Remember when Clemson-Tech used to be the ACC’s best series? That’s not case anymore

CLEMSON, S.C. — Clemson enters Monday’s game against Georgia Tech in Atlanta as a 23-point favorite.

And to be honest, the Tigers should win by at least three touchdowns. I know some of you out there probably do not have that much faith in the Clemson offense, yet. But my prediction has nothing to do with Clemson.

Georgia Tech is going to be a bad team this year. I picked the Yellow Jackets to finish last in the ACC’s Coastal Division back at ACC Football Kickoff in July. They lost 18 players to the transfer portal in the off-season, including their best player in running back Jahmyr Gibbs. He is now running the football for Alabama.

Overall, Georgia Tech returns just two starters on offense and two starters on defense. This is not Geoff Collins’ first year at Tech. It is Year 4 and those numbers are not a good sign.

The Yellow Jackets are just not very good, and it is unfortunate because the Clemson-Georgia Tech game used to be the ACC’s most competitive series.

Yes, before I get too much in the weeds, Tech nearly beat the Tigers last year. James Skalski’s heads-up play on fourth-and-goal allowed Clemson to escape with a 14-8 victory.

However, that has not been the norm lately.

Clemson has won the last seven games in the series and prior to last year, the Tigers won the previous six by at least two touchdowns and on five of those occasions they won by 19 or more points.

In 2020, Clemson beat the Yellow Jackets 73-7 at Bobby Dodd Stadium in Atlanta. The Tigers had not scored that many points on the Yellow Jackets since John Heisman was coaching at Clemson 120 years ago.

For the majority of the 87 meetings between Clemson and Georgia Tech, the Yellow Jackets owned the Tigers. After Clemson won six of the first eight meetings, Tech won all but three games from 1918-’73 (32-3). However, all 35 of those games were played in Atlanta.

The Yellow Jackets lead the series 51-34-2, but Clemson has a 23-17 advantage since Tech started playing in the ACC in 1983.

Prior to Clemson’s current domination in the series, Clemson-Georgia Tech was the best in the ACC and one of the best in college football.

What made the series so great, and Tech such a rival to Clemson? First off, the Yellow Jackets stole John Heisman. Clemson won the first four games in the series, including a 73-0 win in 1903.

The Yellow Jackets grew tired of losing to Clemson, so they used a $2,250 salary, plus 30 percent of Georgia Tech's gate receipts, along with Atlanta’s up-and-coming social scene and art-centric downtown to entice Heisman and his wife away from Clemson.

That started the bad blood. Heisman turned the Georgia Tech program into a winner and then Bobby Dodd took it to another level, as the Yellow Jackets became a national power.

Tech was so good that they refused to play Clemson in Clemson in those days. When they finally decided to come to Clemson in 1974, the Tigers beat them, 21-17.

After that, the Yellow Jackets refused to come back to Clemson and even tried to end the series after the 1977 game. That, of course, is the origin story behind Clemson’s $2 bill tradition.

Starting in 1996 and running through Clemson’s overtime victory in 2001, six consecutive games in the series were decided by exactly three points.

Dabo Swinney’s first game as a head coach was in 2008 against Georgia Tech. Despite all the distractions leading up to the game with Tommy Bowden being let go and Swinney’s elevation to interim head coach, the Tigers nearly upset Paul Johnson’s Yellow Jackets in a 21-17 classic.

In 2009, Clemson and Georgia Tech played two more great games, including a 39-34 thriller in the ACC Championship game won by the Yellow Jackets. Neither team punted in the game and Clemson running back C.J. Spiller rushed for 234 yards and scored four touchdowns while being named the game’s MVP.

But those days are long gone, and at least for right now, so is the rivalry.

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