The Clemson-Carolina rivalry or Carolina-Clemson rivalry, depending on what side of the fence you are on, dates back long before anything happened on the gridiron. In fact, the bitterness between the two schools and their alumni go back before Clemson even existed.
It all started when Benjamin Tillman, a farmer from Edgefield, South Carolina, was not pleased with the way the University of South Carolina was handling its agriculture department and demanded the university take agriculture more seriously.
Tillman, who became the Governor in South Carolina in 1890, through the nastiness of politics, eventually got his way.