Historical Eye of the Tiger: Clemson v. SC State

A History in Black & White

The Clemson University Tigers and South Carolina State Bulldogs have little gridiron history between them, having met just three times, all coming since 2008 and all resulting in convincing Tiger victories (54-0 in 2008; 52-13 in 2013; 73-7 in 2014). That short history of football supremacy, as evidenced by the combined score of 179-20, mirrors in many ways a much longer history of white supremacy as the linchpin connecting—or more pointedly, separating—these two South Carolina institutions of higher education.

South Carolina State University traces its origins to one of the most racially prejudiced period in the history of South Carolina, the American South, and the nation as a whole, the decade of the 1890s.