Clemson travels to the "Derby City" this weekend to take on the Louisville Cardinals. It is a Cardinal team that like Clemson has had ebbs and flows in its season. The two teams seem to be trending in different directions. While Clemson still isn't clicking in the passing game, they ran the ball well in the FSU win. It was the best the Clemson Offensive Line has looked in running blocking all season and RB Will Shipley looks to be 100% after missing time with an injury. It seems Louisville is trending opposite, they lost their opener to a good Ole Miss team. They then won three straight, but since then are 1-3 in their last three games. Both teams have a common loss to N.C. State, they dropped the Cards 28-13 last week.
The Louisville offense will go as QB Malik Cunningham goes. He has over 1,900 passing yards and a 60% completion rate with 9 TD's and 5 picks. Cunningham is a dual threat QB as he leads them in rushing yards and TD's. His ground numbers are 110 carries for 556 yards for an average of over 5 yards per tote, he also has 13 rushing TD's. The Clemson defense will see one of the more productive runners at the QB position they have seen all year. Cunningham has weapons on the Cardinal offense to go to, RB Jalen Mitchell averages nearly 5 yards per carry.
Clemson's offense will have to contend with a Louisville defense that has some talented pieces. LB C.J. Avery is their leading tackler with 53 and is the "Quarterback" of their defense. LB Yassir Abdullah is a talented pass rusher who has 6 sacks on the years. DB Kei'Trel Clark leads their secondary with three picks and 9 pass break ups.
It'll be interesting to see if the Clemson run game can have a repeat of their productive performance last week. Consistency with the O-Line has been an issue all year. We will start to see this week if that unit is starting to turn the corner or if last week was just an isolated occurrence.
Although, the series is a new one that only dates back to 2014, Clemson has never lost to Louisville. The Tigers have won in blowout fashion in the last three meetings. Clemson outlasted the Cards in a wild finish in 2016 in Death Valley, winning 42-36. They edged Louisville 20-17 in 2015 and clipped them 23-17 in 2014. Saturday's game could be a hostile road environment, as it is a night game scheduled for a 7:30 PM kick.
