LOUISVILLE — Injuries loomed large, even as Clemson heads into the break all tied at 17 with Louisville.
At one point during the first half of Saturday’s game, Clemson lost four players to injuries. Clemson lost quarterback D.J. Uiagalelei for a period of time in the first half with what Clemson coach Dabo Swinney told the ACC Network was what he believed was a PCL sprain.
On a read option, Uiagalelei tried selling a fake and his leg gave out. The sophomore signal caller came up lame and was unable to complete the drive. Taisun Phommachanh came in to run a zone read with Uiagalelei out wide. While Phommachanh gained 26 yards, the play ended with Uiagalelei limping off the field.
Before exiting, Uiagalelei completed 4-of-6 passes for 69 yards, including a 46-yard touchdown pass to Beaux Collins on Clemson’s third offensive play.
As for Phommachanh, he threw an incompletion and rushed for 33 yards on three carries in his short-lived relief appearance. Uiagalelei returned for Clemson’s final drive of the second half and marched the offense down the field for a nine-play, 86-yard touchdown drive. Uiagalelei found Davis Allen for a 8-yard touchdown to tie the game at 17.
After returning, Uiagalelei finished the half 10 of 16 for 140 yards passing and two touchdowns.
Just before Uiagalelei’s second scoring toss, Louisville linebacker Jack Fagot was ejected for targeting for a hit on Will Shipley, which sent the true freshman running back to the locker room. His head appeared to bounce off the turf, and he was helped off the field by a member of the training staff.
Louisville came out firing on the game’s first drive, taking just six plays to kick off the scoring. Malik Cunningham completed 2-of-2 passes for 24 yards while he and Jalen Mitchell combined for 36 yards on four carries and a score. Mitchell had a 26-yard rushing touchdown to give the Cardinals a 7-0 lead, which came off the heels of a facemask penalty on Nolan Turner.
The Cardinals averaged 10 yards per play on a 75-yard drive, which took just under three minutes to execute.
Clemson turned over the ball yet again in the first half. After the teams traded two punts each and forced yet another, Clemson was getting the ball back. That was until Will Brown muffed a punt. Clemson’s lone turnover of the half was recovered by Louisville and led to points after Cunningham scampered for a 23-yard touchdown.
Needing to answer on the next drive, Louisville used some of its momentum and another poor special teams play from Clemson to force a quick three-and-out.
As Louisville was driving down the field, Andrew Booth came down low to make a tackle. It appeared the junior cornerback took a knee to the head as he tackled Trevion Cooley for a 1-yard loss. Clemson players immediately signaled to the training staff that Booth was in need of assistance. He walked off the field with help from Clemson’s trainers.
Clemson’s defense forced a stop with Booth sidelined, but Louisville kicker James Turner converted on a 44-yard field goal to give the Cardinals a 17-7 lead.
The injuries didn’t stop with Uiagalelei, Shipley and Booth. After catching a 5-yard pass on Clemson’s final offensive drive of the half, running back Kobe Pace was sandwiched between two Louisville defenders and went down in a heap. Pace had to be helped to the locker room.
As the Tigers headed into the locker room, they totaled 211 yards of total offense. Louisville had 167 total yards of offense with 100 of those coming on the ground.
Clemson will receive the second-half opening kickoff.
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