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The original was posted on /r/cfb by /u/NuclearZosima on 2025-04-05 19:10:11+00:00.
For those who don’t know (and if you’re not from the Palmetto State, I can’t blame ya), The Clemson and Carolina rivalry predates the sport of football itself. Clemson was founded as a land-grant agricultural and mechanical military college to serve the needs of South Carolina’s rural population, as opposed to the University of South Carolina, which was seen as elitist and out of touch with the common people. This rivalry quickly spread to football, and the rest is history.
According to Jay McCormick, in 1902, during the week leading up to the game, South Carolina fans began preparing by parading around a poster of “a tiger with a gamecock standing on top of it, holding the tiger’s tail as if he was steering the tiger by the tail. Naturally, the Clemson guys didn’t take too kindly to that, and on Wednesday and again on Thursday, there were sporadic fistfights involving brass knuckles and other objects and so forth, some of which resulted, according to the newspapers, in blood being spilled and persons having to seek medical assistance.”
Carolina went on to upset Heisman’s tigers 12-6, and proudly carried the new gamecock poster around the capitol during the victory parade.
As a result, 200-300 Clemson cadets marched on USC with rifles and bayonets, aiming to retrieve the sign. In response, forty Carolina students, including future USC president J. Rion McKissick, armed themselves with knives and pistols to defend the campus and sign.
Police were able to defuse the situation, with no shots being fired, but the incident did result in the rivalry being suspended for seven years out of fear of further violence. This event solidified the adoption of the Gamecock as South Carolina’s mascot, which continues to this day.
Carolina and Clemson would face every year from 1909 to 2020, when the Covid-19 pandemic put an end to what was, at the time, the second longest rivalry in college football.
I find it crazy (but not surprising in the slightest) how intense this rivalry was (and still is). Hopefully some Gamecock fans will correct me if I left any important details out.
Does your rivalry have any insane history or lore similar? Let me know if so, we can’t be the only ones!