Nolan Hauser has missed four field goals this season and not a single one has come down to any mistake the freshman placekicker has made.

Back in early October, Florida State blocked two of his kicks. Both times, the protection on the left side broke down. In Saturday night’s loss to Louisville, the freshman placekicker had two more blocked, with both of those due to breakdowns in the protection on the same side.

The first block against the Cardinals came late in the first half with Clemson looking to tie the game up at 10-10. Instead, the block led to Louisville getting the ball on a short field and five plays later Cardinals running back Isaac Brown would score from 1-yard out to put the Tigers in a 17-7 hole heading into halftime. It was a turning point in the contest.

“The first one, we lost Peter Woods, so we were scrambling a little bit right there,” head coach Dabo Swinney said. “We just weren’t firm at our end position there. Just weren’t firm. Simple as that. Their guy ran through us and blocked it.”

“The second one, our wing he reached out and the guy came right through the gap. We ended up putting Blake Miller over at the end spot and our wing just didn’t get his job done.”

After watching the film, Swinney took sole responsibility.

“Again, that is just disappointing.,” Swinney added. “We did not execute the fundamental and the technique of what we need to do there. Ain’t going to blame the players, just put that on me.”

Despite the four blocked kicks this season, Hauser has been a bright spot for Clemson this season, especially when you factor in how many issues the Tigers had in the kicking game a season ago.

While having that many blocked in one season might affect the confidence level of many freshman kickers, that isn’t the case with Hauser. Through the first eight games, he’s had ice water in his veins.

“I think he has good confidence,” Swinney said. “He is a really good, stable kid. That is one of his good attributes is that he is a pretty confident kid.”

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