Thursday night’s game against Louisville will present a familiar challenge to the Clemson offensive line.

In the first two games against Wofford and Appalachian State, the Tigers’ offensive front faced plenty of three-man lines. The 0-2 Cardinals utilize a similar style, though it’s not completely the same, according to Eric Mac Lain.

“Louisville, actually, does a lot more four-down than people realize,” he said. “In their short-yardage, they really like to be four-down, to where they can do different things with their defensive line — different stunts, different movements, so it’s going to be a challenge for us.”

If these stats were the only indicator, that final thought wouldn’t be true.

Louisville gave up 190 yards rushing over 41 carries with two touchdowns against Auburn in the season-opener. A week later, against Houston, the Cougars piled up 226 yards on 57 carries.

Inside linebacker Keith Kelsey has the only two sacks on the season, and both were against Houston. Auburn, of course, ran the ball nearly twice as often as it passed (41-21).

“They’re going to bring pressure,” Mac Lain said. “They’ve got a lot of two-gap players up front, great NFL talent, from what I see on film. It’s just going to be one of those headache games where they bring people from all different angles and try to get those weak points. We’re going to do our best to exploit that.”

Over the summer, Clemson started to set the course to make it happen.

“We had the great opportunity to study Louisville a lot this summer. We had such a long camp that we really took time to prepare for them, mentally,” Mac Lain said.

But the total focus on Louisville didn’t begin until Sunday, when the Tigers had their first practice, to prepare for Thursday night’s trip to Papa John’s Cardinal Stadium.

That was apparent in Clemson’s results against Wofford and Appalachian State.

“No one was talking about Louisville until now,” Mac Lain said. “I think we’ve proven that we’re not going to overlook anybody.”

Normally, or at least within the last few years, Clemson has had over a week to prepare for Thursday night games, not less than the four-day window they’re faced with right now.

Mac Lain doesn’t think that the quick turnaround will work against them. After all, Louisville has the same amount of time to get ready.

“Guys have done a great job of preparing themselves, taking care of their bodies, so I think everybody is going to be ready,” he said.

Thursday’s game is unique to this young season. For starters, the game isn’t on a Saturday. And it’s at dinnertime (7:30), not lunchtime (12:30).

“Guys aren’t just going to be waking up and playing,” Mac Lain said. “We’re going to have to go through a full day of more preparation, which is good for us, to where we can mentally get sharp, but you can’t overdo it.

“We can’t be looking at film all day. We have to be ready to play at 7:30, not 12:30, so it’s going to be a challenge for us.”