Clemson–Florida State football rivalry

Clemson–Florida State football rivalry

Clemson Tigers Florida State Seminoles
First meeting	November 7, 1970 Florida State 38, Clemson 13
Latest meeting	November 7, 2015 Clemson 23, Florida State 13
Next meeting	2016 in Tallahassee
Statistics
Meetings total	29
All-time series	Florida State leads, 20–9
Largest victory	Florida State, 57–0 (1993)
Longest win streak	Florida State, 11 (1992–2002)
Current win streak	Clemson, 1 (2015–present)

The Clemson–Florida State football rivalry is an American college football rivalry between the Clemson Tigers football team of Clemson University and Florida State Seminoles football team of Florida State University. The schools have played each other annually since 1992. Both universities are members of the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC), and since the ACC initiated divisional play in 2005, both teams have competed in the ACC's Atlantic Division. For several years in the late 1990s and early 2000s, the matchup was known alternatively as the Bowden Bowl for the father, former head coach Bobby Bowden of the Seminoles, and the son, Tommy Bowden, formerly head coach of the Tigers.

Series history

Clemson and FSU first played in 1970, predating Florida State's membership in the ACC. The actual rivalry started to emerge in 1988 when the No. 3 Clemson Tigers hosted the No. 10 Seminoles in a grueling match-up, that was ultimately decided by Leroy Butler's 78-yard "puntrooskie" run, costing Clemson the victory and dashing their national title hopes. Clemson avenged the loss in 1989, with a 34–23 victory in Tallahassee, marked by a 73-yard scoring run by Terry Allen and a 73-yard interception return by Wayne Simmons. The Seminoles and Tigers finished the 1989 season with 10–2 records, and ranked No. 3 and No. 12 in the final AP poll, respectively. Prior to FSU's arrival, Clemson was a dominant team in the ACC winning 6 of the past 10 ACC titles from 1981 to 1991. However, after the departure of Clemson's national championship winning coach Danny Ford in 1989, the 1991 ACC title would be their last until 2011, as Florida State's success continued for much of the 1990s, with less consistent opposition in the conference. The rivalry picked up, however, when Tommy Bowden, son of FSU coach Bobby Bowden was hired at Clemson University in 1999, in an attempt to help rebuild the program.

Tommy vs. Bobby

When Tommy Bowden was named head coach of Clemson on December 2, 1998, the opportunity arose for the first ever meeting between a father and his son as opposing head coaches on the football field. This became known as "The Bowden Bowl". Florida State and Clemson have faced each other on a yearly basis since Florida State joined the Atlantic Coast Conference in 1992. In 2005, when the ACC expanded to twelve teams, Clemson and Florida State were placed together in the Atlantic Division; this allowed the teams to continue to face each other without interruption. The first meeting in 1999 was the largest crowd ever to watch a game at Memorial Stadium at Clemson University with an attendance of 86,200. Bobby won the all-time series, with five wins and four losses. Tommy Bowden's first win came in 2003 on his father's birthday, defeating then third-ranked FSU, damaging their prospects for a national championship. The Bowden vs Bowden editions of the series ended when Tommy resigned as head coach six games into the 2008 football season.

