No. 9 Clemson visits Louisville Thursday night. In this week’s edition of By the Numbers we look at the Atlantic Division Showdown.
11: Snaps played by Deshaun Watson in last season’s game against Louisville. Watson left with a broken hand early in the contest after amassing only five yards of total offense. That injury came as Watson was establishing himself as perhaps the best freshman in the country, and it set back a Clemson offense that was soaring. A healthy Watson prepares to take the field for the Tigers after a pair of largely ho-hum performances after which he still sits 11th in the country in passer rating. This could be an issue since the Cardinals are 77th in opponent passer rating after two games in 2015.
15: Players drafted off of both rosters combined in last year’s NFL Draft. Ten of those came from the Cardinals, while five were provided by the Tigers. Much of the carnage was on defense, where two-thirds of the group played in college. Both rosters are recovering after losing a ton of talented bodies over the course of the offseason, and both coaching staffs are still trying to figure out how to put the pieces together in the most effective way. Louisville has faced a trial by fire early in the season with games against Auburn and Houston, whereas Clemson’s slate of Appalachian State and Wofford has been more forgiving. One advantage the Cardinals will have is that those early tests have allowed them to more honestly assess their strengths and weaknesses, while the Tigers will be facing their most significant test thus far.
22: Combined first downs between these two teams in their 2014 matchup. Both defenses were elite, but this performance was among the best all season on both sides of the field. Both teams allowed fewer first downs on only one occasion all season, with Clemson converting 12 first downs and Louisville converting 10. Both averaged just a shade over 20 first downs per game, so this was one of the low points offensively all around. Based on the way both teams have played thus far, expect a few more fireworks this time around.
32.6: Completion percentage allowed by Clemson’s defense this season. This is an astounding number (even though one of the Tigers’ opponents was option-oriented Wofford) that currently leads the country. Only three other teams have allowed less than 40 percent of passes to be completed—Oklahoma, Boston College, and San Jose State. Meanwhile, Louisville’s quarterback crew has combined to complete 56.4 percent of its passes, which ranks 92nd in the nation. Conventional wisdom says freshman Lamar Jackson is the favorite to start for the Cardinals, and his completion percentage is worst among the three signal-callers at 55.3 percent.
208: Rushing yardage per game allowed by Louisville this season. The Cardinals are allowing 4.2 yards per carry, which stands in stark contrast to the 3.3 yards per carry they allowed a year ago. Much of this seemingly stems from facing a difficult running game to contain in Auburn, but Houston actually had a similar level of success against Louisville running the football last week. It remains to be seen, however, whether Clemson can actually capitalize on this weakness. The Tigers haven’t exactly run the ball like gangbusters in 2015, averaging 181 yards per game on the ground against two inferior defenses.