Gamecocks Take Fifth-Straight Palmetto Series Title over Tigers

The University of South Carolina has captured its fifth-straight Palmetto Series trophy.

The Gamecocks won this year’s head-to-head, points competition against Clemson with a final score of 8-5. The Gamecocks swept the Tigers in the four major sports in 2022-23, including football, men’s and women’s basketball, and baseball.

“I am proud of our student-athletes and coaches in winning SC Education Lottery Palmetto Series, which we have done in each year of the competition,” said USC Athletics Director Ray Tanner. “The Palmetto Series represents a ‘state championship’ and that is one of our goals as we start every year – to compete for state, conference, and national titles.”

The trophy will be presented to the University of South Carolina during a football game against Furman on September 9. The Gamecocks now lead the overall Palmetto Series 5-0.

The Palmetto Series is sponsored by the South Carolina Education Lottery. “We congratulate the Gamecocks and the Tigers on a tremendous year of competition,” said the Lottery’s Executive Director Hogan Brown. “As expected, the rivalry produced some thrilling moments. Many games were decided by one point or came down to a single basket. Fans of both schools have much to cheer about.”

The Palmetto Series points chase began in August and wrapped up in April. Points were given to the winner of each meeting between the two schools. And points were also awarded to the school with the most lottery scholarship recipients and for the most entries in the Lottery’s Rival Play promotion. The final scoring is below:

POINTS WON BY SOUTH CAROLINA:
Baseball – March 3-5 – SOUTH CAROLINA, 2-1 (2-5, 11-9, 7-1)
Men’s Basketball – November 11 – SOUTH CAROLINA, 60-58
Women’s Basketball – November 17 – SOUTH CAROLINA, 85-31
Women’s Cross Country – November 11 – SOUTH CAROLINA, 497-541
Football – November 26 – SOUTH CAROLINA, 31-30
Men’s Tennis – February 3 – SOUTH CAROLINA, 7-0
Most current LIFE Scholarship recipients – SOUTH CAROLINA
Most entries into the Lottery’s Rival Play Promotion – SOUTH CAROLINA

POINTS WON BY CLEMSON:
Men’s Soccer – Friday, September 2 – CLEMSON, 1-0
Softball – March 28 & April 11 – CLEMSON, 2-0 (10-0, 4-3)
Women’s Tennis – Tuesday, February 14 – CLEMSON, 4-2
Volleyball – Tuesday, September 6 – CLEMSON, 3-2
Most current Palmetto Fellows Scholarship recipients – CLEMSON

TIE (no point awarded):
Women’s Soccer – Thursday, September 1 – DRAW, 2-2

Palmetto Series Notes
* South Carolina has won all five of the Palmetto Series yearly competitions.
* In the five competitions, South Carolina has won all competitions in women’s basketball (5-0), women’s golf (4-0 / no head-to-head competitions in 2022-23) and men’s tennis (5-0).
* Clemson has won all competitions in men’s soccer (5-0).
* South Carolina was 2-0 in women’s diving before it was discontinued after the 2016-17 season and Clemson leads in softball, 1-0, after the first year of competition in the Series in 2022-23.

In non-Palmetto Series scoring:
– South Carolina finished higher than Clemson in 22 of 28 years of the Learfield NACDA Directors Cup.
– South Carolina has finished higher than Clemson in 12 of the last 13 years of the Learfield NACDA Directors Cup (Clemson had higher score in 2020-21).