There’s no law mandating Clemson and South Carolina to play
While many Clemson and South Carolina fans have been told as much for more than half-a-century, there is actually no state law mandating that the two teams match up on the football field each year.
The Clemson and South Carolina rivalry- referred to by some as the Palmetto Bowl- is one of the longest-running series in College Football, but the game is not played due to state law or mandates.
It has, however, been played every year annually since 1909- through World War II and many other national difficulties- without interruption simply because of the spirit of competition and the absolute rivalry between the two fan bases.
As we progress closer to the start of the 2020 College Football season, there is growing pessimism that the season will be played at all. Even if it is played, the overarching belief is that we’ll see a conference-only slate that would likely cancel the Tigers’ annual grudge match with the Gamecocks.
The Clemson vs. South Carolina rivalry is like no other
While the ACC and SEC have both expressed interest in trying to play their non-conference rivalries this season, the truth is that nothing is for certain at this point.
Interestingly enough, there was another time in the rivalry’s history where we could’ve seen the game canceled, though it was for a much less important reason.
In 1952, Clemson was still a member of the SoCon Conference. The conference ordered that the Tigers could play no other non-league team other than Maryland as punishment for both schools accepting bowl bids without the conference’s permission.
Well, that didn’t go over too well.
Both University Presidents appealed to the S.C. General Assembly and the legislative body mandated that the game be played. As a result of the game, the SoCon attempted to suspend Clemson and that led to seven member schools- including the Tigers and Gamecocks- to leave the conference and form the Atlantic Coast Conference.
Since that time, there have been a couple of bills considered to mandate the rivalry, but nothing has ever been voted into legislation.
There’s no doubt that fans would miss the Clemson-South Carolina game if it were canceled in 2020, but it would still be a small sacrifice to pay if we still had the opportunity to see football this season.