Disaster in Death Valley: No. 11 Clemson drops first ACC game of season to Louisville

So much for using the off week to get better.

The No. 11 Clemson football team put up a clunker in a 33-21 home loss to unranked Louisville on Saturday night, and the Tigers’ path to the College Football Playoff just got a lot tougher because of it.

Coach Dabo Swinney’s team came out flat from the start. They allowed the Cardinals to gash them defensively while tripping over their own feet on offense, over and over and over. And a late scoring surge simply wasn’t enough.

Trailing by 19 points in the fourth quarter, the Tigers scored a touchdown to get within 26-13 and then, without hesitation, chose to kick an extra point to make it 26-14 to cut their deficit to 12 points with 6 minutes remaining.

That was an interesting decision, as going for two would’ve put Clemson down 11 points (26-15) and given the Tigers a chance to even the game on the off chance they got another touchdown and conversion plus a field goal (instead of two TDs).

It didn’t matter, as Louisville recovered the ensuing onside kick. It looked like a Clemson player might have recovered it, too, but refs upheld the UL recovery after a review, prompting fans to throw bottles onto the field.

After refs confirmed it was Louisville’s ball, the Cardinals immediately scored a 45-yard touchdown to go back up three scores (33-14). Clemson scored again (33-21), failed to recover the onside kick and got a stop and the ball back.

But with the Tigers trailing by 12 points and with no timeouts, they couldn’t stop the clock and time ran out with the offense at Louisville’s 13-yard line.

The end result: Clemson snapped a six-game winning streak and fell to 6-2 and 5-1 in the ACC with two conference games remaining, at Virginia Tech and at Pitt.

The Tigers are now 1-3 in their last four games directly following an off week and have lost three in a row after their late-season off week: At Notre Dame in 2022, at Miami in 2023 and now against Louisville at home.

All three teams were unranked.

Louisville (6-3, 4-2 ACC) won its first ever game against Clemson in nine tries and snapped the Tigers’ 22-game winning streak in home night games.

College football fortunes can change at any moment, but Clemson’s second loss puts the Tigers in a position where they have to get to the ACC championship game — and win it — to feel truly confident in their chances of making the 12-team field.

Making the league title game is still a possibility as Clemson has just one conference loss, but with the way the Tigers played Saturday night, their path to Charlotte looks quite daunting, with road meetings with VT and Pitt looming.

“We did not play anywhere near our best tonight,” Swinney said. “It hurts. It’s a missed opportunity. A huge missed opportunity. We didn’t deserve to win. They absolutely deserved to win tonight, so give them all the credit.”

Game recap

For the first time since the season opener against Georgia, something felt truly off for Clemson. And not just on offense or defense — the struggles came across the board.

Through the team’s first two offensive drives, quarterback Cade Klubnik was 3-5 for … 0 yards. Clemson’s defense allowed a third-and-13 conversion on its first drive and a 47-yard run — on a wide receiver reverse — on its second drive.

Somehow, Clemson still got out of the first quarter with a 7-3 lead courtesy of a 12-yard Klubnik pass to Antonio Williams right before the end of the period.

But that wasn’t indicative of the on-field vibes, which saw Louisville march into Memorial Stadium unfazed, move the ball with ease on Clemson and get an early field goal and hold its own against a dynamic Tigers offense.

After an early touchdown, Clemson couldn’t get out of its own way. Klubnik put a pass on the money to wide receiver T.J. Moore in the second quarter, and he dropped it. Klubnik had another pass batted down on third down with an open receiver.

Louisville went up 10-7 in the second quarter on an impressive somersaulting touchdown run by veteran quarterback Tyler Shough and kept Clemson off the board — again — by blocking kicker Nolan Hauser’s 49-yard field goal attempt with about two minutes until halftime.

Louisville then cruised down the field for another touchdown and took a 17-7 lead into the break after Clemson — true to form — had a promising before-halftime drive fizzle out when tight end Jake Briningstool couldn’t hang onto a catchable pass.

Things only got worse in the third quarter, as Louisville put together three more scoring drives — all Brock Travelstead field goals. The last of those came after UL stopped the Tigers on a fourth-and-1 from their own 34-yard line (RB Phil Mafah got stuffed) in what felt like a do-or-die moment.

While Travelstead sank field goals of 42, 40 and 49 yards, Clemson’s offense — which came in averaging 42 points and 490.4 yards per game — looked lost and played its worst game since the season-opening loss to Georgia by a mile.

Trailing by 19 points and three possessions late in the third quarter, Clemson’s offense lacked urgency getting down the field. Then, on fourth-and-7 from Louisville’s 7, the Tigers opted to take a short field goal.

Hauser’s attempt was blocked. Again.

The freshman kicker has now had five kicks blocked this season (four field goals and an extra point), and Clemson walking away with zero points on that possession spelled doom in a game where it struggled to get points most of the night.

The Tigers’ late touchdown got them to within 26-14, but Louisville’s offense gashed the Tigers’ defense again to take another three-possession lead.

Running back Mafah’s second touchdown of the fourth quarter cut it to 33-21 (12 points) again, but Louisville recovered a second onside kick afterward to eventually close things out and give Clemson at least one home loss for a third straight season.

The final stats made for an odd contrast: Clemson outgained Louisville 450 to 366 in total offensive yardage and 31 to 19 in first downs, had 200-plus rushing and passing yards and ran 101 plays. Somehow, the Tigers still lost by 12.

“Really proud of our football team ... to come on the road in this environment against a really good team that was hot and just make plays” was impressive, Brohm said. “We played with great tempo, got stops ... It’s a big win for our program.”

The Tigers, meanwhile, have thrown a self-inflicted wrench into their ACC championship game hopes (and the CFP autobid that would come with it).

“We don’t control our destiny anymore, and that’s the disappointing part because we were right here,” Swinney said. “We were in control coming in and now we’re not, but the one thing we do control is how we respond.

“We’ve gotta go try to find a way to win the next one.”

Next Clemson game

Who: Clemson (6-2, 5-1 ACC) at Virginia Tech (5-4, 3-2 ACC)

When: 3:30 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 9

Where: Lane Stadium in Blacksburg, Virginia

TV: ESPN