The ninth-ranked Clemson Tigers invade Papa John’s Cardinals Field tonight for a 7:30 kick against the Louisville Cardinals. The game will be televised by ESPN.
About Louisville: The Cardinals come into tonight’s game 0-2 for the first time since 1998. They opened the season with a 31-24 loss to Auburn in the Chick-fil-A Kickoff Classic and then were upset by Houston at home last Saturday, 34-31.
Louisville’s offense: The Cardinals have played three quarterbacks thus far, freshman Lamar Jackson, sophomore Reggie Bonnafon and sophomore Kyle Bolin. Neither has been real successful, though Jackson is probably the more talented of the three. Bolin is the better passer and seems to understand the offense better. The running game has been very suspect as well. Running back Brandon Radcliff had just 43 yards on 10 carries in the Houston game after running for 76 yards against Auburn. The Cardinals will be without wide receivers James Quick (knee) and Jamari Staples (unknown) because of injuries. Louisville has turned the ball over six times in the first two games.
Louisville’s defense: The Cardinals have talent on defense, actually a lot of it, but there have been plenty of blown assignments and missed tackles too, which is why opponents are averaging 32.5 points and 394.5 yards a game. Louisville is giving up 208 yards per game on the ground, including 226 to Houston last weekend. Head coach Bobby Petrino says it has been a result of linebackers not filling their gaps and having gap integrity. The secondary is allowing opponents to complete 60.7 percent of its passes for 373 yards and four touchdowns. They have been able to snag four interceptions. Defensive end Sheldon Rankins, linebacker Devonte Fields, safety Josh Harvey-Clemmons and cornerback Shaq Wiggins are the players to watch on the Louisville defense.
Series record: Clemson leads 1-0
First meeting: 2014: Clemson won, 23-17
Injuries: Clemson – C Ryan Norton (knee), LB Chris Register (shoulder), DE Dane Rogers (ankle), WR Mike Williams (neck). Louisville – TE Cole Hikutini (Questionable, shoulder), WR Emonee Spence (Questionable, hamstring), QB Will Gardner (Questionable, ribs), DE Johnny Richardson (Questionable, knee), WR Alphonso Carter (Questionable, hamstring), WR Jamari Staples (Out, undisclosed), WR James Quick (Out, ankle).
Stat worth noting: Clemson has a 5-9 record in ESPN Thursday Night games over the years, but has won four in a row, all under Dabo Swinney. In fact, Swinney is 4-1 in Thursday night games on ESPN, with the last victory coming at Wake Forest last year, 34-20. This is the fourth straight year Clemson has played a Thursday night game. Clemson played two in 2013. Swinney’s only Thursday night loss was at Georgia Tech in 2009, just the second game of his first full season as head coach.
Second stat worth noting: Clemson quarterback Deshaun Watson has completed 37 of 48 passes, a .771 completion mark for 442 yards, five touchdowns and one interception. That computes to a 184.6 passing efficiency, ninth best in the nation. Watson has been in the 180s in each of his first two games and has a 187.55 efficiency ratio for his career. He is 130 of 185 for 1,908 yards with 19 touchdowns and just three interceptions. He has completed 70 percent of his passes at a rate of 10.3 yards per attempt.
Third stat worth noting: It is interesting to note that Clemson is 36-25-1 in ACC openers regardless of site and 36-25-1 in its first ACC road game. It is also odd to note that in its 62 previous seasons, Clemson has opened its ACC slate at home 31 times and on the road 31 times. But, this will be the fourth year in a row Clemson has opened its ACC slate on the road and the fifth time in seven years Dabo Swinney has had to play his first league game away from Memorial Stadium. Swinney has a 39-14 record against ACC teams in regular season play, 40-15 overall including ACC Championship games. But, he is just 2-4 in ACC openers. He is 23-3 at home in ACC.
Memorable game: Clemson pulled out a 23-17 victory over Louisville when the Tigers had a goal line stand on the Cardinals’ last possession of the game. On fourth down from the Clemson two, Will Gardner’s pass was broken up by defensive tackle DeShawn Williams, giving Clemson the victory. The game was defensive in nature the entire day as the two teams combined for just 22 first downs, 124 yards rushing, and 493 yards of total offense. Neither team gained more than 265 yards of total offense. The two teams were a combined 3-33 on third down and there were 22 punts in the game. Both defenses forced two turnovers. Louisville had six players drafted from its defense last year, most in the nation and Clemson had four, the second most. Six players off Clemson’s 2014 defense have made an NFL roster this year.