Louisville Gets Its First Win Over Clemson

There is a first time for everything.

The Louisville Cardinals, who were a heavy underdog, came into Death Valley on Saturday with a 5-3 record to take on the Clemson Tigers who were 6-1, with the Tigers only loss coming in the first game of the season to the Georgia Bulldogs, 34-3. The Tigers were 11-point favorites against the Cardinals but never even looked or played like a team that was worthy of that spread.
Louisville, who were rude house guest, won in every phase of the game, including specials teams, as the Tigers fell 33-21. The Tigers were outplayed and outcoached, and it was not even close.

“We did not play our best game tonight, and we did not deserve to win,” Clemson coach Dabo Swinney said. “We looked like a very poorly coached team tonight. That’s on me.”

Louisville (6-3, 4-2 ACC) used scores on five consecutive drives to pull ahead of Clemson (6-2, 5-1 ACC) in route to a win at Memorial Stadium. Running back Phil Mafah was by far the best player on the field for the Tigers, recording a season-high 199 yards from scrimmage, including a season-high 171 yards and a pair of touchdowns on 30 carries.

After a perfect 3-0 start, the Cardinals loss three of their next five games to fall out of contention. They showed plenty of pride in this one and that they have still got plenty to play for.

Clemson outgained Louisville 450-366, piled up 31 first downs, and dominated time of possession, holding the ball for 37:52 on 101 offensive plays, including seven methodical drives of 10 of 10 plays or more. Quarterback Cade Klubnik did not have his best game and was off the mark all night long, completing 33 of his 56 passing attempts for 228 yards and a touchdown and ran for 43 yards on 12 rushes. Linebacker Wade Woodaz led the Tigers defensively with 11 tackles as the Tigers fell to 8-1 in their all-time series against the Cardinals.

“Our players and coaches fought all week,” Louisville coach Jeff Brohm said. “It hasn’t been perfect, it hasn’t been easy, but we continued to grind. We have guys that continue to step up and play hard.”

After a couple of empty possessions by the Tigers, Louisville kicker Brock Travelstead opened the scoring with a 21-yard chip shot field goal to put the Cardinals up 3-0. Clemson’s offense responded as Klubnik found one of his favorite targets, Antonio Williams, for a 12-yard passing touchdown to complete an 11-play scoring drive. The score going into the second quarter stood at 7-3.

The Cardinals recaptured the lead in the second quarter on a rushing touchdown by seven-year quarterback Tyler Shough, who started his career as Justin Herbert’s backup at the University of Oregon. Clemson attempted to tie the game at 10-10 on a 49-yard field goal attempt by place kicker Nolan Hauser, but the kick was blocked. Cardinals running back Keyjuan Brown punctuated the ensuing six-play drive with a touchdown run to give Louisville a 17-7 lead at halftime.

The Tigers were able to keep the Cardinals out of the end zone in the third quarter but gave up three Travelstead field goals, which extended the lead to 26-7 at the end of the third quarter.

“To come on the road in this environment against a really good team that was hot” in Clemson, Brohm said. “We made plays, we played tempo, we got stops, we were sound in our defensive play, just a lot of things.”

Clemson shaved a bit off the lead in the fourth quarter on a 61-yard, 16-play drive ending in Mafah’s first touchdown run. After Louisville recovered an onside kick attempt, Isaac Brown rushed 45 yards for a touchdown to push the Cardinals’ lead to 33-14. Mafah added his second rushing touchdown with just over two minutes remaining in the game, completing a 75-yard, 12-play drive for the Tigers to make the final score respectable at 33-21.

“I think its special,” said defensive lineman Ashton Gillotte, a senior who had lost twice to the Tigers. “I think the guys had been waiting for this. I think it feels good to have that stamp, to make our mark on history.”

During the game, Clemson honored its nine new Athletic Hall of Fame members, including football’s Tajh Boyd and Sammy Watkins.

Louisville has a bye week before going on the road to face the Stanford Cardinal on November 16.

Clemson will next hit the road for back-to-back away games to put a bow on its regular season conference schedule when it plays at Virginia Tech on Saturday, November 9 and at Pittsburgh Panthers on Saturday, November 16. Clemson also has two remaining home games at Memorial Stadium against in-state foes The Citadel (November 23) and South Carolina (November 30).