The 2004 Clemson-South Carolina football game was overshadowed by a brawl that broke out late in the fourth quarter with the Tigers leading 29-7. Now, 15 years later, here are 15 facts about that unfortunate event:
1. Malice at the Palace: The night before South Carolina and Clemson played their annual rivalry game on Nov. 20, 2004, one of the most famous brawls in sports history took place about 750 miles away. What would be known as the "Malice at the Palace" occurred when players on the Indiana Pacers and Detroit Pistons got into a fight that carried over into scrapping with fans the stands. Gamecocks and Tigers players saw plenty of TV coverage of the fight the night before their game.
2. Meeting at the hill: There was some hostility before the game even started as several South Carolina players ran to the bottom of the hill to greet Clemson's team before its pregame entrance. There were some shoves and words exchanged before cooler heads prevailed.
3. The records: South Carolina entered the game with a 6-4 record, while Clemson was 5-5. The Tigers were favored by 3 points and had dominated the Gamecocks 63-17 in Columbia the previous year.
4. Holtz retires: This would be the final game of legendary coach Lou Holtz's career. The Hall of Famer finished with a 33-37 record at South Carolina. Steve Spurrier replaced Holtz three days later.
5. No bowl: South Carolina and Clemson were both bowl eligible at 6-5, but both schools announced that they would decline any bowl invitations as part of the punishment for the brawl.
6. Swinney on the sideline: Current Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney was on the Tigers coaching staff at the time. Swinney was in his second season as the wide receivers coach for Clemson under former Tigers head coach Tommy Bowden. Swinney was hired as the interim head coach at Clemson in 2008 and has been the head coach since, leading the Tigers to a pair of national titles.
7. The play that started it: The actual fight did not start until 5:48 remaining in the fourth quarter. Carolina quarterback Syvelle Newton fired a pass on fourth-and-11 to receiver Matthew Thomas that fell incomplete. A Clemson defender got into a scuffle with Newton after the play, and before long benches were cleared and punches were being thrown.
8: Lengthy delay: The fight continued for more than a minute as Newton was helped off the field by South Carolina's training staff. Holtz and Bowden, with the help of several police officers, were eventually able to restore order. There were offsetting penalties on both teams, and the game resumed after 5 minutes and 41 seconds.
9. Commentators weigh in: Steve Martin and Doc Walker called the game, which was aired on Jefferson Pilot Sports. Walker in particular didn't hold back during the fight, declaring: "This is embarrassing. Police have got to treat them like idiots now. ... Take them all out and pursue them, because there's no question in my mind this is uncalled for. It's an ugly mark on Lou's last regular season game, a Hall of Famer." Walker also suggested releasing police dogs to restore order.
10. No social media reaction: The brawl made national news but would have received even more attention now. Social media was a relatively new phenomenon as MySpace was a year old, Facebook was brand new, Twitter was still two years away and Instagram wouldn't come along until 2010.
11. The famous photo: Former Clemson running back Yusef Kelly is often known as the "face of the fight" because of a photo showing Kelly kicking a South Carolina player who is face down in the end zone without a helmet on and trying to cover his head. Today, Kelly works for the Easley police department.
12. Stars from the game: Tigers running back Reggie Merriweather had a career high 125 rushing yards and three touchdowns to lead Clemson to the 29-7 win. USC running back Cory Boyd had 93 total yards, including three catches for 74 yards.
13. Late hits: There were several late hits and some cheap shots throughout the game by both sides, but all of the personal fouls were offsetting up until the time of the fight, meaning no players were really punished. The Gamecocks finished with five penalties for 35 yards, while Clemson had two for 20.
14. Calm ending: The final 5 minutes and change went on without incident. South Carolina was called for a late hit, but nothing materialized from it.
15. Coaches comments: After the game, Holtz said of the fight: "It's nonsense. You go play the game. The only people that want to do all those other extracurricular activities is usually the team that's not winning. You have to learn to handle that." Bowden blamed the NBA brawl from the previous night: "For 24 hours, they've watched that basketball fiasco on TV. That's all they've watched. On every major news (broadcast) that thing was covered, and they sat there and watched it and watched it and watched it."
