LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Brent Venables’ defense was able to knock down and intercept Louisville’s Hail Mary pass attempt on Thursday night to preserve No. 9 Clemson’s 20-17 victory. Now he is hoping his wife, Julie, does not do the same with the Hail Mary he threw up following the game.

Venables, who admitted he had been in a daze for much of the week due to the short time period the Tigers had to get ready for Louisville, forgot his wife’s birthday.

“I’m a loser,” he said to the media following the game. “I officially have my loser card right here. I forgot my wife’s birthday. I’m an absolute bum.”

Venables’ Hail Mary attempt came when he tried to send her flowers after the fact. How was it received?

“We all have problems,” he said smiling. “I told her, listen, because of my days. Today is Wednesday and tomorrow is Thursday, I had no idea what the day of the week was or the date of the month. It’s been tough.”

It was even tougher on Louisville. Due to missing his wife’s birthday, Venables obviously had all of his attention on the Cardinals’ offense, which for a second straight year failed to reach 275 total yards on Clemson, and was held to 17 points.

Clemson (3-0, 1-0 ACC) sacked quarterback Kyle Bolin five times, held the Cardinals to 19 rushing yards and had two turnovers.

“I’m super proud of our guys,” Venables said. “We are not real deep, but they have let us coach them real hard.”

And that showed in the way the Tigers were able to hold off Louisville’s upset attempt in the fourth quarter following Traveon Samuel’s 100-yard kickoff return with 9:41 to play in the game.

Trailing by three with 6:34 to go, the Cardinals got the ball back and finally got things going on the Tigers as they drove the ball from their 14-yard line to the Clemson 21. But when the defense needed to come up and make a play, it stepped up and found a way to protect its small lead and get off the field.

On first-and-10 from the 23, defensive tackle Carlos Watkins came through and sacked Bolin for a four-yard loss to the 27. His second-down pass fell incomplete due to pressure and on third down the Tigers sniffed out a screen pass to running back Brandon Ratcliff and held him to a six-yard gain.

It was a big sequence of plays because on fourth down, Louisville kicker John Wallace was wide left on his 38-yard field goal attempt which could have tied the game with 2:28 to play.

The defense was called on for one more stop with 1:12 remaining on the clock. On second-and-seven from his 40, Bolin found tight end Mickey Crum down the seam for 23 yards, moving the ball to the Clemson 37. But again, the defense stood tall and made the necessary stop when it had to.

Following an incompletion on first down, Bolin, who had no timeouts, tried to slip through a seam on the right side of the line so he could get down field, but as he made his way through the hole, defensive end Kevin Dodd reached over with his right arm, grabbed Bolin by the shoulder and threw him down to the ground with 26 seconds to play. By the time Louisville recovered and set itself back up, Bolin had one play left to run and his Hail Mary to the end zone was deflected by Mackensie Alexander and then intercepted by Jadar Johnson to secure the win.

“Wins like this, that we can learn from and have plenty of things to improve from, it really helps build that chemistry. There is no question we are capable of more and I know our guys want it,” Venables said.

Hopefully, Venables wife accepted his apology for forgetting her birthday the same way. Or maybe he has one more Hail Mary to throw her way.