Clemson vs. Duke Football Game Notes

Clemson vs. Duke Series

• Clemson holds a 35-16-1 lead in the series with Duke, including a 14-12 lead in games played at Duke, and a 19-4-1 lead in games played in Death Valley.
• Duke has not won at Clemson since a 34-17 victory over Danny Ford’s second Clem­son team in 1980. Freshman quarterback Ben Bennett led the Duke offense and Dennis Tabron had three interceptions for 128 return yards to lead the Blue Devil defense in that game.
• Clemson has won 14 in a row over the Blue Devils in Death Valley, including the last meeting, a 31-7 Clemson victory in 2008 in Dabo Swinney‘s third game as Clemson’s interim head coach.
• In the 14-game winning streak at Death Valley, Clemson has outscored, Duke 551-187, an average victory of 39-13.
• Clemson has won 15 of the last 18 in the series dating to a victory in 1990. One of the more memorable games in Durham took place in 1989, Danny Ford’s last Clemson team. Steve Spurrier was the coach of the Blue Devils that year and Duke came away with a 21-17 victory.
• Clemson entered that 1989 game with a 4-0 record, a #7 AP ranking and had recently won at Florida State. Duke went on to tie for the ACC championship that year. Clemson finished that year 10-2 and ranked in the top 10 and was the ACC’s highest ranked team, but the Tigers finished third in the ACC standings that year.
• Some of Clemson’s single game records have been set against the Blue Devils. In 1995, Raymond Priester rushed for a record 263 yards to lead the Tiger offense in a 34-17 Tiger victory. On the other side of the line of scrimmage that day, Brian Dawkins had three interceptions in the first quarter to set a school record for a quarter and a half, and tie the record for a single game. The second greatest rushing game in Clemson history also took place against Duke. In 1982, Cliff Austin rushed for 260 yards in a Clemson victory.
• In 2002, Charlie Whitehurst made his first career start against the Blue Devils and completed 34 of 52 passes for 420 yards and four touchdowns. The 420 passing yards set a record that was just broken on October 25 at Wake Forest by Tajh Boyd.
• Clemson and Duke met in the first overtime game between two ACC teams in 1997. The Tigers won the contest by the unusual score of 29-20. David Richardson kicked a field goal on Clemson’s possession, then Rahim Abdullah intercepted a pass and ran 63 yards for a score, giving Clemson the nine-point win.
• Clemson and Duke have met on Clemson’s homecoming 11 times. The Tigers have a 10-0-1 record in those games. The only blemish took place in 1976 when the two teams tied, 18-18. Duke tied the game on the last play of the contest on a 57-yard field goal by Vince Fusco that hit the crossbar and bounced over. It was his sixth field goal of the game, still the most in a game against Clemson.

Clemson 14-12 at Wallace Wade

• Clemson has a 14-12 record in games played at Wallace Wade Stadium over the years. Clemson’s first trip to Duke was the first game in the series, a 20-6 Duke win at Durham in 1934. Duke won the first five games of the series that were played at Duke. The Tigers first win at Duke was a 17-7 victory under Frank Howard in 1961.
• There have been some odd scores in games played at Duke. In 1965 Clemson was victorious 3-2, the only game in Clemson history that ended with a 3-2 score and one of just two games in which the two teams combined for five points or less since Clemson joined the ACC in 1953. (The other one was played the next week when Clemson won over TCU 3-0 at Clemson.)
• Another odd score was the 17-11 Clemson win at Durham in 1977. It is the last time an opposing team has scored exactly 11 points against the Tigers.
• Seven of the last nine games played between Clemson and Duke at Durham have been decided by seven points or less. Duke has a 4-3 advantage in those games. Their last win over Clemson was a 16-13 win in 2004, a game that was played the week after the Tigers upset an 11th ranked Miami team. That was Dabo Swin­ney’s first trip to Duke as an assistant coach with the Tigers. Duke won the game on a 53-yard field goal on the last play.
• Overall 15 of the 26 games between Clemson and Duke in Durham have been de­cided by seven points or less and Duke has an 8-7 lead in those games.
• Four of Clemson’s last eight games at Duke the Tigers have been held to exactly 13 points. Clemson won two of those games, 13-10 in 1993 and 13-6 in 1996.
• Saturday’s game between Clemson and Duke will be played on November 3, the ex­act anniversary of Clemson’s last trip to Durham, a 47-10 Tigers victory in 2007.

Scoring Quickly vs. Duke

• The top two instances of the quickest back-to-back touchdowns in Clemson history took place against Duke. In 2003, Derrick Hamilton caught scoring passes from Whitehurst just 14 seconds apart, a record for the quickest back-to-back touchdowns in Clemson history.
• In 1999, Brian Wofford scored on an 18-yard TD pass from Brandon Streeter, then Terry Jolly ran an interception back from 20 yards out, scores that took place just 21 seconds apart, the second fastest back-to-back touch­down scores in Clemson history.
• In the 2007 game at Duke, Clem­son scored 16 points in 39 seconds. The two touchdowns were 39 seconds apart with a safety in between.