Clemson traveled north to take on Louisville as a slight underdog. The first half was a back and forth affair with both teams making costly mistakes. The score was 10-9 Clemson at the half. Cade Klubnik
was playing pretty well but some of his receivers were dropping passes that they should have been able to catch in their sleep. In the second half, Louisville had figured something out and got their ground game going in a serious way.
Clemson got the ball first and the drive started well with Adam Randall getting the ball and Cade Klubnik sneaking for a 1st down on 4th & 2. Antonio Williams, Gideon Davidson and Olsen Patt-Henry had key plays to move the Tigers inside the 10. On 3rd & 5, Randall dropped a flare pass and the Tigers settled for a 27-yard FG from Nolan Hauser to give Clemson a 3-0 lead with 8:38 to go in the quarter. The Tiger defense, assisted by a chop block penalty on Louisville, forced a 3 & out and after the punt the Tiger offense got the ball at their 25. The next Tiger drive saw one first down but then it stalled. The punt put Louisville at their 12. The Cardinals got their offense going and moved down to the Tiger 34. The Tiger defense then forced the Cardinals to kick a FG to tie the game at 3-3 with just under a minute left in the quarter.
On their next drive, Clemson shot themselves in the foot when a 28-yard catch by Williams was negated by a holding call. The hole proved too big to climb out of and they punted. Louisville moved out near midfield but ended up punting and Clemson got the ball at their 6. The Tigers went 3 & out when Tristan Smith dropped a pass that would have moved the chains. The punt went for only 31 yards and Louisville got the ball at the Tiger 38. The defense gave up a 37-yard pass on the first play of the drive and the Cardinals punched it in 2 plays later. They missed the extra point, so the lead was 9-3 with 8:47 left. The Tiger offense got going with some screen passes to move into Louisville territory, but the drive stalled and they punted again, pinning the Cardinals at their 7. Aveion Terrell then forced a fumble that was recovered at the Cardinal 25 and on the first play, Randall took the ball up the middle for the score. Clemson had the lead again at 10-9 with 3:23 left in the half. The Tiger defense forced Louisville to punt and the offense got the ball at the Tiger 9 with a minute left. They couldn’t do much and the half ended.
Louisville came out of the blocks fast on the opening drive of the 2nd half, absolutely gashing the Clemson defense in the run game to move down inside the Tiger 10. They scored on a jet sweep pass that caught the Tigers off guard and took the lead 16-10 with 11:15 to go in the 3rd quarter. The Tiger offense also had a fast start with their possession but the play calling turned stupid and they ended up with a 48-yard FG to make the score 16-13 Cardinals with just over 7 minutes left in the quarter. Louisville continued gashing the Tiger defense and moved down to the Tiger 25. The defense forced them to kick a 39-yard FG. The score was 19-13 with under 2 minutes left in the quarter. Catches by T.J. Moore and Williams along with a nice run by Davidson moved the ball to the Cardinal 33 as the quarter expired.
The Tigers continued moving down the field and a timely horse-collar tackle penalty on Louisville didn’t hurt. A nice catch by Williams moved the ball to the 1. They gave the ball to Peter Woods but he lost the ball just before the goal line. Fortunately the Tigers recovered it. But on the next play, 4th down, they decided not to kick the FG and it looked like Klubnik intended to fake it to Woods but the ball fell on the ground. Fortunately, the defense was able to keep Louisville pinned deep (again aided by Cardinal penalties) and forced them to punt. Clemson got the ball at the Tiger 45. They went to Randall and he got them down to the Cardinal 6 with several rushes, including a 46-yard burst down the right sideline. At 3rd & goal, Patt-Henry took a pass down to the 1. Randall punched it in on the next play. After the extra point, Clemson led 20-19 and 7:16 was left on the clock. Louisville struck for 48 yards on a trick play down to the Tiger 27. The defense rose to the occasion and forced Louisville to kick a FG and it sailed wide left. With just over 4 minutes left, the Tiger offense would have to close the game out. They couldn’t a couple of Randall runs ran the clock a bit but on 3rd & 6, Patt-Henry dropped a pass. On the punt, the snap was short and Louisville got the ball at the Tiger 23. Murphy was definitely hanging out in the Clemson huddle. The defense seemed to have Louisville in bad shape, but poor tackling gave the Cardinals a chance. Fortunately they missed the FG again and the Tigers got the ball at their 43 after a personal foul penalty on the Cardinals. The Tigers needed to run a minute and a half off the clock to seal the win. They ran the clock down to 39 seconds and punted. After a holding penalty on Louisville on the return, they got the ball at their 9. The defense held and Clemson came away with a 20-19 win.
The Tigers got the win, as much due to mistakes by Louisville as their own play. I have to say this was a game filled with irritation for me as the Tigers stumbled and bumbled their way to a win. But that seems to be the theme of this year’s team. They were 1 for 13 on 3rd down tonight. Let’s be honest. They got lucky. What do you think of tonight’s performance? Thanks for stopping by and we’ll see you next week.
