Carolina's foremost rival is Clemson University. The two institutions are separated by just over 125 miles and have been bitter rivals since Clemson's founding in 1889. A heated rivalry continues to this day for a variety of reasons, including the historic tensions regarding their respective charters along with the passions surrounding their athletic programs. The annual South Carolina-Clemson football game is the longest uninterrupted series in the South and the third longest uninterrupted series overall, first being played in 1896, and having been played every year since 1909.

At the turn of the 20th century , after struggling for more than decade under different nicknames, the USC football team was first referred to Gamecocks. In 1903, Columbia's morning newspaper, The State, used the term and South Carolina teams have been Gamecocks ever since. Those early teams must have been a feisty and spirited group. A gamecock, of course, is a fighting rooster known for its spirit and courage. A cock fight, which was a popular sport throughout the United States in the 19th century, would last until the death of one of the combatants. Cock fighting has been outlawed by most states for humanitarian reasons, but it is still held surreptitiously in many areas. The State of South Carolina has long been closely connected with the breeding and training of fighting gamecocks. General Thomas Sumter, famed guerrilla fighter of the Revolutionary War, was known as "The Fighting Gamecock."