The teams played a classic last year, easily one of the top three regular season games of 2016, and should stage another memorable contest this Saturday as third-ranked Clemson heads to No. 14 Louisville to take on Lamar Jackson and company.
The Tigers won 42-36 last year in a contest that had a ton of second half fireworks, including a 100-yard kickoff return from Louisville and two final possessions that ended with a missed field and a gain of 11 yards on fourth-and-12 with 33 seconds remaining. The teams combined for over 1,000 yards of offense, but it was Clemson that was able to exhale once the clock hit zero.
"Hopefully we can do a little better job taking care of the ball and maximizing our opportunities when they present themselves," Clemson coach Dabo Swinney said, recalling that both Clemson turnovers resulted in Louisville touchdown drives.
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| Lamar Jackson puts pressure on every defense that faces him (Boston Globe) |
Clemson put the clamps on Auburn last week, netting 11 sacks and holding the visiting Tigers to just 68 total net yards, including 38 rushing yards on 42 attempts. While Auburn doesn't have anyone as dynamic as Jackson, Clemson was excellent at the line of scrimmage and had linebackers who filled holes on the rare occasions when Auburn wasn't stopped in its own backfield.
That kind of attention to detail will be huge against Jackson, the nation's most dynamic runner. He has gotten stronger this year, meaning he can pull away from sure tackles, and still has the wheels to outrun anyone to the end zone.
To say that he's made Clemson defensive coordinator Brent Venables just a tad nervous would be quite the understatement.
"Some of it is fun, and then the more you see of it, the more sick you get because of all the plays he makes, even when it's not there," Venables said.
Louisville (2-0) has added some wrinkles to its offense, which last year was almost exclusively zone read and spread. There are multiple formations, even some pro style looks, and Jackson has shown great touch on his deep ball, passes he wasn't consistently completing in 2016.
"He's got a great arm, tremendous, natural wiry stuff," Venables said. "You've got a free corner on a blitz (vs. UNC) and he throws a 75-yard touchdown when the corner just falls off of him. Those are the kinds of things a special player can do. It's one thing to take what's there. He can make something out of nothing all day."
Don't be surprised if Clemson (2-0) rushes with four, occasionally stunting up front, and spying Jackson with a linebacker, either Dorian O'Donnell or Kendall Joseph. That may or may not be enough, but it should at least make Jackson work for his yardage.
"Lamar Jackson is an unbelievable player and fun to watch," Swinney said. "He's not fun to prepare for and not fun to play against. I'd much prefer to watch him, I enjoy that a lot better, but we've got our hands full with this guy."
Jackson leads the nation in total offense, averaging 505 yards per game. Clemson has allowed just five plays over 10 yards, and only one over 20, so it's a matchup of strength vs. strength. While Jackson merits that kind of attention, running back Malik Williams is coming off a career-high 149 yard rushing day against North Carolina.
Clemson has weapons of its own, as running backs Tavien Feaster, C.J. Fuller and Travis Etienne all average over five yards per carry and have four touchdowns between them. They could add some pop to the Tigers ground attack.
"Clemson present a great challenge," Cardinals coach Bobby Petrino said. "On offense we have to be able to mix the run and pass effectively. Defensively, we need to find a way to shut down their rushing attack. They also have three receivers that we know very well, and their quarterback has looked extremely good so far."
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| Kelly Bryant has big shoes to fill for Clemson (The State) |
That quarterback, Kelly Bryant, is anonymous compared to Jackson, but has played well in his own right, completing 68.6 percent of his passes and rushing for 136 yards and three touchdowns. He may not be as electric running the ball as Jackson is, but he has been effective, and has shown Deshaun Watson qualities at times.
Louisville will likely be without standout corner Jaire Alexander (knee), which means Bryant may look to pass a little bit more this week. But Louisville's defense will keep Clemson honest.
"I'm sure they will have a few wrinkles that maybe we have not seen," Swinney said. "It's still early in the season, so I doubt that they have used their whole arsenal yet. They have a good veteran group back and a lot of guys that are experienced. We will be ready for whatever they present."
Each of the last three games have been nailbiters, all Clemson victories, by a total of 15 points, and Petrino feels that being so close will help his veteran bunch.
"I am hoping that our experience last year with Florida State (a 63-20 win) and going on the road at Clemson will help us," Petrino said. "I thought that, at Clemson, when we started the game we had some guys that were too hyped up, so hopefully that won't be a problem this time.
"The crowd can make all the difference in the world in a game like this. There's a reason why we have a lot of sacks at home on third down, and that goes all the way back to the Elvis (Dumervil) days. There's no question our crowd has helped us before, and we just have to take it up another notch this week."
Louisville is 6-1 in home openers under Petrino, but 0-3 all-time against defending national champions.
Clemson, which has won its last 10 road games, had just 264 yards and turned the ball over twice against Auburn, yet still managed to put together drives of 10 plays (missed field goal), 13 plays (TD) and 10 plays (TD). If Clemson has the ball, Jackson won't be on the field, which means he cannot do any damage.
And whether shootout or defensive slugfest, Swinney just wants to end the night on the right side of the decision.
"We just want to win," he said. "We are not trying to win any point show, we are not trying to win the stat wars. We just want to win the game. I'll take 3-2 right now ... 3-2, shake the hand and come on back to the house and let y'all (media) talk about how bad the offense is, and we'll be 3-0 and moving on to the next one."
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