The Rivalry Trophies of Clemson Football
By John Chancey
The O’Rourke–McFadden Trophy: Clemson Football vs Boston College
Younger Clemson fans have become accustomed to two things about Boston College.
- Clemson plays Boston College every season
- Clemson beats Boston College every season
The first part is true because the Tigers have played the Eagles annually since BC joined the league in 2005. The second part is true because Clemson currently owns a 12-game win streak in the series.
What this amounts to is that older fans don’t think of BC as a natural rival for Clemson because the series is slightly less than twenty years old. Younger fans only know Clemson dominating the series, so again, this series doesn’t jump out as one that would have a trophy.
Things were different in 2008 when the O’Rourke-McFadden Trophy was created to be awarded to the winner of the Clemson-Boston College matchup. At that point, the Tigers hadn’t won a conference game with the Eagles. Clemson hadn’t won a game against Boston College since 1958.
The Boston College Gridiron Club created the trophy to commemorate the rivalry series, which was first played in the 1940 Cotton Bowl. The trophy is named after a player from each team that played in that game: Charlie O’Rourke of Boston College and Banks McFadden of Clemson.
Clemson and Boston College won’t be annual opponents moving forward but they will play twice in every four year period as long as both are in the ACC.