Note: The following appears in the NC State football gameday program.
Clemson enters Saturday’s game versus NC State with 799 victories in the history of the program. With a win, the Tiger program, which dates to 1896, would become the 14th at the FBS level to reach 800 wins, including the first from the ACC.
Auburn became the 13th school to reach 800 wins when it won its 2024 opener over Alabama A&M. Here are the 13 schools with 800+ wins: Michigan (1,006), Alabama (968), Ohio State (966), Texas (951), Notre Dame (950), Oklahoma (947), Penn State (932), Nebraska (920), Georgia (884), Southern California (877), Tennessee (868), LSU (808), Auburn (801).
Here are some other facts of interest about Clemson and its winning history:
• A victory this weekend would give Clemson 100 wins in its last 118 games, the fewest to record a 100-win set in school history. The previous-best 100-win set took place from 1979-90, when Clemson went from 400 wins to 500 wins in just 134 games. The third fewest also involves the Dabo Swinney era, as it took the Tigers 142 games to go from 600 to 700 wins between 2004-15.
• Clemson recorded its 200th and 600th wins against South Carolina and its 500th and 700th victories versus Wake Forest. Four of the landmark century wins took place at home, two on the road and one at a neutral site. That neutral-site victory was the 300th win in Clemson history, a 23-7 victory over TCU in the first Bluebonnet Bowl in Houston, Texas in 1959. Clemson beat No. 7 TCU that day, the highest-ranked team the Tigers defeated during Frank Howard’s career as head coach (1940-69).
• Clemson faces NC State this weekend, and the Tigers have a 60-30-1 record against the Wolfpack. The 60 wins are the third most by Clemson against an opponent. The Tigers have beaten South Carolina 73 times and Wake Forest 71 times.
• An examination of Clemson’s wins each decade reveals that it has had a top-15 winning percentage in three different finished decades and is on pace for a top-10 finish in the 2020s. Clemson had a 64-32-5 record in the 1950s, a 65.8 winning percentage, 15th highest in the nation, under Howard. In the 1980s, Hall of Fame Coach Danny Ford guided Clemson to an 87-25-4 record for a 76.7 winning percentage, fifth highest in the nation. Clemson had its highest winning-percentage decade and national finish in the 2010s with a 117-23 mark under Swinney. That 83.6 winning percentage was third highest in the nation, trailing only Alabama and Ohio State. Clemson is 40-12 in the 2020s for a 76.9 winning percentage, seventh highest in the nation, through the first four years of the decade.
• Clemson has some round numbers in other categories as well. Entering this weekend’s game, Clemson has 100 top-25 wins in its history. Swinney has 42 of them, more than any other Tiger head coach. Clemson also has 300 road wins in history (300-285-23).
• Clemson has a better record in conference play than its overall record. The Tigers are 324-150-6 in ACC regular-season games for a 68.1 winning percentage, ahead of the overall winning percentage of 62.4. Clemson’s overall conference winning percentage, including its time in the SoCon and SIAA, is 406-207-14 for a 65.9 winning percentage.
• What has been the home-field advantage for Clemson over the years? Overall, the Tigers have a 417-128-15 record at home since their first season for a 78.6 winning percentage, certainly much better than their 52.5 winning percentage away from home (383-344-30). The home record includes a 341-107-7 mark at Memorial Stadium, a 75.7 winning percentage.
• A total of 27 of Clemson’s triumphs have been in bowl games or CFP games (which the NCAA treats like bowl games in its recordbook). Its 27 bowl wins are 10th most in history.
• Tiger head coaches who were Alabama graduates, Howard (165), Hootie Ingram (12), Charley Pell (18), Ford (96) and Swinney (171), have combined for 462 of Clemson’s 799 victories (57.8 percent).
