Clemson has been down this road before.

In 2012, the ninth-ranked Tigers had only five days following a win at home over Virginia Tech to get ready for Wake Forest the following Thursday in Winston-Salem. Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney said in his Sunday teleconference with the media that it will be a good experience to draw from as he tries to get this year’s team prepared to play Louisville this coming Thursday.

By the way, the Tigers beat Wake 42-13 in that 2012 game, and at one-point led 35-0.

“I think it helps us as a coaching staff but this team is different,” Swinney said. “I don’t know how much it helps the team, maybe in a residual way because as coaches we have a little better feel for how you have to be prepared and be ready for this type of week.

“It is a tough challenge. There is no doubt about it. I could not remember when the last time we did it, but it has been a while, I knew that. The last few years on a Thursday night game we had the weekend off before hand, but it is the same for both teams. They have the same amount of time as we do and the same challenges.”

Not exactly the same challenges. Louisville knows who Clemson will put on the field at quarterback, but the Tigers have no idea who will be taking the snaps for the Cardinals.

On Saturday, Lamar Jackson opened as Louisville’s starter against Houston, but when he struggled in the 34-31 loss, head coach Bobby Petrino pulled him in the fourth quarter in favor of Kyle Bolin, whose accurate passing nearly rallied the Cardinals to victory.

The week before, Jackson replaced a struggling Reggie Bonnafon against Auburn, and led Louisville to 24-second half points in the 31-24 loss.

There is no clear answer on who Petrino decides to trot out onto the field at Papa John’s Stadium on Thursday night. So how will the Tigers prepare for three quarterbacks in only four practices?

“We just have to do the best we can,” Swinney said. “We have looked at all their tape from last year. Obviously, we played them last year so we are a little bit familiar with a couple of them there. You just watch the tape and you watch the two games you have in Auburn and Houston.

“The biggest thing is they will not change their plan drastically … maybe a little bit more spread type of personnel when (Jackson) is in the game. He is a guy that is incredibly athletic, can run around and can do some things, so you see a little bit of a change there. But primarily they are going to be a heavy two-tight end type of team … eleven personnel, twelve personnel. That’s what they want to do regardless who is in there at quarterback.”

The Cardinals know exactly what Clemson wants to do with its quarterback and for almost a quarter last year, they were the only team to shut down Deshaun Watson when he was playing.

Before breaking his index finger on his right hand near the end of the first quarter, Watson was a mere 2-for-6 for minus-5 yards, an interception, and a quarterback rating of negative-7.0.

“I believe they were the number one defense in the country at that time. They were pretty good and he was a true freshman,” Swinney said. “I have not gone back and watched that tape yet, and I will, but I can’t answer specifically what happened on those six plays, but give them credit, they were one of the best defenses in the nation last year for a reason.”

Louisville had six players selected off that defense in the 2015 NFL Draft.

“There you go. That probably had something to do with it,” Swinney said.

The Cardinals, who are 0-2 for the first time since 1998, picked off Auburn quarterback Jeremy Johnson three times in the opener and then recorded one on Houston quarterback Greg Ward. Jr. However, Louisville allowed Ward to throw for 236 yards on 23 of 33 passing and three touchdowns, including the game winner with 3:09 left in the game.

But don’t let that fool you. Swinney says the Cardinals are just as talented on defense as they were a year ago.

“They have some guys that transferred on there that I think are two really talented players,” he said. “They have the two kids from Georgia (Josh Harvey-Clemmons and Shaq Wiggins) that started at Georgia that are now starting on their defense. I think they are really good up front. That No. 98 (Sheldon Rankins) they have is probably as good of a player as we are going to see. He is probably a high draft pick. They are a talented bunch.”

The Tigers and Louisville will kickoff at 7:30 p.m. this Thursday on ESPN.