The Clemson-NC State Game has always been a pretty good rivalry. Since the days of Danny Ford facing Dick Sheridan back in the mid-1980s to Woodrow Dantzler vs. Phillip Rivers in the early 2000s to today’s games between Dabo Swinney and Dave Doeren, the Textile Bowl, as it was formerly known, has always been competitive. And that is not always based off results.
Though Clemson has won 13 of the last 14 in the series, including the last six, the game has been incredibly intense.
“It is an incredibly competitive game for both teams. Both teams want to win,” Swinney said Tuesday during his weekly press conference as No. 3 Clemson gets set to host 15th-ranked NC State Saturday at Clemson’s Death Valley. “We have had some great stuff.”
Since 2013, Doren’s first year in Raleigh, there has been some sort of incident that has caused one of the two coaches to have to call and apologize.
In the 2013 game, former Clemson offensive tackle Isaiah Battle punched an NC State player, and Swinney had to call Doeren an apologize.
“Oh my God! At the end of the game. He lost his mind,” Swinney said.
Doeren had to do the apologizing following the 2015 game when NC State assistant coach Des Kitchings shoved former Clemson quarterback Deshaun Watson in the back during the Tigers win in Raleigh.
In 2016, Clemson running back Wayne Gallman was knocked out of the game due to a concussion and the next day, during his coaches show, Doeren mentioned Gallman leaving the game to injury as part of the game plan. The next day he had called Swinney to explain his words and apologize for any confusion in his statement.
Then there was last year, when a Clemson student worker for the athletic communications team was uploading social media content from a laptop on the sidelines. Doeren demanded the ACC investigate it during his post-game press conference.
During the game, former NC State defensive end Bradley Chubb was caught on camera several times swiping former Clemson quarterback Kelly Bryant’s towel during the game which resulted in a conversation between him and an official. The Wolfpack fans even got into at the end of the game as they were throwing items from the stands at the Clemson players as they were leaving the field.
“I did not really understand the laptop stuff,” Swinney said. “It was all good. I get along fine with Dave. It is just a very competitive game. They’re a good team. They’re well coached. They have good players, and both teams want the same thing. They want it bad and that is why it has been a very competitive game.”