Game Day Blog: Clemson 20, Louisville 17
By: will-vandervort September 17, 2015

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Clemson safety Jadar Johnson with the big interception on Kyle Bolin’s Hail Mary attempt on the game’s final play. Clemson wins, 20-17, to move to 3-0 on the season.

 

 

Here is where you can get all the stats from Clemson’s victory over Louisville. The Tigers move to 3-0 on the season and 1-0 in the ACC. Louisville falls to 0-3 and 0-1.

 

 

Traveon Samuel returned the ensuing kickoff 100-yards for a touchdown following the Huegel field goal to cut the Clemson lead, 20-17, with 9:41 to play.

 

Clemson takes a 20-10 lead with a nine-play 54-yard drive with a 27-yard Greg Huegel field goal with 9:57 to play. Wayne Gallman has 20 rushes for 130 yards to lead the Tigers.

Clemson had a great opportunity to extend its lead on the Cardinals’ next pass when Kyle Bolin was intercepted by Cordrea Tankersley at midfield.

But on third-and-five from the Louisville 45, Watson threw a deep ball to Germone Hopper, who was running down the middle of the field, but the ball was knocked out of his hands and Clemson was forced to punt. Watson could have perhaps run for the first down on the play as the right side of the field was wide open.

 

Clemson used an off-balance line on first-and-10 from the Louisville 25-yard line to confuse the Cardinals’ secondary, which left the Louisville secondary confused and tight end Jordan Leggett running wide open down the seam for a 25-yard touchdown pass with 2:37 to play in the third quarter.

That gave the Tigers a 17-10 lead. The drive was six plays and 62 yards, which was highlighted by a 17-yard to Stanton Seckinger on a second-and-five play from the Louisville 42.

 

Clemson answers the Louisville touchdown with a 36-yard Greg Huegel field goal with 6:57 to play in the third quarter. Huegel’s field goal tied the game at 10 and capped a nine-play, 56-yard drive by the Tigers.

The big play of the drive was a 25-yard run by Wayne Gallman to the Louisville 42-yard line. Gallman has 110 yards on 15 carries.

Clemson right tackle Jake Fruhmorgen is out of the game and is on the sideline in street clothes. We were told, after the game, Fruhmorgen injured his knee. We don’t know how serious it is or not.

 

Louisville takes advantage of the Deshaun Watson interception and turns into a 1-yard Jeremy Smith touchdown with 10:35 to play in the third quarter. The drive was aided by a 15-yard roughing the passer penalty by Shaq Lawson, his second of the game.

Kyle Bolin led the offense on a nine-play, 58-yard drive drive that took 3:48 off the clock.

 

Deshaun Watson has thrown five career interceptions and three of them are against Louisville. The Cardinals are leading the turnover battle 2-0.

 

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Clemson took a 7-3 lead into the locker room at halftime thanks to Deshaun Watson’s 32-yard touchdown pass to Hunter Renfrow.

It was not the smoothest first half for the Clemson offense. The Tigers had three illegal procedure penalties. Watson was off for a good portion of the half, and running back Wayne Gallman dropped a sure first down on a third pass just prior to the Cardinals going on their 76-yard drive which led to a John Wallace 26-yard field goal.

Watson finished the first half 9 of 14 for 91 yards. His touchdown came with 13:12 to play in the second quarter when he spotted Renfrow running wide open down the middle of the field. That gave the Tigers a 7-0 lead at the time and capped a 5-play, 61-yard scoring drive that took 2:28 off the clock.

But for the third straight game, Clemson’s defense did not allow a first-half touchdown as they held the Cardinals to 15 yards rushing and to 117 total yards. Louisville was 0-for-8 on third down conversions.

The only bad play for the Tigers from a defensive standpoint came late in the second quarter when safety T.J. Green apparently missed the called corner blitz, allowing Louisville’s Jaylen Smith to catch a 55-yard pass down the sideline, which set up Wallace’s 26-yard field goal.

Clemson’s defense sacked Bolin three times in the opening 30 minutes.

Gallman had 78 yards on 14 carries for the offense, while Artavis Scott caught four passes for 31 yards.

 

 

Louisville gets on the scoreboard with a 26-yard field by John Wallace. That capped a 76-yard drive that took 1:08 off the clock and was six plays.

The big play of the drive was a 55-yard pass from Bolin to Smith.

 

Here is Renfrow’s touchdown catch. Courtesy Clemson Football.

Here is the little bit of the chess match going on with Petrino and Venables right now. Petrino brings in Jackson and is running a little spread option on the Tigers.

Here are a couple of pictures from the first quarter, courtesy of Clemson Football’s twitter account.

Deshaun Watson throws a 32-yard touchdown pass to Hunter Renfrow who was wide open down the middle. With 13:12 to play in the second quarter for a 7-0 lead. The scoring drive was five plays, 61 yards and took 2:31 records.

Louisville had 15 total yards in the first half.

Clemson isn’t looking good on offense. Deshaun Watson has been off the mark on his passes. He threw the ball into double coverage on the interception and now back-to-back illegal procedure penalties. It’s first and 20 to start the second quarter.

We were also told Clemson right tackles Joe Gore and Jake Fruhmorgen are both listed questionable to return to the game with injuries.

Maverick Morris is playing right tackle for Clemson.

Clemson has two true freshmen playing both tackle positions. Jake Fruhmorgen is now at right tackle after Joe Gore was taken to the locker room.

 

Louisville intercepts Deshaun Watson who was targeting tight end Jordan Leggett after picking up a first down on the previous play. James Burgess was with the coverage on Jordan Leggett.

Louisville has 16 straight games with an interception. That is quite the stat there.

 

Shaq Lawson, Jayron Kearse, Deshaun Watson and Stanton Seckinger are the captains for Clemson.

Louisville as won the toss and will receive.

 

Take a look at our pregame gallery for the Clemson at Louisville football game tonight. Kickoff is just a few minutes away.

Pregame photo gallery.

Watson Louisville

Clemson headed to the locker room.

 

Louisville head coach Bobby Petrino will not tip his hand to Dabo Swinney and Clemson on who will be the starting quarterback tonight. During warmups he had Kyle Bolin and Lamar Jackson take first-team snaps.

 

Just to let you guys know the airport is right beside the stadium for the most part and plans that come in fly right over us. It is crazy. It looked like one almost flew into the upper deck here.

 

Hale gets a quick pick of Jesse Palmer and David Pollock.

 

San Francisco 49ers general manager Trent Baalke is here looking at someone tonight.

 

Are we in Columbia? We were also greeted with Sand Storm when we got out of our cars.

 

Here is Clemson’s travel roster for tonight’s game.

 

The Clemson Insider is live at Papa John’s Cardinal Stadium as No. 9 Clemson takes on Louisville tonight at 7:30 p.m. in the ACC opener for both schools.

The Tigers enter the game with a 2-0 record with wins over Wofford and App State by a combined score of 90-20. The Cardinals are 0-2 coming into the game, with losses to Auburn and Houston.

Clemson is averaging 45 points and 462 yards a game, while giving up 10 points and 258 yards. Louisville has averaged 27.5 points and 400 yards a game through two weeks, while the defense has yielded 394.5 yards and 32. points per game.

There is still no word on who the Cardinals will start at quarterback. Odds are it be between freshman Lamar Jackson and sophomore Kyle Bolin.