Clemson vs. Wake Forest
Clemson and Wake Forest have 90 meetings on file, the first in 1933; Clemson leads the series 72–17–1 in the games on file. Over the last 10 meetings it’s Clemson 10–0, and Clemson has won the last 16. Share
- Clemson wins
- 72
- Wake Forest wins
- 17
- Ties
- 1
- Earliest on file
- 1933
- Longest streak
- 16 Clemson
- Current streak
- 16 Clemson
- Last 10 meetings
- Clemson 10–0
- Most recent
- 2024
The series at a glance
| ’0 | ’1 | ’2 | ’3 | ’4 | ’5 | ’6 | ’7 | ’8 | ’9 | W–L | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1930s | 5–1 | ||||||||||
| 1940s | 3–7 | ||||||||||
| 1950s | 9–0 | ||||||||||
| 1960s | 8–1–1 | ||||||||||
| 1970s | 8–2 | ||||||||||
| 1980s | 10–0 | ||||||||||
| 1990s | 7–3 | ||||||||||
| 2000s | 7–3 | ||||||||||
| 2010s | 10–0 | ||||||||||
| 2020s | 5–0 |
- Both ranked
- 3 meetings: Clemson 3, Wake Forest 0
- Average margin
- 16.8 points; 31 decided by one score (8 or fewer)
- At Clemson
- 43–7 Clemson’s record at home
- At Wake Forest
- 10–28–1 Wake Forest’s record at home
- Neutral sites
- 1–0 Clemson first
- Shutouts
- 12
Every meeting on file, as played. Ranks are the AP poll’s going in.
Games that tell the story
- Clemson’s biggest win2018: Clemson 63, Wake Forest 3by 60 points
- Wake Forest’s biggest win1943: Wake Forest 41, Clemson 12by 29 points
- Upset1961: Wake Forest 17, Clemson 13Wake Forest had a 20% chance, by our ratings before kickoff
- Upset1993: Wake Forest 20, Clemson 16Wake Forest had a 27% chance, by our ratings before kickoff
- Upset1998: Wake Forest 29, Clemson 19Wake Forest had a 35% chance, by our ratings before kickoff
- Ranked showdown2022: Clemson 51, Wake Forest 45No. 5 Clemson at No. 21 Wake Forest
- Ranked showdown1948: Clemson 21, Wake Forest 14No. 10 Clemson at No. 19 Wake Forest
- Ranked showdown1950: Clemson 13, Wake Forest 12No. 16 Clemson at No. 17 Wake Forest
Coach against coach
| Years | Clemson | Series | Wake Forest |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1933–1936 | Jess Neely | 2–1 | Jim Weaver |
| 1937–1939 | Jess Neely | 3–0 | D.C. Walker |
| 1940–1950 | Frank Howard | 4–7 | D.C. Walker |
| 1951–1955 | Frank Howard | 4–0 | Tom Rogers |
| 1956–1959 | Frank Howard | 4–0 | Paul Amen |
| 1960–1963 | Frank Howard | 3–1 | Billy Hildebrand |
| 1964–1968 | Frank Howard | 4–0–1 | William Tate |
| 1973–1976 | Red Parker | 3–1 | Chuck Mills |
| 1981–1986 | Danny Ford | 6–0 | Al Groh |
| 1987–1989 | Danny Ford | 3–0 | Bill Dooley |
| 1990–1992 | Ken Hatfield | 2–1 | Bill Dooley |
| 1994–1998 | Tommy West | 4–1 | Jim Caldwell |
| 2001–2008 | Tommy Bowden | 5–3 | Jim Grobe |
| 2009–2013 | Dabo Swinney | 5–0 | Jim Grobe |
| 2014–2024 | Dabo Swinney | 11–0 | Dave Clawson |
Head-coach pairings with three or more meetings on file, the series read from Clemson’s side (Neely 2–1 against Weaver). A season split between coaches goes to the one credited with the game.
Both programs through the years
Our Elo rating at the end of each season, a measure of how strong a team was, not a forecast; 1500 is an average FBS team.
Stars of the series
Biggest days
| Tajh Boyd Clemson | 27 of 38, 428 yards, 5 TD | 2012 Passing | |
| Airese Currie Clemson | 9 catches, 152 yards, 1 TD | 2004 Receiving |
Biggest days: the week’s best individual games by our big-days rule, from box scores (2004 on).
From the newspapers
1935 · Evening star, District of Columbia, Oct 6, 1935
1936 · Evening star, District of Columbia, Oct 21, 1936
1938 · Imperial Valley press, California, Oct 30, 1938
1939 · Imperial Valley press, California, Nov 13, 1939
1943 · The Wilmington morning star, Wilmington, N.C., Oct 31, 1943
Public-domain newspapers from the Library of Congress’s Chronicling America, found through the American Stories dataset (Dell and Harvard, CC BY 4.0). The earliest meetings with a story on file; each game’s page has the full text.
On television
ESPN’s College GameDay has broadcast from this game once: 2020.
College GameDay’s sites from Wikipedia’s list of its locations (CC BY-SA).
Every game
Every game is listed as played on the field.