Some rivalries are built because teams play every year.
Clemson and LSU have taken a different approach.
They’ve only played four times in nearly 70 years.
Four games!
That’s it!
Yet somehow they’ve packed a Sugar Bowl, a Peach Bowl; one of the biggest wins of the Dabo Swinney era and a National Championship into three of those four meetings.
Not bad for two schools that see each other about as often as the SEC schedules a true road game against Power 4 competition.
Now comes Chapter Five.
Clemson heads to Baton Rouge to open the 2026 season, marking the Tigers’ first trip to Tiger Stadium after LSU made its first-ever visit to Memorial Stadium last season, a 17-10 LSU win.
There will be plenty of purple.
Plenty of orange.
And approximately 14 million people explaining why their Death Valley is the real one.
Spoiler alert.
It’s the one with Howard’s Rock.
Sorry, LSU fan.
It Started With Billy Cannon
The first meeting came in the 1959 Sugar Bowl.
Frank Howard brought Clemson to New Orleans looking for a statement win over defending National Champion LSU, led by legendary coach Paul Dietzel and Heisman Trophy winner Billy Cannon.
Instead, Clemson ran into one of the best defenses in college football.
LSU escaped with a 7-0 victory.
If you enjoy offense, you would’ve hated it.
If you enjoy punts, congratulations. You probably still have the game on VHS.
Or DVD.
Or Betamax.
Whatever people who love 7-0 games watch.
The Forgotten Peach Bowl
The teams disappeared from each other’s schedules for another 38 years before meeting in the 1996 Peach Bowl.
Tommy West coached Clemson.
Gerry DiNardo coached LSU.
The final score was 10-7 LSU.
Let’s just say it wasn’t exactly the Greatest Show on Turf.
It was two really good defenses, a whole lot of field position and enough punting to make Kirk Ferentz smile.
Then the series went quiet again.
Until Atlanta.
Tajh Boyd, 4th and 16, and a Guy Named Nuk
If Clemson fans had to pick one play from this series, it wouldn’t be a touchdown.
It would be 4th and 16.
You know exactly where you were.
Trailing 24-22 with just over a minute remaining in the 2012 Chick-fil-A Bowl, Clemson faced a season-ending fourth down.
Convert it and the drive stayed alive.
Miss it and LSU heads home claiming another SEC victory over an ACC team.
Instead, Tajh Boyd stepped up and found DeAndre Hopkins over the middle for one of the biggest first downs in Clemson football history.
The catch moved the chains and kept the dream alive.
Boyd was magnificent that night, throwing for 346 yards and two touchdowns while adding another score with his legs.
Hopkins caught 13 passes for 191 yards and two touchdowns, spending most of the evening reminding LSU’s secondary that covering him was more of a suggestion than a requirement.
By the fourth quarter, Nuk Hopkins wasn’t just making catches.
He was collecting LSU defensive backs like souvenirs.
LSU wasn’t exactly short on talent either.
Zach Mettenberger was at quarterback.
Odell Beckham Jr.
Jarvis Landry.
Jeremy Hill.
Future NFL players seemed to be standing in line waiting for their turn.
Brent Venables was in his first season rebuilding Clemson’s defense after the Orange Bowl disaster the year before. The defense wasn’t the finished product yet, but it was tougher, more physical and finally looked like it belonged in games like this.
Then Chandler Catanzaro trotted onto the field.
Thirty-seven yards.
Right down the middle.
Pandemonium at the stroke of midnight on New Year’s Eve.
Somewhere, an SEC fan quietly deleted a tweet.
Clemson 25.
LSU 24.
The SEC had spent years reminding everyone how superior it was.
For one night in Atlanta, Clemson reminded the SEC that conference pride doesn’t tackle anybody.
The National Championship We All Wanted
Seven years later, the stakes couldn’t have been any bigger.
Trevor Lawrence.
Joe Burrow.
Dabo Swinney.
Ed Orgeron.
National Championship.
It felt like the entire college football world stopped to watch.
Clemson entered the game riding a 29-game winning streak after surviving Ohio State in the Fiesta Bowl.
LSU entered with an offense that looked unstoppable.
Burrow threw for 463 yards and five touchdowns.
Ja’Marr Chase looked uncoverable.
Justin Jefferson caught everything.
Clyde Edwards-Helaire ran through defenders.
LSU won 42-25 and completed one of the greatest seasons college football has ever seen.
Sometimes you tip your cap.
Then you remember LSU fans spent the next three years acting like they’d invented football.
The Battle of the Death Valleys
Now the series finally heads to Baton Rouge.
One Death Valley.
Then the other.
Both fan bases claim the nickname.
Both insist their stadium is louder.
Both believe their traditions are unmatched.
LSU has tailgating that should probably have its own Food Network series.
Clemson has Running Down the Hill, Howard’s Rock and 81,000 people who genuinely believe touching a rock before kickoff is perfectly normal.
Honestly…
They’re both incredible.
Just don’t ask either fanbase which Death Valley is better unless you’ve got about three hours to kill.
Four Games. Four Memories.
That’s what makes this series so much fun.
There haven’t been enough games to call it a rivalry.
There have been far too many memorable moments to call it just another matchup.
Billy Cannon.
Tajh Boyd.
Nuk Hopkins.
Trevor Lawrence.
Joe Burrow.
Catanzaro’s kick.
4th and 16.
A National Championship.
Only four meetings.
Not many series can pack that much history into so few games.
Now Clemson heads to Baton Rouge looking to add another chapter.
If history tells us anything, this one probably won’t be boring.
And if Clemson walks out of Tiger Stadium with a win, don’t worry.
We’ll all be perfectly respectful and humble about it.
For at least five minutes.
