When Clemson and LSU meet in the College Football Playoff National Championship on Jan. 13, it will be just the fourth meeting between the two teams nicknamed the Tigers.
Clemson and LSU first met in the 1959 Sugar Bowl … a game the SEC’s Tigers won on the heels of their national championship in 1958. Clemson hung with the national champions, as Heisman Trophy winner Billy Cannon threw a 9-yard touchdown pass in the third quarter for the game’s only score.
The two teams met again in the 1996 Peach Bowl. Though Clemson scored first on a Nealon Greene 3-yard touchdown run in the first quarter, LSU rallied for 10-second quarter points and hung on to beat Clemson, 10-7, despite 151 rushing yards by running back Raymond Priester.