Honorable Mention: Brawl Bowl of 2004
The brawl is not a positive memory for either team, but it was too memorable in Palmetto Bowl history to leave it off the list altogether.
Heading into this game, Clemson was 5-5 and was looking to make a bowl appearance. The Gamecocks were 6-4 with a chance to take a bowl appearance away from their in-state rival.
As the tradition goes, Clemson came running down The Hill in Death Valley, but multiple Gamecock players waited at the bottom. A small fight ensued but ended quickly, foreshadowing what would come later that day.
After a brutal hit from Clemson’s defensive end Bobby Williamson on South Carolina quarterback Syvelle Newton, punches were thrown, heads were kicked and helmets went flying.
The game ended in a 29-7 victory for the Tigers, but both teams lost at the end of the day, facing significant consequences. Both teams would opt out of their bowl games, though they were eligible for them, and six players from each team received suspensions from their respective conferences.
No. 10: The prank (1961)
While this isn’t precisely football-related and was done by South Carolina students, it still remains an all-time classic moment in the rivalry.
Before the 1961 game started, the South Carolina Sigma Nu fraternity came out for pregame warmups, exciting the crowd disguised in Clemson-like uniforms.
Fans eventually caught on and rushed the field to chase the fraternity off after they performed a handful of goofy warmup drills that included — but were not limited to — snapping the ball then falling, missing kicks purposefully and dropping open passes.
No. 9: The fourth quarter comeback (2002)
With a record of 6-5 going into the 2002 rivalry game, the Tigers were bowl-eligible and had a chance to remove a five-win South Carolina team from bowl contention.
Clemson was down 20-13 heading into the final 15-minute mark.
Nobody knows what head coach Tommy Bowden told his players, but he lit a fire under them and helped them rally to a 27-20 win.
The game-clinching touchdown came from fullback Bernard Rambert with 9:38 to go in the fourth quarter. Bowden executed the finish using his favorite goal-line play for Rambert, the “fullback roll.”
No. 8: The makeup game (2005)
Only a year after the uncalled-for and brutal brawl, the Tigers had to make the trip to Columbia, South Carolina, where the No. 19 Gamecocks waited.
Thankfully, coordinated by the staff of both schools, coaches and players gathered at midfield and shook hands to demonstrate sportsmanship.
Clemson’s star running back, James Davis, rushed for 145 yards and one touchdown on 5.4 yards per carry, leading the Tigers to a 13-9 victory.
This remains the only time the Tigers have beaten a ranked South Carolina team in Williams-Brice Stadium.
No. 7: First game in Death Valley (1960)
The Tigers hosted the Palmetto Bowl for the first time in 1960 after playing in Columbia for every rivalry game prior to that season.
Clemson won the contest 12-2 and didn’t lose at home against the Gamecocks until 1964. While the matchup wasn’t the most entertaining game, it forever stamped its legacy into Palmetto Bowl history books.
No. 6: Highest-scoring Palmetto Bowl of all time (2003)
The 2003 game was one of the most dominant wins for Clemson against South Carolina, ranking as the second-largest margin of victory and highest-scoring in Palmetto Bowl history.
Charlie Whitehurst threw for 302 yards and four touchdowns for the Tigers. Running back Chad Jasmin assisted in their win, accounting for 61 yards and four touchdowns.
The only greater marginal victory by Clemson over the Gamecocks came 13 years after this game when Deshaun Watson led the Tigers to a 56-7 win in Death Valley in 2016.
No. 5: Birth of the orange britches (1980)
In 1980, Clemson upset Heisman winner and No. 14 South Carolina’s quarterback, George Rogers. Legendary head coach Danny Ford and Clemson cocaptain Willie Underwood helped Clemson to a 27-6 victory. Underwood, the starting strong safety, recorded 17 tackles and two interceptions.
But, the most essential footnote from this game was the orange pants Clemson wore. It was the first time the team wore them, but it wouldn’t be the last — the Tigers wore them in every game of the following 1981 national championship season, which was the program’s first.
Nowadays, they only wear the orange pants for trophy games.
No. 4: Soccer player makes history (2007)
The first and only time in the Palmetto Bowl record books that Clemson won on the game’s final play happened in 2007.
Former two-sport Clemson athlete Mark Buchholz kicked a 35-yard field goal to seal the deal against the Gamecocks, 23-21.
Buchholz will go down in history as one of the best dual-sport Tigers, lettering in soccer as a starter all four years and in football in the 2007 and 2008 seasons.
No. 3: Deshaun Watson’s ACL game (2014)
An unranked South Carolina team charged into Death Valley and got steamrolled.
Deshaun Watson was just a freshman when he tore his ACL two weeks before the trophy game against Georgia Tech in 2014. However, he showed how much this rivalry means by deciding to play through it to break the Tigers’ five-year losing streak. He threw for two touchdowns and ran for another two.
Clemson’s leader in all-time receptions, Artavis Scott, had the most receiving yards in history by a Clemson player in a rivalry game with 185 receiving yards in addition to two touchdowns.
Star Clemson running back Wayne Gallman ran for 191 yards, the second most by a Clemson player in the rivalry.
No. 2: The Catch II (2001)
The 2001 team was on the verge of a five-year winning streak against the Gamecocks, but the Tigres needed a miracle sitting inside their own as the clock sat at 19 seconds left in the game.
That miracle came to fruition in the following play as quarterback Woody Dantzler sent a far past to future first-round pick Rod Gardner for a 50-yard reception that set up the game-winning field goal for Clemson.
The catch sent Death Valley into immediate hysteria, and the rest is history.
No. 1: “The Catch” (1977)
While both catches are historic moments in this rivalry for Clemson, the original is always better than the sequel, as we know.
In 1977, Clemson wideout Jerry Butler made the legendary and highly athletic play known today as “The Catch.”
It came on a 20-yard pass from quarterback Steve Fuller, where Butler had to make a last-second adjustment, turning his entire body to make the leaping catch.
The play sent the Tigers to their first bowl game in 18 years.
