Houston quarterback Greg Ward, Jr. gave Louisville fits in it’s the 34-31 loss to the Cougars. At 5-foot-11, 185-pounds, Ward used his arms and his legs to keep the Cardinals defense off balance.

Ward finished the game with 334 total yards and three touchdown passes, including the game-winner to Demarcus Ayers with 3:09 left in the fourth quarter.

So what happened on that play? Louisville, unlike the Auburn game, played more nickel than anything else to try and counter Houston’s spread offense, which at times went empty and had four wide-receivers sets with a tight end.

On this particular play, Houston faced a third down-and-five at the Louisville 15-yard line. Ward had three receivers to his left and two to his right. After taking the snap, he rolled slightly to his right and then found Ayers running to the back corner of the end zone wide open for the touchdown. On the play, like they did on the two previous touchdown passes Ward threw, they fooled the Louisville secondary with one look, but when the play developed, they did something the Cardinals were not expecting.

Houston’s offense went fast all afternoon and its tempo caused issues for the Louisville defense. The Cougars finished the game with a well-balanced attack – 226 yards rushing and 236 yards passing.

The reason they were able to stay balanced? Ward’s ability to run the football was the biggest reason. The Houston quarterback rushed for 98 yards on 13 carries which kept the Cardinals from sitting on any tendencies. On Most occasions, Louisville was unable to recognize the run from the pass, which at times froze the safeties and allowed Ward to throw over the top on them.

On Ward’s first touchdown pass of the game, he hit Steven Dunbar for the score on another third down play, this time on third-and-six from the Louisville 29. Houston had a pod set to the top and a single receiver to the bottom. When the ball was snapped Dunbar runs a go-route with very little resistance as two Cardinals’ defenders are rubbed by the other two receivers and the nickel is confused about who to cover. Louisville was showing a safety-high look, but by the time the safety realized what had happened he was trailing Dunbar who had an easy catch for the touchdown.

But here is what really can make Clemson even more dangerous to stop for Louisville than Houston. Ward gave the Cougars a 27-24 lead with 9:27 to play in the first quarter when he spotted Linell Bonner streaking across the end zone wide open in what appears to be a Dime defense with three safeties on the field.

Louisville initially gets pressure on Ward and forced him to step up and then roll to his left. But Ward never gave up on the play. He knew his receiver ran a post and would be available to break off his route and would drag with him as he moved. Ward never took his eyes off of what has happening up field. Respecting his ability to run, one of the defensive backs makes a move towards Ward which was just enough to allow Ward to find Bonner in the middle of the end zone for the touchdown.

If you recall, Deshaun Watson made a similar play in last week’s win over App State. His 59-yard touchdown was a product of Watson not giving up on a play and keeping his eyes down field, even though the Mountaineers brought pressure and forced him out of the pocket.

By keeping his eyes down field, Watson saw Peake get behind the corner and the safety as he threw a bomb to the speedy back for an easy score, in what was a two-wide receiver set in a 12 personnel formation (one running back and two tight ends).

The reason Watson was able to make the play and the reason Peake got behind the safety … when Watson rolled to his right, the safety froze. Why? He respected Watson’s ability to run with the football. That hesitation was just enough to allow Peake to streak by and grab the touchdown pass.

“He is going to have to run the football,” Clemson co-offensive coordinator Tony Elliott said on Monday. “What we don’t want to do is run him and take away his ability as a passer. We have to find a way to manage that and keep him sharp as a passer and effective as a runner so the defense can’t sit on our tendencies.”