Clemson - Wofford Look Back

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The FCS Wofford Terriers come to Death Valley Saturday to face undefeated Clemson. No sane football prognosticator is picking the Terriers to win or even to play close, but the game is scheduled to be played anyway and will be televised on the ACC Network at 4:00 P.M. Hopefully, Dabo has reminded the Tiger players of September 1, 2007, when then FCS member Appalachian State upset No. 5 ranked Michigan in the Big House 34-32. Like Clemson, Michigan was considered a strong candidate for the national championship that year and the favorite to win the Big Ten Championship. The game was televised on the then – new Big Ten Network. See the similarities? No team should be taken lightly in College football. 

Let’s look back at the Clemson – Wofford series. 

Clemson vs. Wofford – The Series

by Jim Roberts

Clemson shut out Wofford 16-0 in their first meeting in 1896. This was the Tigers first year on the gridiron. Interestingly Clemson played the first three games in the series away from home winning all three. It was not until 1920 that the schools played at Clemson when the Tigers won 13-7. 

In 1900 Coach John Heisman’s undefeated, SIAA Conference Champions steamrolled teams like South Carolina 51-0, Georgia 39-5, and Alabama 35-0, but pesky Wofford held the Tigers to 21 points and lost only 21-0 in Spartanburg.

These schools did not meet again following the 1900 game until 1917 in another home game for the Terriers. The Tigers finished 6-2 that year under first-year head coach Edward Donahue. Among the six victories was a 55-7 win over Florida in Jacksonville. Clemson was one of the best teams in the South, but tiny Wofford played them off their feet before falling 27-16.

When Clemson and Wofford resumed the series in 1925, the game had been moved back to Spartanburg. The Terriers posted a 13-0 win and shut out the Tigers 3-0 on their return to Spartanburg a year later. The 1926 season saw Clemson coach Bud Saunders replaced by Bob Williams at mid-season. Williams failed to win a game, going 0-5 including the loss to Wofford. He did not return for 1927. 

Josh Cody took over the Clemson program in 1927 and immediately turned things around. The Tigers went 5-3-1, 8-3, 8-3, 8-2 in his four years in Tiger Town. Included in his 29 victories were 6-0 and 32-0 blankings of Wofford in 1927 and 1930 respectively. Cody returned to Vanderbilt, his alma mater following the 1930 season.

Clemson’s last loss to Wofford came in 1933 (13-14). This was also the last time the Orange & Purple played the Terriers on the road.  

It was 1940 and Frank Howard’s first year at the helm as head coach when the Tigers and Terriers met again. Howard’s eventual Southern Conference Champions shut out the Gold & Black 26-0. The win began the current streak of five consecutive Clemson victories in the series. 

1981 was the year of Clemson’s first National Championship. It was also the year that saw the Wofford series resume after a forty-one-year hiatus in the season opener for both teams. Head Tiger Danny Ford worried about Wofford’s wishbone offense. Clemson’s defense would have to prepare differently for Wofford than for any other team on the schedule. Terrier head coach Buddy Sasser told the press during the summer before the game, “We are not going over there just to get a check… Our players were very positive when we told them about playing at Clemson and they have prepared for this game all summer.” Editor’s note: Wofford had replaced Villanova on the Clemson schedule after the Philadelphia school temporarily dropped football a few months before the start of the season.

By the end of the first quarter, the fans in attendance began to feel uncomfortable. Wofford’s defense was playing inspired football and the triple-option offense was chewing up the clock. The score stood 3-3 entering the second quarter. By halftime, the Terriers had 201 yards of total offense. Only Nebraska in the de facto national championship game would gain more rushing yardage against Clemson than the wishbone attack of Wofford. 

After the first quarter, the Clemson offense woke up and the defense bent, but did not break. The Tigers won going away 45-10 and while few, if any, realized it at the time, Clemson was on its way to the National Championship.

It was twenty years before these in-state rivals would meet again when the 20th ranked Tigers won 38-14. Ten years later in 2011 the Terriers really threw a scare into the eventual ACC Champions who held on to win by only eight points 35-27.

The most recent meeting was 2015 when the Deshawn Watson lead Clemson offense hung 49 points on the board and DC Brent Venables’ defense allowed ten points. 

The Tigers have outscored the Terriers 351-114 in the 15 game series. Clemson goes for its sixth straight win against Wofford Saturday knowing that if they let down the Tigers could be playing in the “Embarrassment Bowl” as Michigan did in 2007!