#2 Clemson Vs Louisville : Preview & Prediction
NO. 2 CLEMSON (8-0, 5-0 ACC) vs. LOUISVILLE (2-6, 0-5 ACC)
SATURDAY, NOV. 3 • NOON ET
MEMORIAL STADIUM (81,500)
CLEMSON, S.C.
CLEMSON/LOUISVILLE SERIES HISTORY:
– OVERALL: Clemson leads series, 4-0 – HOME: Clemson leads series, 2-0
- ROAD: Clemson leads series, 2-0
- NEUTRAL: N/A
– LAST MEETING: Sept. 16, 2017 (47-21, W) – STREAK: Clemson, Won 4
TV: ABC (Mark Jones, Dusty Dvoracek, Molly McGrath)
RADIO: Clemson Tigers Network (Don Munson, Rodney Williams, Tim Bourret, Reggie Merriweather)
**Sirius 103, XM 193, Internet 955**
Clemson comes into this week’s contest with the Cardinals of Louisville looking for win number nine on the season overall and number six inside the ACC. The Cardinals, on the other hand, come into Clemson reeling after a beatdown handed to them at their home field last week by Wake Forest. So far in 2018 the Cardinals have underachieved and are seeing it in the results of their season so far as they are 2-6 overall and winless inside the conference. All the arrows point to this one getting out of hand as the Tigers are clicking on all cylinders on both sides of the ball coming into this contest with both scoring offense and defense inside the top ten nationally. The Cardinals rate the worst defense against the run in the entire nation and look for Travis Etienne to get back on track on this afternoon as well.
When Clemson has the Ball:
Look for number nine to get a lot of early carries and a lot of work on this afternoon as the Cardinals bring the worst run defense in all of the college football into the Valley on this afternoon. Etienne will gash this defense early and often for huge chunks and will be on the sideline for the rest of the game come the 3rd quarter of this contest. With the success of the run game look for the Cardinals safeties to be affected and then Lawrence starts to find the open spaces created and take advantage of them in the passing game. The seam routes up the middle of the field will come open as the Tigers look to exploit the Louisville secondary. The Cardinals will have a long… long day in Clemson this afternoon.
When Louisville has the Ball:
The Louisville offense is not inept and can move the ball and has some very nice pieces inside its skilled positions. Look for the Cardinals QB Jawon Pass to try and establish a play action and screen game around the Cardinals ability to run the ball. At least that is what they could expect in a perfect world. But this day they face the Nation’s top scoring defense and a team that is playing at its highest levels at the most important time of the season. Clemson each of the last three weeks has imposed its will and dominated all three opponents with no team scoring more than 10 points over the span of these three contest’. Look for the Tigers to continue to press coverage on the outside against the Big Bodied receivers and continue their sneaking of the safeties into the box to stop the run game. Bottom line here is just as in the past 3 contest’ the Tigers will eliminate any sort of run game and then its pin your ears back and go get em’ time as Louisville will be forced to pass trying to play catch up all day. Look for at the least 3 Sacks on this day. And another imposing performance by this Clemson defense.
Players to Watch for Louisville:
#4 QB Jawon Pass, #9 WR Jaylen Smith, #9 LB CJ Avery
Prediction: Clemson 56 Louisville 13
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