LOUISVILLE, Ky. — The biggest play of the night in Clemson’s 20-19 win over No. 20 Louisville came from the unlikeliest of sources.

With the Tigers clinging to their one-point lead late in the fourth quarter, punter Jack Smith stayed calm when long snapper Phillip Florenzo skipped the football back to him with a little more than two minutes left on the clock.

Alertly, instead of panicking, Smith jumped on the loose football, giving his defense and his team a fighting chance.

“That is a tough situation, but he did not make it worse,” head coach Dabo Swinney said. “He covered the ball and gave us a chance to play defense.”

The Clemson defense held up its end of the bargain, holding the Cardinals out of the end zone. Louisville kicker Nick Keller missed what would have been the game-winning field goal from 46 yards out a few plays later with 90 seconds left in the game.

Smith later produced a 44-yard punt that backed Louisville up to its 9-yard line with no timeouts and desperately needing a score with 30 seconds to play. Facing the country’s top punt returner, Smith averaged 41.4 yards on five punts and did not allow Caullin Lacy a single return.

Four of Smith’s punts were downed inside the 20. Not bad for a guy who earned his starting spot prior to the season.

“We were really concerned about that returner. He got zero return yards,” Swinney said. “It was an awesome job placing the ball.”

Clemson (5-5, 4-4 ACC) also got two field goals from kicker Nolan Hauser, which proved to be the difference in the game. Hauser made a 27-yard field goal in the first quarter and later a kick from 48 yards in the third quarter.

The sophomore kicker has made 10 consecutive field goals.

“We won the game on special teams,” Swinney said. “We made our kicks and they did not.”

The Cardinals (7-3, 4-3 ACC) missed a 50-yard goal with 4:30 to play from Cooper Ranvier and later Keller’s 46-yard field goal. Ranvier, who had missed just two kicks all year prior to Friday night, also missed an extra point.

However, he did make field goals of 51 and 39 yards, as well.

The story of the night, however, was Smith, a no-name punter prior to the season, who has had an All-ACC caliber season.

“This kid has been the MVP for us this year, which is amazing because not one nice word was said about Jack Smith in the off season. Nothing,” Swinney said. “And he has been amazing all year.”