On Saturday our Louisville Cardinals will travel to “Death Valley” to do battle on the gridiron with the Clemson Tigers. This will be the first ever meeting between these teams and this is one of those games that we all looked forward to when we learned that we were moving into the ACC. This is a pivotal game from both a national and conference standpoint. Clemson is #25 in the USA Today Coaches Poll while Louisville is looking to get back into the top 25. Both Clemson and Louisville are in the Atlantic Division of the ACC. Right now the Cards are #2 and the Tigers are #3. The game can be seen on ESPNU at 3:30pm.
Clemson improved to 3-2 on the year after beating North Carolina State 41-0 last weekend. The Tigers have lost to Georgia and Florida State, while beating S. Carolina State, North Carolina, and now the Wolfpack. They manhandled NC State, outgaining the Wolfpack 493 to 154 in total yards. The Tigers are looking to improve to 4-0 at home after scoring 91 points in back-to-back home wins. They are 22-2 in their past 24 home games.
Clemson has the #1 total/scoring offense in the ACC. On the year, they are averaging 40.4 points per game, which ranks 19th in the country. They have a very potent attack and can score in a variety of ways, they do favor the pass. They produce nearly two-thirds of their total yards by throwing the ball. Leading their passing attack is freshman quarterback Deshaun Watson who has won over the starting position, passing for 1,181 yards and 12 touchdowns while completing 68.9 percent of his attempts. His main target through the air is wide receiver Mike Williams who averages 104 receiving yards per contest and 24.8 yards per reception, catching four touchdowns in five games. Wide receiver Artavis Scott has 18 catches for 305 yards with 3 touchdowns, and Germone Hopper has 8 catches for 233 yards with 2 touchdowns.
This will be the second week that the Cardinals will face a running QB. Watson rushed for a team high 62 yards on 15 carries with 2 touchdowns in their last win against NC State. Also featured in their running game is C.J. Davidson who has 40 carries for 151 yards and 2 touchdowns. Wayne Gallman has 29 carries for 150 yards and Adam Choice has 30 carries for 144 yards with 1 touchdown.
Our Cardinals have the #1 total/scoring defense in the ACC. This Louisville defense is allowing just 12.7 points per game, which ranks an impressive 6th in the country. Louisville is leading the nation in rush defense, allowing only 58.2 rushing yards per game. Facing one of the best offensive lines they’ve played all season it is important this week that our guys put pressure on their QB and take away that long pass play down field. Clemson’s redzone offense ranks dead last in the league. Very important this weekend for the Cardinal defense to limit the big plays and make them earn their scores the hard way.
They are a decent defensive team but it’s not one of the things about this Clemson group that stands out. Their defense is allowing 22 points a game on average, which ranks 47th in the country. They were able to shut down NC State last weekend holding them to 154 total yards. They have a few standouts on the defensive side of the ball. Defensive end Vic Beasley who tied the school mark with his 28th career sack last weekend. He ranks 2nd in the nation with 7 sacks this season. Senior Corey Crawford at the other end position who has 12 tackles with one sack and returning starter Grady Jarrett, a defensive tackle who has 14 tackles. Shaq Lawson is also pretty good with 11 tackles and 2 sacks.
Reggie Bonnafon made some big steps forward last week in the win over Cuse, and at this point it looks like he and Will Gardner could share time at the position and we could see them both on Saturday. Hopefully they’ll have an extra target and finally a deep threat to add to the passing attack with the possibility of Devante Parker returning to the line-up. This would also open up more for James Quick. Brandon Radcliff has put the offense on his back the past couple of weeks and he’ll have to come up big Saturday for our Cardinals to have a chance. Things improving in the passing game would also make it easier for him. Michael Dyer is the only Louisville player to ever experience “Death Valley” first hand. He played there during his Auburn days. He had 151 yards with 2 touchdowns, so maybe he could recapture some of that Magic Saturday. Things won’t get easier for the offensive line this weekend. I just hope they can keep the penalties downs. It’s going to be very important for our offense to keep the ball this weekend and dominate time of possession. The more they maintain steady drives the less time the Clemson offense gets to try and score points.
It’s going to be a different situation for our guys on Saturday and this will be the most hostile environment they’ve been in all season. It will also be the toughest test of the season. I think our defense will step up to this challenge and welcome the opportunity to play against such a great offense. If the Cardinals offense can sustain some drives and keep them rested I really like the Cardinals chances to pull off the upset. Defense wins big games…
The Beak Prediction:
Louisville 27 Clemson 24