Post Bowdens

The rivalry lives on past the departure of Tommy Bowden, who was replaced mid-season by Wide Receivers and Interim Head Coach Dabo Swinney in 2008. The games in 2008 and 2009 both came down to the 4th quarter with the home teams winning respectively, and influencing the Atlantic Division standings. During the 2009 season, Clemson went on to clinch the Atlantic Division after a 40–24 win in Death Valley, while similarly, Florida State won the division after a 16–13 down to the wire decision the following year in Tallahassee. At the end of the 2009 season Bobby Bowden retired from Florida State University leaving his Offensive Coordinator and Head Coach in Waiting Jimbo Fisher as head coach of the team. In 2011, Clemson brought the ACC Championship back to the Atlantic Division with a dominating win over Virginia Tech in the ACC Championship Game. In the decade prior, the series was evenly split, with each team winning 5 games. Both teams in 2012 were ranked in the Top 10 for the first time since 2000, in a game that was also decided in the 4th quarter, with FSU winning 49-37. In 2013, after 4 Clemson turnovers, FSU went on to win decisively 51-14 in Death Valley for the first time since 2001. Their 2013 meeting marked the first time both teams were ranked simultaneously in the Top 5. FSU went on to have a perfect season winning the national title, while Clemson finished with an 11 win season and a victory in the Orange Bowl. The 2014 matchup was also a Top 25 classic as #22 Clemson controlled the line of scrimmage by holding #1 Florida State to 13 yards rushing, but came up short with critical errors in a 23-17 overtime loss. The Seminoles were without quarterback Jameis Winston, who was suspended for the game for yelling an obscene expression on campus a few days before the game.

Conference championships

Clemson and Florida State have combined to win 30 ACC titles, with both programs currently having 15 each. FSU has won 15 ACC Championship titles, a remarkable feat considering they joined the conference in 1992. Clemson's 8th ACC championship came in 1981 with a perfect season and a consensus national title, while going on to win 6 ACC titles in a decade. However, after the departure of their national title winning coaching staff in 1989, Clemson's program went into a decline, as Florida State entered the conference in 1992 on the rise, winning 9 straight conference titles. Recently, the Tigers won their 15th ACC title with a 13-0 undefeated regular season enroute to a National Championship Playoff berth, as did the Seminoles in the previous season in 2014.

Since 2009, the winner of the Clemson-Florida State game has ended up representing the Atlantic Division in the ACC championship game.

Game results

Clemson victories

Florida State victories

#	Date	Location	Winner	Score
1	November 7, 1970	Tallahassee, FL	Florida State	38–13
2	November 1, 1975	Clemson, SC	Florida State	43–7
3	October 30, 1976	Tallahassee, FL	Clemson	15–12
4	September 17, 1988	Clemson, SC	#10 Florida State	24–21
5	September 9, 1989	Tallahassee, FL	#10 Clemson	34–23
6	September 12, 1992	Clemson, SC	#5 Florida State	24–20
7	September 11, 1993	Tallahassee, FL	#1 Florida State	57–0
8	October 22, 1994	Tallahassee, FL	#7 Florida State	17–0
9	September 9, 1995	Clemson, SC	#1 Florida State	45–26
10	October 5, 1996	Tallahassee, FL	#2 Florida State	34–3
11	September 20, 1997	Clemson, SC	#5 Florida State	35–28
12	October 17, 1998	Tallahassee, FL	#6 Florida State	48–0
13	October 23, 1999	Clemson, SC	#1 Florida State	17–14
14	November 4, 2000	Tallahassee, FL	#4 Florida State	54–7
15	November 3, 2001	Clemson, SC	#14 Florida State	41–27
16	October 3, 2002	Tallahassee, FL	#11 Florida State	48–31
17	November 8, 2003	Clemson, SC	Clemson	26–10
18	September 25, 2004	Tallahassee, FL	#8 Florida State	41–22
19	November 12, 2005	Clemson, SC	Clemson	35–14
20	September 16, 2006	Tallahassee, FL	Clemson	27–20
21	September 3, 2007	Clemson, SC	Clemson	24–18
22	November 8, 2008	Tallahassee, FL	#24 Florida State	41–27
23	November 7, 2009	Clemson, SC	Clemson	40–24
24	November 13, 2010	Tallahassee, FL	Florida State	16–13
25	September 24, 2011	Clemson, SC	#21 Clemson	35–30
26	September 22, 2012	Tallahassee, FL	#4 Florida State	49–37
27	October 19, 2013	Clemson, SC	#5 Florida State	51–14
28	September 20, 2014	Tallahassee, FL	#1 Florida State	23–17OT
29	November 7, 2015	Clemson, SC	#3 Clemson	23–13
Series: Florida State leads 20–9