Clemson suffered its first loss since week one. Louisville pulled off the upset with a 33-21 victory over the Tigers. This is the first time Clemson has ever lost to Louisville making the series record 8-1. This is the Cards’ first win against a ranked team this season after three close tries. Meanwhile, the Tigers have hit a speed bump on their road to the ACC Championship and CFP. Now that road is much tougher for Dabo Swinney’s squad.
Clemson’s Road to the CFP is Now Unclear
Disappointing Defense
The Tigers’ defense did not perform well against Louisville. In our preview analysis for this game, we said the most important thing for the Clemson defense to do against Louisville was stop the run. We said keeping Cards running back Isaac Brown contained would be key. The Tigers’ defense did neither of these things. Louisville had 210 yards rushing in Death Valley. Brown had 20 rush attempts for 151 yards and a touchdown. He ran all over the Clemson defense and there was nothing done to stop him.
Brown had to thank his offensive line for the big rushing night, too. The Cardinals’ offensive line punished a usually stout Tigers defensive front. The Clemson defensive line was driven two yards back from the line scrimmage just about every play. The few who were not driven back were sealed off, not giving much fight to take gaps.
The defensive unit for the Tigers has not performed up to expectations much of the year. This was the unit’s worst showing by far though. There is some soul-searching to be done for Wes Goodwin and his defense. There is too much talent in that unit to get handled the way they did. Especially the front seven.
Offense Stalls
On the other side of the ball, the hot Tigers offense was cooled down by the Cardinals’ defense. Louisville was determined not to give up any big plays in the passing game and succeeded. Cade Klubnik in this game looked more like he did against Georgia than he did against Appalachian State and others. He was slow to make decisions, hesitant to take shots, and was inaccurate on many of the passes he did throw.
Klubnik finished the game completing 33 of his 56 pass attempts for 228 yards and one touchdown. Not a horrible day numbers-wise but the confidence and leadership from the last six games were missing. Klubnik is going to have to find that confidence again if he wants to keep the Tigers in the conference championship and CFP races.
One person who did have a pretty good day for Clemson was Phil Mafah. The senior running back ran the ball hard when he got his touches. He did whatever he could to keep the Tigers’ offense moving. Mafah ran the ball 30 times for 171 yards and two touchdowns. This is a game Mafah should have been leaned on more. The Cards’ defense gave the Tigers running lanes all day and had a hard time tackling Mafah all night long.
The offense as a whole just seemed behind all game. Play calls came in slow and adjustments were made too late during the course of the game. The worst part was how sloppy the offensive staff handled the end of the game. There was no sense of urgency from the offense while down three scores in the fourth quarter with a chance to still come back. Swinney, Klubnik, and Garrett Riley have to get the late-game operation more organized.
Tigers No Longer in Control
Coming into this game we talked much about how all of the Tigers’ goals were right in front of them. They had control over their own destiny as long as they kept winning. This loss hurts their chances at a trip to Charlotte especially with SMU routing Pittsburgh and Miami staying undefeated. Swinney’s team must run the table and do it convincingly to stay in the race and build a resume the CFP committee respects.
The hardest part about this loss though is that now Clemson has to hope for SMU and/or Miami to slip up to end the year. Leaving your chances to make the conference championship in other teams’ hands is never good. Especially, when you don’t get to play either team in the regular season. Things are not over for the Tigers after this loss. Clemson must figure out how to regain its momentum to finish the regular season though.
