, Tigers win the big matchup, but little decided, The Augusta Chronicle, October 22, 2006.