Quarterback DJ Uiagalelei had an abundance of his individual accomplishments to feel great about in No. 12 Clemson’s 31-16 win over Louisville on Saturday. Instead, the Tigers’ starting signal caller could not stop raving about teammate running back Will Shipley’s picture-perfect hurdle over Cardinals’ safety M.J. Griffin on a 25-yard touchdown run. Clemson won its 39th consecutive game at Memorial Stadium, in front of a capacity crowd.
“Man, that hurdle was crazy,” said Uiagalelei, a huge smile on his face. “When you think about it, that guy was standing straight up.”
After Shipley landed on his feet, he slithered between two other defenders to finish off the scoring run that put the Tigers ahead 24-10 and sent them on the way to a 39th straight home win.
“It just shows he’s Superman,” Clemson offensive coordinator Brandon Streeter said. “He can fly over people.”
The Tigers (9-1, 7-0 Atlantic Coast Conference) superhuman or not, had put a bow on the ACC Atlantic Division, and its spot in the league title game in December, a week ago before their unexpected 21-point defeat, 35-14, at the hands of No. 20 Notre Dame Fighting Irish.
But Uiagalelei, who passed for a score and used his legs for another, and the Tigers defensive unit got back to their winning formula, to maintain their perfect record, 8-0 all-time over Louisville (6-4, 3-4).
“We definitely wanted to play great tonight, we wanted to dominate,” Uiagalelei said. “We wanted to get back on track to how we play offense.”
The Cardinals, who came in feeling good about themselves, with a four-game winning streak, played the second half without the services of standout quarterback Malik Cunningham, who was injured on the final snap of the second quarter.
Uiagalelei had an efficient day, completing 19 of 27 throws for 185 yards. The tandem of Phil Mafah and Shipley ran for 106 yards and 97 yards, respectively, as the Tigers finished the contest with 248 yards on the ground.
Clemson was in need of a break-neck start, and fortunately for them, that is exactly what happened. Uiagalelei led a methodical 12-play, 75-yard scoring drive on the opening series, that he concluded with a sweet 11-yard run, as the Tigers built a double-digit advantage, 10-0.
Uiagalelei’s 4-yard toss to receiver Antonio Williams, with 32 seconds on the clock before the break, sent Clemson into the locker room ahead comfortably 17-7.
Williams had a coming out party with a career-high 10 receptions for 83 yards.
Louisville was stifled in the first 30 minutes of play, only being able to register 160 yards of offense, and 61 of those occurred in the last 30 seconds, as the Cardinals moved to the Tigers 14-yard line before they ran out of time.
Cunningham appeared to have the speed and a path to hit his head on the goal post in the half’s final sequence, but he stumbled cutting across the field and went down. Medical personnel came out as the team headed to the locker room and Cunningham spent several minutes receiving attention on the field before joining them.
However, Cunningham did not return due to a shoulder injury, as backup quarterback Brock Domann took over under center. Louisville coach Scott Satterfield said Cunningham was day-to-day heading into next week’s game against No. 17 North Carolina State, and he’ll know more as the week progresses.
“There’s a lot of positive to take from this game,” Satterfield said. “We go back to our place next week, Senior Day, we’ve got to regroup.”
Mafah’s 39-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter put the final nails in the coffin with 2:13 left.
The Cardinals four straight wins to gain bowl eligibility was a building block for the program. However, if Cunningham happens to miss a significant amount of time, it could put a damper on a team that bounced back from an 0-3 ACC start.
The Tigers will regain their swagger after their decisive win over Louisville. But the offense still needs to clean up their turnovers, losing three fumbles (two by Shipley) and the defense gave up explosive plays that kept Louisville in this one much longer than anticipated,
Clemson played without leading tackler in linebacker Trenton Simpson, starting offensive lineman Walker Parks and punt returner Will Taylor. All were announced out shortly before game time. Starting defensive end Xavier Thomas re-injured the foot that kept him out of the first five games and he will not return this season.
Louisville plays its final regular-season home game vs. No. 17 North Carolina State on Saturday.
Clemson closes its ACC regular season against Miami on Saturday.
